Gael Warnings in West Africa.
Three years ago this elegant lady returned with me after my first proper trip on the bike to Africa.
<a href="http://s1337.photobucket.com/user/gsjim2/media/Africa%202017/20170829_222023_zpskdackt2w.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o662/gsjim2/Africa%202017/20170829_222023_zpskdackt2w.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170829_222023_zpskdackt2w.jpg"></a>
I’d been to Morocco a few times and seen the dunes at Erg Chebbi but was drawn to find out what was further south and venture into the real Sahara. My adventure riding has all happened in the last 10 years. When I look back, I remember that the idea of a ride around Europe seemed quite daunting. It was the members of this forum, GSer, with one of their open invite trips, who encouraged me to take my 1200GS abroad instead if just up to Sainsbury's. Over the last 10 years my appetite for adventure on the bike has increased, nothing too scary though, just enough to take me out of my comfort zone. This year’s trip will be to Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal and Gambia. The detour into Mali is to avoid the notorious Rosso border crossing between Mauritania and Senegal. When I went last time I'd heard the stories about Rosso and had hoped to avoid it, by using the Diama crossing but I ended up going through Rosso on both the north/south and south/north legs of the trip. The Rosso crossing was as bad as I had heard, particularly on the way south. I think there should be an “I survived Rosso” badge for those of us who have had the Rosso experience, like there should be a badge for visiting the one fuel station in the middle of Mauritania and be told there is no petrol. But more of Mauritania later, about 3 weeks later, and hopefully no further mention of Rosso.
One significant difference for me this time is that I will be having a travelling companion, at least on the way down. Simon will introduce himself later but we also met through this forum, where he read my ride report of the trip to Iran early last year. Simon was planning his own ride to Iran and when I returned, it was easy to meet up as Simon lives not too far away. We chatted about his planned trip, I shared some of my experiences of Iran and we kept in touch when he got back, speculating on future trips. We are also both Irish, living in the south of England and having an Irish passport was a significant advantage for visiting Iran, as we could get an Iran visa easily and did not need to hire a guide to escort us, which is a requirement for British visitors. This trip to Africa will be our first trip together and it may be unusual to do such a long trip not having ridden together but we have met a number of times and read our ride reports and concluded we could be suitable travel companions.
We’ll I have been around most of Europe and Simon has done a lot of travelling too, some with the legendary Tim Cullis, which I'll leave him to cover. Much of my travelling has been with GSEddie of this parish, Eddie and I have been east as far as Montenegro, south as far as Merzuga in Morocco and north to Trondheim in Norway, all covered by GSer ride reports. A few years ago I got the itch to do a solo trip and my first one, suggested by Edventure, was to Turkey and proved that travelling on my own suited me fine. The solo trip to Turkey set me up for something more adventurous, so I felt confident enough to dip my toe into Africa and decided on Dakar as a destination. At that point I did not fully understand that the Sahara Desert extended for 2,000km and in doing this trip I have to cross it twice but it all added spice to the trip. That solo trip 3 years ago to Africa was on another scale to anything I had done before and I’ve been boring people about it since and whipping out the photos I keep on my phone, at the drop of a hat. The Iran trip of last year Iran was also up there in terms of adventure and certainly concerned relatives and friends as being a bit risky. By far he most interesting part was after I crossed the Iran border and began exploring that great country and its ancient cities. The motorway riding through Europe and Turkey was less exciting and probably more dangerous than my time in Iran. Riding in Africa though is different and you feel the vibe of a different continent when you ride off the boat at Tangier.
