Ah lads, where do we even begin to summarise the past 2 weeks? Since our last blog, we've had 2 border crossings, seen a LOT more desert, tested the resilience of an Capall and met many interesting people!



We're currently in dusty, hot Tambacounda in Senegal and it really feels like we're surrounded by images of the "Africa" that one imagines when you heard that word; We're out of the Maghreb, past the Sahara desert and are now immersed in greenery. We've seen our first African monkeys, are surrounded by women carrying babies on their backs and buckets on their heads and the boisterous warmth of the people greets us everywhere.



On our last day in Western Sahara we covered close to 400 km. We came upon a man walking along the road in the desert. He didn't look like a camel herder, and the passing cars didn't stop for him. We stop to chat and offer him some water and food. He was a small 64 year old Tunisian man. I asked "Where are you walking now?" "Mauritania" he replies, in earnest. We've just seen a sign say it's 334 km to the border.......!!!! He explained that he was robbed somewhere in Morocco, and so had to walk to Mauritania, where he had some friends. If only we had a sidecar we could have given him a lift. Hopefully someone else did!



We spent 5- 6 days in Mauritania. Desert every inch of the way until close to the Senegal border. Beautiful driving along with soft sand as far as the eye can see, camels and small settlements appearing quite frequently. It's hard to comprehend how people live there. What's also hard to comprehend is seeing a lone image on the road in the distance, and you think "Oh, another motorbike". No, it's a man cycling a bicycle through the Sahara!!! Pushing the boundaries of adventure travelling I would think! Filled with feelings of laziness and guilt we stopped and offered some of our precious water supplies. "Sahara beautiful", he says as he tells of his plans to cycle to South Africa! He's not even sweating, or out of breath. Respect.

We've slept in a range of interesting places:

• A Berber tent at the Western Sahara/Mauritanian border


• Pitching our tent in the soft sand of the desert sleeping to the sound of camels (Noisy creatures that Mike aptly describes as sounding like a cross between an anxious donkey and a squeaky wheelbarrow!)


• A mattress on the roof of a hostel in Nouakchott, Mauritania
• We got to Kaolack, Senegal late and every hotel was full because of festivals. A hotel owner who spoke English with a New York accent, gave us a mattress on the roof terrace and allowed us stay for free, with free breakfast in the morning.

Memorable encounters have included:

• I went to a shop to buy bread and ending up sipping Mauritanian tea in the local shop while discussing Chris de Burgh with a local man in broken French (mine, not his)!


• Mike was sitting on the bike at the only shop for 200 km on the main road through Mauritania. 12 holy men men in full white robe approached, shook hands and broke into song.


• I was sitting on a bench in St Louis. Suddenly a small girl of 3 is shaking my hand. 2 seconds later: 14 girls aged 2 to 16 are sitting around me. My hair's plaited before I can catch my breath. I'm sprouting newly-taught Wolof (one of the Senegalese naitonal languages) phrases and the grils are hysterically laughing at my poor pronunciation!
• We stopped in Louga, Senegal for lunch. Everything was closed for preparations for a religious festival. We were waved across the road to a bunch of people sitting under a canopy. Within minutes we're surrounded by kids and then I joined the women and was invited to stir the massive pot of rice and beef. Mike spent the hour taking pictures of the kids and showing them the photos on the camera.

Okay, as seems to be the way of it, the only internet cafe we've found in a week is closing now so I must sign off.

Talk to you from Mali with more details