Gael warning in the Congo

[simondippenhall]

A first encounter in Cabinda, Angola this afternoon after a very long and arduous border crossing


Jim is checking out his head am photos so there may be more from the lush Congolese/Cabindan countryside

And of course the police presence...perhaps heightened by the adjacent Congolese crisis



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[Ash]

Greatly enjoying your continued adventures and eagerly await more posts.

Ride safe guys.

Absolutely.

Just wish I could do such a trip..

 

[simondippenhall]

Ash: sorry you can’t be here in person but Jim and I feel like you are riding with us!

Today was a day of gathering information about how we will get across the River Congo.

We rode down to the beach this morning


I have been/still am a bit trepadacious about how the heavy GS will be lifted on to one of the pirogues.



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[twizzle]

Ash: sorry you can’t be here in person but Jim and I feel like you are riding with us!

Today was a day of gathering information about how we will get across the River Congo.

We rode down to the beach this morning
View attachment 397374

I have been/still am a bit trepadacious about how the heavy GS will be lifted on to one of the pirogues.



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scaffold poles i suspect and four strong locals......

 

[simondippenhall]

We went off to the military airport to see if we could hitchhike on a military plane and were told there might be one in the morning.

As this couldn’t be relied on we decided to check out the loading prose of the pirogue guys. Our timing was spot on as they were about to load a car!

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[simondippenhall]

Done!


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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Was an interesting day as Simon suggests, with 2 cisits to the beach and one to the airport. We also got SIMs for our phones. While we were looking at the guys loading the car we looked around the bay.

Thefe were fishermen, some standing on the sand bank and casting a net, others in small boats.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

There were also a few partly dilapidated ships in the harbour.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

And this partly sunken one.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

When we were in the morning the ships were being unloaded, mostly soft drinks it seemed. The guys were pretty good at carrying them to the trucks, but not all made it with dropping some.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

While at the airport we noticed this low cost airline booking office. The future ahead for Ryan Air?

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

While on here I should mention the little Suzuki 125. It has been a delight since I got it, once the front wheel had been replaced. There was clearly something wrong with the drum on the original. It carrys my load with ease, and I do bring a lot. The economy is great at around 120MPG. It's not fast but even running in its been up to 50MPH already. It wouldn't be described as an adventure bike but any bike you take on an adventure is an adventure bike. Here it is being loaded before we headed off to the Angolan border.

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[simondippenhall]

In other news, whilst the Suzuki continues to delight Jim, the r1150GS was struggling to start a couple of times today and not opening up cleanly, suggestive of some sort of fuelling problem perhaps. (Just to confuse things, there was heavy rain last night and I know the fuel filler cap is not watertight!)



So if no military plane leaves tomorrow, may be time to change plugs and maybe even the ECU...


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[Ash]

Ash: sorry you can’t be here in person but Jim and I feel like you are riding with us!

Today was a day of gathering information about how we will get across the River Congo.

We rode down to the beach this morning
View attachment 397374

I have been/still am a bit trepadacious about how the heavy GS will be lifted on to one of the pirogues.



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I am with you in spirit...

As I've said b4 the fantastic trips all you boys & girls post up means us poor buggers that sadly can't make such trips get to share in some way the trip.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post them on here..

And the pictures shows us places we would probably never get to see..

Thank goodness for the Internet, especially in far off places that you visit..



EDIT

Love the car loading pictures..

 

[Kritou]

Looks like you are wheelie set up for an exciting trip ........

 

[simondippenhall]

Indeed Kritou....so exciting that today, Sunday, was biker laundry day


As the customs are.closed today we cannot get a boat until tomorrow so are forced to endure the hardships of the former Portuguese Congo



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[Ash]

Indeed Kritou....so exciting that today, Sunday, was biker laundry day
View attachment 397479

As the customs are.closed today we cannot get a boat until tomorrow so are forced to endure the hardships of the former Portuguese Congo
View attachment 397480


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Looks horrid

 

[simondippenhall]

It wasn't all play today: I changed the main plugs of the GS and with Jim's help we also cleaned up the secondary plugs which were looking a little mucky


Any views on what the muckiness indicates?
I had not brought Spares and they are a different size.

Jim also got the left indicator working again and I replaced the dipped headlight.





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[simondippenhall]

Then it was time to pop over the road for some supplies including bread rolls served by the cheery lasses. Everyone else was buying them by the score or more, so my request for two rolls generated some amusement





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[Homer]

Surely those plugs haven't been firing anyway near 100%? Plenty threads about checking coil sticks etc.good luck.enjoying the blog.