One of the first decisions before these trips is what bike to take and this time it is easy for me, as I only have the one bike, the trusty BMW G650 xCountry single. It copes with the motorway sections OK but comes into its own on smaller roads. The only downside is, we do not handle the sand well together, as the front wheel dances around in a scary manner in deep sand despite my best efforts. To help me and the bike I’ve fitted a Scott steering damper this time and we’ll see if that improves things. I know I was much more confident off-road on the return leg of the trip last time, having “benifited” from many hours of riding on a variety of surfaces. The bike is not overly complicated and I can carry out most of the service actions myself but the tappets shims were checked by Just Motorcycles in Basingstoke, who also did the welding to fit the steering damper. The rest of the service was down to me and included new plugs and front brake pads. A new TKC 80 tyre is on the front and I'll carry a new rear and have it fitted around Agadir in Morocco, just before entering the desert. I suppose I could put both tyres on here but it looks pretty cool riding off on a loaded bike with a tyre strapped on the back. In fitting a new heavy duty chain, I decided to experiment with different sizes of front sprocket, a slightly larger one to assist with motorway riding and a smaller one for off-road sections, we'll see how that works out.
This a view of the bike on a testing trip to Germany a week or so ago.
<a href="http://s1337.photobucket.com/user/gsjim2/media/Africa%202017/20170905_153426_zpswh7rdxy7.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o662/gsjim2/Africa%202017/20170905_153426_zpswh7rdxy7.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170905_153426_zpswh7rdxy7.jpg"></a>
Last time I crossed the desert on my own I didn't have any tracking or special communication device, apart from a phone. Some fellow travellers I met were a little surprised, particularly travelling on my own across the Sahara. So I had a look at what was out there, included the Spot tracker, but concluded a Delorme InReach Explorer was a better option. Delorme are now part of the Garmin empire and the Explorer allows satellite tracking, message sending and an SOS function. This was also time to look at helmet communication and as Simon uses a Sena Bluetooth system it prompted me to upgrade my creaking Autocom wired system and also move to Sena. My new Sena 10S unit will permit me to hear guidance and play music from the Garmin 550 GPS, talk to Simon at a claimed range of a kilometre and answer my phone. This wireless system will also stop me riding off with my helmet cable unplugged and then trying to correct the problem while still riding, a big improvement in safety. I doubt I’ll take many phone calls on the trip but it may be useful to listen to music or podcasts as I ride along.
So we are off next week, initially by boat to Santander and then to Tangier Med in Morocco and heading south. Posts may be sporadic but we'll share the task and try to keep this updated when we can. Feel free to come along for the ride.
Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
Three years ago this elegant lady returned with me after my first proper trip on the bike to Africa.
<a href="http://s1337.photobucket.com/user/gsjim2/media/Africa%202017/20170829_222023_zpskdackt2w.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o662/gsjim2/Africa%202017/20170829_222023_zpskdackt2w.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170829_222023_zpskdackt2w.jpg"></a>
I’d been to Morocco a few times and seen the dunes at Erg Chebbi but was drawn to find out what was further south and venture into the real Sahara. My adventure riding has all happened in the last 10 years. When I look back, I remember that the idea of a ride around Europe seemed quite daunting. It was the members of this forum, GSer, with one of their open invite trips, who encouraged me to take my 1200GS abroad instead if just up to Sainsbury's. Over the last 10 years my appetite for adventure on the bike has increased, nothing too scary though, just enough to take me out of my comfort zone. This year’s trip will be to Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal and Gambia. The detour into Mali is to avoid the notorious Rosso border crossing between Mauritania and Senegal. When I went last time I'd heard the stories about Rosso and had hoped to avoid it, by using the Diama crossing but I ended up going through Rosso on both the north/south and south/north legs of the trip. The Rosso crossing was as bad as I had heard, particularly on the way south. I think there should be an “I survived Rosso” badge for those of us who have had the Rosso experience, like there should be a badge for visiting the one fuel station in the middle of Mauritania and be told there is no petrol. But more of Mauritania later, about 3 weeks later, and hopefully no further mention of Rosso.
One significant difference for me this time is that I will be having a travelling companion, at least on the way down. Simon will introduce himself later but we also met through this forum, where he read my ride report of the trip to Iran early last year. Simon was planning his own ride to Iran and when I returned, it was easy to meet up as Simon lives not too far away. We chatted about his planned trip, I shared some of my experiences of Iran and we kept in touch when he got back, speculating on future trips. We are also both Irish, living in the south of England and having an Irish passport was a significant advantage for visiting Iran, as we could get an Iran visa easily and did not need to hire a guide to escort us, which is a requirement for British visitors. This trip to Africa will be our first trip together and it may be unusual to do such a long trip not having ridden together but we have met a number of times and read our ride reports and concluded we could be suitable travel companions.
