Namibia (part 2) – The Dry
Not much mentioning of the bike recently? Apart from one puncture (the first since Ghana, 8,000km ago) it’s been a smooth ride. Good tarmac roads since I left Lubumbashi –…
Photos of yet more hills and desert in southern Namibia
From Sesriem I took a short trip to Sossuvlei to see the dunes there. Pretty stunning but dunes nonetheless. And I’ve seen a lot of dunes now! But with all…
Photos of Central Namibia – Coast to Dunes
From sleepy Swakopmund on the coast I headed south to Walvis Bay. Then it was a tough ride inland across the desert, up the Gamsberg Pass and down the Spreetshoogte…
Namibia (part 1) – The Wet
What’s not to love in Namibia? Beryl Markham, a remarkable woman who grew up in East Africa, wrote: ‘So there are many Africas. There are as many Africas as there…
Notes on Zambia – Is this really Africa?
Sometimes when you cross a border, you instantly know you’re in a different country. Perhaps a new language, a new uniform, now driving on the other side of the road.…
Last Days in the Congo
Just a short note on my last days in the DR Congo. (Will write about Zambia and Botswana shortly as will happily hole up here in Namibia somewhere just to…
Passing the Time in Congo
Kananga to Lac Mukamba Kananga had enough distractions to keep me occupied for a couple of days – a quiet hotel, a small restaurant across the road selling good local…
A Detour in Congo
Tchikapa to Kananga – 286km in 4 days Diamonds and wetsuits I rested for the day in Tchikapa. A busy town. Dusty streets lined with small market stalls run by…
A Little Less Cycling in Congo
Kikwit to Tchikapa – 343km in 5 days Kikwit – shit, leave quick Always happy to arrive in a town – Good food, cold drinks, a bed, a shower… Usually…
Statistics update: 20,000km from UK to Livingstone
It’s nearly the end of 2010 and I’ve just hit 20,000km – time for some more statistics. Now according to my original plan, I should be in Cape Town by…
Guide to travelling through the Congo – The first 500km
Chapter 1 – Entering the Congo One way to enter the Democratic Republic of Congo is at Kinshasa, by taking a boat from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. The…
Photos of DR Congo – 350km Kikwit to Tchikapa
90km after Kikwit and the tarmac ended. Abruptly. From smooth asphalt to shocking deep sand. And just at that point it chucked it down with rain. Sheltering in a local…
Photos of DR Congo – 500km to Kikwit
Six days after leaving Kinshasa, cycling 500km on a good tarmac road, and I’ve arrived in Kikwit. It may have been a good surface but the endless hills and scorching…
Photos of Gabon and the Republic of Congo
Here are some photos from the latest part of the journey. I travelled south from Yaounde in Cameroon through Gabon to a small town called Booue. Having drunk some dodgy…
Thoughts on a Rohloff-Equipped Bike
I debated a long time whether to get a bike with a Rohloff hub, or a regular dérailleur system. In the end, not knowing much about bike maintenance and being…
Equipment Review
This is quite a thorough list of how the bike, panniers and racks have held up and problems I have had. Most people won’t want to read beyond this intro,…
Cameroon’s Highlands
Time to hit the hills. Time to take on Cameroon’s Highlands. Top Speed I cycle out of Bamenda, refreshed after the rest. The road sweeps around the green hillsides and…
The Longest Day
Uphill to Bamenda End of the road I decided to take the high road, up to the hills surrounding Bamenda. Told that the tarmac road would end at a bridge…
Finding Helen – White! White! White!
Scene 1 The dirt road from Ekok wound its way round and up and down through the thick, overgrown forest. Everything was big. Trees competing to grow the tallest, to…
Nigeria – It’s Been Wet
Out of Abuja From leaving the Abuja, it was nearly 600km and five full days of cycling to reach the Cameroon border. But first, back to Nigeria. I had entered…