Gael warning in the Congo

[simondippenhall]

Good progress and a delight to have an easy customs extraction! Tomorrow should be your last day of riding on this trip?

Correct.

And 4 minutes compares well with 4 hours at Jeddah port.

Already mulling some ideas for next year sometime (warm!) of riding from Bulgaria up to places not visited like Moldavia, Ukraine, Bielorus (Sp?) Lithuania Estonia and on to Finland and Arctic Circle. Those are all new countries to me and would complete my personal 'Arctic Circle to Capetown and back' - since I rode my electraglide to the Arctic circle a few years back...

Just thoughts...lots of hours in the saddle to reflect on these


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gspod]

Simon, a truly inspirational RR throughout your African Odyssey - many thanks for posting it
Enjoy a few well earned beers with Polly and the gang at Bulgaria Motocamp.
D

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

This is the pinnacle of ride reports!

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

This is the pinnacle of ride reports!

Agree!

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

 

[simondippenhall]

Thank you all gentlemen for your kind feedback. And thanks to Drumacoon Lad in particular for originally suggesting 'a short run down to The Gambia'....which clearly went spectacularly off plan!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[simondippenhall]

So this morning I enjoyed a good buffet at my hotel - good also because it yielded for my lunch a spectacular ham and cheese sandwich (of my making) two hard boiled eggs, a slab of chocolate cake and a flask of coffee. (Us adventure riders do get peckish about 11).

Then I did the most dangerous riding manoeuvre of the day...getting out of the subterranean car park with its 30 degree curving initial ramp. .

I just about made it though I had to stop in the turn - and thanked heavens it wasn't the kind I saw in Iran where they use marble FFS!

Then I refuelles nearby at one of the petrol stations set into an apartment block... I'd be horrified to live there...above a petrol tank, essentially.

Anyway I would my way back up from Kavala which is set at the bottom of a series of hairpins which run through the town.

Farewell to the historic castle

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[simondippenhall]

I ride East along the motorway before turning Nirth towards the mountains. I had put on my Zambian hiviz waterproof coat as I didn't want to freeze for a second day.

The weather was lovely as I climbed to the Bulgarian border which I quickly crossed. The autumn foliage was fabulous...will post a photo from other phone.

But then I entered a tunnel and emerges to cold fig which accompanied me for the next few hours.

The roads were worse than in Greece and as I went through villages I was reminded of the horrors of rundown Soviet era architecture.

I stopped to refuel where there was a MasterCard and Visa sign...the guy serving saw the cars with horror and phones a friend who knew how to work the card reader. He arrived in a few minutes but it declined both my MasterCard and Visa. I had no Bg Lev so offered Euro which seems readily accepted here. (Mental note: find an ATM!).

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[simondippenhall]

Wonderful mountains...but very rundown housing

But the bulk of my 440 kms ride was in great roads with lots of bends. A welcome change from yesterday's motorway slog. And Bulgaria uses a vignette system so no rolls on the road...and even better, motorcycles are exempt.

Fuel is also cheap at just over the euro per litre...and they seem occasionally to have 100 octane...must seek that out to fill the tank beofre I lay the bike up.

And in a change to my plan I decided I would stay tonight at historic Veliko Tarnovo (a corner capital of the Bulgarian kingdom I read), about 25 Kms from Motocamp (it's their off season so no food available there). Instead I shall ride to Motocamp after breakfast tomorrow...my flight is not until early evening.

Thanks Booking.com for another good billet in the centre of the town:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

Well done Simon. Almost there!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[simondippenhall]

Some autumn colours from this morning (when the fog lifted)

Sent from my G8441 using Tapatalk

 

[Phil Magill]

Wow, this has been some adventure.

Thanks for sharing

 

[simondippenhall]

Thanks Phil!

The last day dawns beautiful:

Pity about the Soviet era block in the emery, and the forecast of rain in a couple of hours .

Walked the old Ottoman style streets last evening

Impressive ramparts and no doubt equally impressive history!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[simondippenhall]

So a pleasant 30 km amble to Motocamp. Managed to beat the weather too!

Bikes awaiting garaging

And those to whom the seasons have been less kind

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Posh Pete]

An epic trip Simon. Thanks for the tales and the pics.

 

[simondippenhall]

An epic trip Simon. Thanks for the tales and the pics.

My pleasure! As I await a lift to Sofia airport, I am just in that odd period of reflection on the roads covered and recognition that the trip is over...for now.

One episode I chuckle over now was in Sudan:

Seemingly a jolly photo at a fuel stop. But this was the day I rode 600 kms to Port Sudan through the hot desert with little benzene in evidence. (And oil spraying out if the oil filler cap!)

Apart from isolated truck stops it was just sand and scrub. Each time I asked about petrol I had first to ride a sandy trail up to the pumps, to be told ‘No benzene’.

At this particular stop I snapped a picture of the emptypumps...and the owner emerged looking very cross...and putting his hand on the large revolver in a holster at his waist!

I smiled and explained my trip and quickly he was up for lots of photos. But the gun was probably an indication that out there far from any town you make your own law!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Northern jock]

Landed! Great trip, well done and enjoy a couple of cold ones waiting for your flight!

Thanks for the write up, it takes a lot of time and effort to bother with photos and updates - though also gives you a good diary of your trip. Have a good trip home.

 

[barak666]

Excellent report once again, Simon... thoroughly enjoyed every post and look forward to your continuing adventures.

Phil

 

[Rich C]

Superb adventure Simon and equally good write up.. Have followed every twist and turn with eager anticipation..

Looking forward already to the next installments of the 'Yellow Peril Rides Again'!

Cheers chap.. many thanks..

 

[Jockser]

Bugga, it’s over ! What are we gonna do on these cold dark nights now
Looked like a great trip. Thanks for taking the time to keep us entertained Simon

 

[simondippenhall]

Thanks guys for your support. So the clock has stopped (or maybe just paused) here

.

So that's roughly 28,000 miles since leaving London in September 2017. Not bad for two elderly folk (the GS and me!).

And countries it has crossed this time:

Spain
Morocco
W Sahara
Mauritania
Mali
Senegal
Gambia
Guinea Bissau
Burkina Faso
Ghana
Togo
Benin
Nigeria
Cameroon
Gabon
Rep of Congo
DR Congo (if its territory extends to the mouth of the River Congo which it crossed by pirogue)
Angola
Namibia
Botswana
South Africa
Zambia
Malawi
Tanzania
Kenya
Ethiopia
Sudan
Saudi Arabia
Jordan (just briefly)
Israel
Greece
Bulgaria.

So it deserves a few months off.

And a few final thanks:

A BIG THANK YOU to my wonderful pillion and spouse of 36 years who tolerates me buggering off for two months at a time to do this stuff...seen here on the back of the bike in Botswana

Thanks also to Jim (Drumacoon Lad) for getting me started on this in the first place.

And thank you to all who gave support and offered technical advice to this mechanical numpty, or just gave encouragement along the way in this blog.

More next year, I hope



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk