Well we got up and went to get the bikes first and did a deal with the chap watching the bikes, the deal was half what he wanted as that was all we had. Back to the hotel and we gave her all the dollars we had left and that was all OK, so Martin went off to the restaurant to give them some Euros for the balance and they said they had overcharged us anyway and gave us some change, so a great escape from a tricky situation.
We have been warned to be careful as it appears that we are in an area where gorillas are operating, that will be why we have seen so many army personel, also yesterday we went over a modern bridge where half of it was missing in the middle and Andreas told us it was a bomb done by the gorillas only a month ago.
We are now heading for the town on the main road and apparently it will take us 2.5 – 3 hours, deep joy. The road is a combination of stone and dirt with a few wet patches of clay to add a bit of spice. Having been told to be careful I was thinking to myself where would a good place to ambush someone be, answer anywhere here.
We pass a few houses and a couple of communities, this is miles from anywhere so they must be self sufficient because they are not going shopping anywhere soon. We also see quite a few locals on horses with their cowboy hats, it is certainly the best mode of transport here, its a while since I have ridden a horse but I would have considered swapping. There are also several donkeys and a mule train plus every other type of animal you can think of. At one point quite a way into the off road bit Martin decided it was about time to practice picking a bike up again as he hasn’t done it for a while, a very helpful young man came along on a horse and said he should have stayed on the outside of the bend as it is not as loose, we could probably have told him that by then but hey ho.
Well progress indeed, having left early we managed to get 25 miles under our belt in the first 2.5 hours, then a glimmer of hope as we arrive in a town and as we leave find tarmac, fantastic but lets not celebrate too early as it stopped 6 miles later and back on the gravel, it was a bit more even though. Finally we make the town on the main road and it has taken 5.5 – 6 hours riding since leaving the cafe yesterday. Hindsight is wonderful but I think next time we go wrong we will just bite the bullet and go back even if it is 30 or 40 miles as it would have been much quicker.
We are now on the main road and moving quite a bit quicker but we are still in the mountains and the road is still winding with plenty of trucks to pass but5 as we descend the bends become less frequent and we have an uneventful run into our scheduled stop and we arrived at 4.30, which is early but a day late I know
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