We’ll I have been around most of Europe and Simon has done a lot of travelling too, some with the legendary Tim Cullis, which I'll leave him to cover. Much of my travelling has been with GSEddie of this parish, Eddie and I have been east as far as Montenegro, south as far as Merzuga in Morocco and north to Trondheim in Norway, all covered by GSer ride reports. A few years ago I got the itch to do a solo trip and my first one, suggested by Edventure, was to Turkey and proved that travelling on my own suited me fine. The solo trip to Turkey set me up for something more adventurous, so I felt confident enough to dip my toe into Africa and decided on Dakar as a destination. At that point I did not fully understand that the Sahara Desert extended for 2,000km and in doing this trip I have to cross it twice but it all added spice to the trip. That solo trip 3 years ago to Africa was on another scale to anything I had done before and I’ve been boring people about it since and whipping out the photos I keep on my phone, at the drop of a hat. The Iran trip of last year Iran was also up there in terms of adventure and certainly concerned relatives and friends as being a bit risky. By far he most interesting part was after I crossed the Iran border and began exploring that great country and its ancient cities. The motorway riding through Europe and Turkey was less exciting and probably more dangerous than my time in Iran. Riding in Africa though is different and you feel the vibe of a different continent when you ride off the boat at Tangier.
One of the first decisions before these trips is what bike to take and this time it is easy for me, as I only have the one bike, the trusty BMW G650 xCountry single. It copes with the motorway sections OK but comes into its own on smaller roads. The only downside is, we do not handle the sand well together, as the front wheel dances around in a scary manner in deep sand despite my best efforts. To help me and the bike I’ve fitted a Scott steering damper this time and we’ll see if that improves things. I know I was much more confident off-road on the return leg of the trip last time, having “benifited” from many hours of riding on a variety of surfaces. The bike is not overly complicated and I can carry out most of the service actions myself but the tappets shims were checked by Just Motorcycles in Basingstoke, who also did the welding to fit the steering damper. The rest of the service was down to me and included new plugs and front brake pads. A new TKC 80 tyre is on the front and I'll carry a new rear and have it fitted around Agadir in Morocco, just before entering the desert. I suppose I could put both tyres on here but it looks pretty cool riding off on a loaded bike with a tyre strapped on the back. In fitting a new heavy duty chain, I decided to experiment with different sizes of front sprocket, a slightly larger one to assist with motorway riding and a smaller one for off-road sections, we'll see how that works out.
This a view of the bike on a testing trip to Germany a week or so ago.
<a href="http://s1337.photobucket.com/user/gsjim2/media/Africa%202017/20170905_153426_zpswh7rdxy7.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o662/gsjim2/Africa%202017/20170905_153426_zpswh7rdxy7.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170905_153426_zpswh7rdxy7.jpg"></a>
Last time I crossed the desert on my own I didn't have any tracking or special communication device, apart from a phone. Some fellow travellers I met were a little surprised, particularly travelling on my own across the Sahara. So I had a look at what was out there, included the Spot tracker, but concluded a Delorme InReach Explorer was a better option. Delorme are now part of the Garmin empire and the Explorer allows satellite tracking, message sending and an SOS function. This was also time to look at helmet communication and as Simon uses a Sena Bluetooth system it prompted me to upgrade my creaking Autocom wired system and also move to Sena. My new Sena 10S unit will permit me to hear guidance and play music from the Garmin 550 GPS, talk to Simon at a claimed range of a kilometre and answer my phone. This wireless system will also stop me riding off with my helmet cable unplugged and then trying to correct the problem while still riding, a big improvement in safety. I doubt I’ll take many phone calls on the trip but it may be useful to listen to music or podcasts as I ride along.
So we are off next week, initially by boat to Santander and then to Tangier Med in Morocco and heading south. Posts may be sporadic but we'll share the task and try to keep this updated when we can. Feel free to come along for the ride.
Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk