Thursday, October 23, 2008
Ghana
We travelled south from the border, over the white volta river,
I thought that was in russia, hey ho. then across the black volta river,
it looked just like the white one,
We had a overnight stop at Tamale where we discovered that some places in Ghana have joined the no smoking club, very very strange, this was not a posh hotel.
We have been using a webb site called horizonsunlimited get some advance information about acomodation and we decided to head for a place called green turtle beach, run by a couple of english, real nice people, Tom and Jo, unfortunately as we hadn,t booked we could only stay 3 days before we were evicted.
We moved to the next place down the beach called safari lodge ,run by 2 muppets who should get another job, a place to avoid
I thought that was in russia, hey ho. then across the black volta river,
it looked just like the white one,
We had a overnight stop at Tamale where we discovered that some places in Ghana have joined the no smoking club, very very strange, this was not a posh hotel.
We have been using a webb site called horizonsunlimited get some advance information about acomodation and we decided to head for a place called green turtle beach, run by a couple of english, real nice people, Tom and Jo, unfortunately as we hadn,t booked we could only stay 3 days before we were evicted.
We moved to the next place down the beach called safari lodge ,run by 2 muppets who should get another job, a place to avoid
Mali/ Burkina
Headed on across Burkina to Ouagadougou, the capital to get our visa for Ghana, another 2 day affair but a really nice friendly city, got some small bits that I needed to replace on the bikes, a few bolts had fallen off.
Sean by this time had aranged to meet us in Ghana and would be bringing new brake pads for both bikes,, plus bacon, sausages, cheese and a fray bentos chicken an mushroom pie, I kid you not,
thanks mate but I still cant figure out how to cook the pie on a primus stove .
Oh yes he also brought industrial quantities of newspapers.
Visas got we headed off to Ghana, we crossed the border at Bolgatanga into Ghana with a cheerful welcome to Ghana from aall the officials.
Beer oclock now. Ghana deserves its own story.
Can I just welcome the SEM, I believe Dan has stickied us there, an hi Loz how goes it chuck
Sean by this time had aranged to meet us in Ghana and would be bringing new brake pads for both bikes,, plus bacon, sausages, cheese and a fray bentos chicken an mushroom pie, I kid you not,
thanks mate but I still cant figure out how to cook the pie on a primus stove .
Oh yes he also brought industrial quantities of newspapers.
Visas got we headed off to Ghana, we crossed the border at Bolgatanga into Ghana with a cheerful welcome to Ghana from aall the officials.
Beer oclock now. Ghana deserves its own story.
Can I just welcome the SEM, I believe Dan has stickied us there, an hi Loz how goes it chuck
Guinea and onwards
We then headed up to Kankan on proper roads, Bruce was a very happy bunny. we crossed thee border into Mali and stopped for 2 nights in Bamako because wwe had to wait 2 days for our visa for Burkina faso, we treated ourselves to a proper hotel for the last night there,, the first night was in,,,,,,,,, yes your right another brothel.
I still had some Siera leone money left and had to go to the market to change it up,,
quite an experience even for me,
kicking chickens and goats out of the way this old girl made room for me in her shack and we proceeded to haggle over the dough, I got a really good deal in the end and she offered me her daughter as part of the deal. cackling away we shook hands san daughter
Onwards the next day to Segou which is on the banks of the Niger, really impressive, we stayed there days,, the ATM machines worked FFS.
The next day we headed for the Burkina border where we saw a computer for the first time , the guy actually put our visa numbers in it, we were very impressed till I realised that he would have to take it to the capital to download it.
Never the less a very civilised border crossing
I still had some Siera leone money left and had to go to the market to change it up,,
quite an experience even for me,
kicking chickens and goats out of the way this old girl made room for me in her shack and we proceeded to haggle over the dough, I got a really good deal in the end and she offered me her daughter as part of the deal. cackling away we shook hands san daughter
Onwards the next day to Segou which is on the banks of the Niger, really impressive, we stayed there days,, the ATM machines worked FFS.
The next day we headed for the Burkina border where we saw a computer for the first time , the guy actually put our visa numbers in it, we were very impressed till I realised that he would have to take it to the capital to download it.
Never the less a very civilised border crossing
Update/////// a bit
We are currently in bloody paradise, Busua beach infact 150mls west of Accra in Ghana,
we have had some visitors out to see us, Sean an old pal of ours arrived here and spent a week with us down at safari beach, then Amanda arrived on the same flight Sean went back on,,
so we have been busy entertaining people which was nice but kind of strange as the only real people in our lives on the road have been ourselves,
Great to see you both and I have a guy here at this bloody expensive internet in a 5 star hotel is going to help me put some photos on,, we are not staying here by the way just using the interweb jobby.
After our fiasco leaving Sierra Leone we left Farina in Guinea and headed south to Kissidugu then north to Bamako . I,m going to post this now and then start again as we haad a power cut yesterday aand I lost a page of text so left in disgust and went for a beer,
can anybody spot the recuring theme here?
we have had some visitors out to see us, Sean an old pal of ours arrived here and spent a week with us down at safari beach, then Amanda arrived on the same flight Sean went back on,,
so we have been busy entertaining people which was nice but kind of strange as the only real people in our lives on the road have been ourselves,
Great to see you both and I have a guy here at this bloody expensive internet in a 5 star hotel is going to help me put some photos on,, we are not staying here by the way just using the interweb jobby.
After our fiasco leaving Sierra Leone we left Farina in Guinea and headed south to Kissidugu then north to Bamako . I,m going to post this now and then start again as we haad a power cut yesterday aand I lost a page of text so left in disgust and went for a beer,
can anybody spot the recuring theme here?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Leaving Freetown
Having got the bikes sorted and running really sweet again we headed off through the lion mountains towards the Guinea border, we stopped the night at a place called Kundara to give us a full day off road to the border,
This trail was really tough going the rains have played havoc with the terrain, some of the river fords were so deep they were up to my tank,
we arrived at the border leaving Sierra Leone to find yet again no bugger there, so carried on to the guinea side only to find the guy hadn,t got a stamp for the passports or carnets
I suggested he just looked the other way and we would slip through, hey ho, nothing ventured an all that, but no way, he gave me a letter to take to the Prefecture in the town 30miles down the trail, we were going to stop the night there anyway:
What on earth this guy had done to deserve posting to this place god only knows, but he had definately upset someone
So , plotted up at a hotel and then went to present ourselves at the prefecture
Sorry mate he aint in the office, recuring theme here yes??
Ah, but he,s at home I was told , you,ll have to go there,
by this time I,m pissed off, hot, tired and its way past beer o,clock but I aint got a stamp in my passport and this lot love their paperwork
So off to the guys house with the letter firmly gripped in my sweaty paws, his manservant told us to sit in his yard whilst we awaited the head honcho.
Out he comes and I present him with said letter and showed him the passports and carnets,
This is sod all to with me, says he, my guys at the office should of done this, go back there at once and how dare you interupt my dinner.
Back to the office where I assume the cop had had a phone call to tell him what to do, he just writes all the details down and tells me to piss off back to whichever stone I had crawled out from under,
GRRRRRR I still dont have a stamp but at least I,ve delivered the letter, it was like when the teacher gave you a letter for the headmaster, I still don,t know what was in it but its now way past beer o,clock so we go back to the hotel and relax and get a early night in thinking that we had made everybody happy.How wrong could I get it
BANG BANG BANG on the door in the morning, OPEN UP ITS THE POLICE, lo and behold its the head honcho and his driver,
he wanted to know our date of births and our professions, that was it!!!! the guy had missed the info off the form last night so the top man came to do it himself, service hey
I still dont have a stamp and never got one, we left Guinea the next day and the border into Mali was a breeze, we arrived last night and checked into a real shithole as it was a early start for us, we vacated at 7.30am and went to the Burkina embassy to get our visa, sure no probs, come back at 3pm and I,ll have them ready for you says the lady
There is a really nice hotel round the corner so sod it we have checked in for the night and will try to get a early start tomorrow.
This trail was really tough going the rains have played havoc with the terrain, some of the river fords were so deep they were up to my tank,
we arrived at the border leaving Sierra Leone to find yet again no bugger there, so carried on to the guinea side only to find the guy hadn,t got a stamp for the passports or carnets
I suggested he just looked the other way and we would slip through, hey ho, nothing ventured an all that, but no way, he gave me a letter to take to the Prefecture in the town 30miles down the trail, we were going to stop the night there anyway:
What on earth this guy had done to deserve posting to this place god only knows, but he had definately upset someone
So , plotted up at a hotel and then went to present ourselves at the prefecture
Sorry mate he aint in the office, recuring theme here yes??
Ah, but he,s at home I was told , you,ll have to go there,
by this time I,m pissed off, hot, tired and its way past beer o,clock but I aint got a stamp in my passport and this lot love their paperwork
So off to the guys house with the letter firmly gripped in my sweaty paws, his manservant told us to sit in his yard whilst we awaited the head honcho.
Out he comes and I present him with said letter and showed him the passports and carnets,
This is sod all to with me, says he, my guys at the office should of done this, go back there at once and how dare you interupt my dinner.
Back to the office where I assume the cop had had a phone call to tell him what to do, he just writes all the details down and tells me to piss off back to whichever stone I had crawled out from under,
GRRRRRR I still dont have a stamp but at least I,ve delivered the letter, it was like when the teacher gave you a letter for the headmaster, I still don,t know what was in it but its now way past beer o,clock so we go back to the hotel and relax and get a early night in thinking that we had made everybody happy.How wrong could I get it
BANG BANG BANG on the door in the morning, OPEN UP ITS THE POLICE, lo and behold its the head honcho and his driver,
he wanted to know our date of births and our professions, that was it!!!! the guy had missed the info off the form last night so the top man came to do it himself, service hey
I still dont have a stamp and never got one, we left Guinea the next day and the border into Mali was a breeze, we arrived last night and checked into a real shithole as it was a early start for us, we vacated at 7.30am and went to the Burkina embassy to get our visa, sure no probs, come back at 3pm and I,ll have them ready for you says the lady
There is a really nice hotel round the corner so sod it we have checked in for the night and will try to get a early start tomorrow.
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