November 18th - Rambling from Rio

After a lush stay in the transfer hotel, including supper, breakfast, hot showers, wifi, clean crisp sheets... We left for the airport. We arrived in loads of time, but passport control/security took so long we actually only caught the plane by about 5 minutes.. This was really really stressful. I've always wondered how people manage to miss flights but after nearly missing two in two days I've got a lot more sympathy. I spent most of the 9 hour flight watching films and The Middle (jealous keeches?) and before we knew it we were in Rio. The immediate transition into the land of ORGANISATION was startling. So clean!! So many shops!! So little sand!!! There was a stand for taxis!!!! We got a taxi to a hostel. The drive was incredible, with a lit up Christ The Redeemer in the background, and the lights of Rio. We got to the hostel, put our bikes together to the amazement of the other guests who were all downing the mojitos and fell into bed.

November 17th - Christ through a cloud. 
We woke up and decided to visit Christ The Redeemer ASAP. I've been excited ever since me and my  fab cousins made a v realistic scale model out of sand. We had a lovely walk along the sunny beach with our feet in the sea, and then got the van to the top of the mountain. On the way up we had a tantalising view of the statue and the city below but when we got to the top we were in a cloud. Complete nightmare. I could barely see Mum let alone the statue. We waited for a while becoming increasingly despondent, and then to further our woes an annoying German man talked at us for a while. This sealed the deal and we left. It took a while to get back to the hostel, and then we had to pick up my bike which had been serviced. By this point it was getting dark so we went out to look for something to eat. The beach area of Rio is very touristy and most of the restuarants were overpriced Italian - so we bought a picnic, listened to the Archers and had an early night.

November 18th - Rainy Rio
We decided to stay an extra day in Rio because of the disappointing trip to CTR, and the stress of the travelling of the past few days. We woke up and had a swim before breakfast. Swimming in the sea is something we do as much as we can on this trip, and I always love it. It's not just the act of swimming in the sea, but the fact that the sea is same wherever you are: St Mawes, France, Barry Island, Sahara, Senegal, Rio... The feeling is so familiar it's comforting in a new place. We made the most of the breakfast buffet in the hostel (cake included) and then set off to cycle around the lake that was used in the olympic rowing. Within minutes the weather seriously deteriorated and we were hit by awful wind and rain and were soaked in seconds. We turned around and retreated to the safety of the hostel. After lunch I went to the Laundry to do washing in a machine!! I never thought that at the age of 21 I'd be this excited about washing... Not speaking Portuguese made this negotiations tricky but we worked it out. After washing we cycled around the lake. These views were breathtaking. Mountains appearing from nowhere with buildings at the bottom. CTR standing high above the lagoon. We stopped off to visit the botanic gardens which were beautiful, very green and lush with all sorts of exotic plants and a non-stinging bee colony. We even saw a hummingbird at touching distance.

Tomorrow we're heading South along the coast, following part of the olympic road race route to start with. We're hoping for no more rain... And less wind more worryingly.

P.S Thank you all for your lovely comments! We read them all and I know I don't reply but it's because wifi has been so rubbish and the process just seems unachievable. Please please keep writing and I'll try and reply more.

November 14th - Dakar!

I'm writing this in a really really nice (everything's comparative, the tap turns when you move it) hotel room in Dakar on the eve of our flight to Rio! Actually we're only flying to Morocco tomorrow, and then Rio the next day, but it's still the eve of the transition to our next phase of the trip. Our last day in Africa has been not fab, but the past few days have been great!

November 9th - stresst day in St Louis. 
By now we've learnt that we hate cities. It's a complete nightmare cycling through unfamiliar busy roads, particularly in Africa where people have no fear, and often no wing mirrors. We woke up in the morning and had a lazy breakfast, enjoying the luxury of having a room (hut) and not having pressure to start cycling before it is too hot. After this we ventured into St Louis. This was about a 5k cycle which isn't far, but it was on a pot-holey road with lots of traffic. As soon as we were stationary we were descended on by people wanting to "help" us or sell us something, or just talk. I like talking to people but it's a complete nightmare and really put us off standing still for any length of time, which reduced our enjoyment of the city. A typical example would be us trying to find the bridge, somebody coming and pointing out the bridge, and then asking for money because he'd "helped" us. This is incredibly frustrating and led to us being quite rude - not what we wanted. After a few hours of this we descended on a posh looking restaurant for lunch - this cheered us up a bit. After lunch we made friends with a man who claimed he'd met us before but neither of us recognised him, anyway we ended up going back to his house for a cup of tea with his family. His house was quite far away and at that point we were exhausted - so we went to the youth hostel and fell fast asleep.

November 10th - St Louis to Zebrabar (a true oasis). 
We tried and failed to leave St Louis early and head for Zebrabar, a campsite we had heard much about from other travellers. It turns out it was worth its fab reputation. A beautiful campsite in a national park, with hammocks strewn around the site, and cold beer in the fridge. We got there at around lunchtime and decided to go out in a boat and have a look at the birds. The guide seemed very happy with this plan but it turns out it was a big mistake as in the middle of the day all the birds are asleep, as he cheerfully informed us when we were halfway round and had only seen a seagull which could very well have come from St Mawes. I'm exaggerating slightly but it's very frustrating to feel like you're constantly being ripped off by people. He clearly would have known that we wouldn't see anything but still agreed to take (lots of) money, and didn't even seem very sorry. After the boat trip I fell asleep in a hammock for hours and then we all ate supper together with the european family running the campsite, and the other campsite visitors - two very friendly Germans heading for South Africa. They had only taken 11 days to get to that point! For those people riveted to the progress of my fish eating, supper was some delicious fish kebabs, which I ate with relish.

November 11th - Zebrabar to a tiny village north of Kebemer
We left Zebrabar earlyish and set off back towards St Louis and joined the main road heading south to Dakar. Most of this was riding through a national park, filled with salt lakes, and monkeys in the trees. When we joined the main road the landscape being less varied, but still green and lush which is such a contrast after the desert. Being able to stop and rest under a shady tree is something I won't take for granted ever again. After a beautiful day's riding we got to a village and decided we would stop for the night. We asked somebody where we could camp and were directed to the old police station, where a man lived to guard it, and he had a spare room. This was a weird evening, as he seemed to want to marry both of us, even though he already had two wives. He was also keen for us to watch TV with him in Wolof, which is the Senegalese dialect. Obviously neither of us speak Wolof but being English we pretended to enjoy it for ages, laughing on cue. Mosquitos are becoming more and more of a problem but luckily he had nets that we slept under (we've got one). This was an uncomfortable night as both of our thermorests have punctures so we've been sleeping on the ground. This is okay if it's sand but less okay if it's concrete floor.

November 12th - Kebermer to Mboro
We had a relaxed schedule this week because we'd booked flights to Rio with plenty of contingency. This means we could meander a bit, so we decided to go to Mboro, a small town on the coast. We continued along the main road to Dakar, and it gradually got busier. The hassleness is just constant in areas like this, and I'm really not sure why because they can't get many tourists coming close enough to shout at? But they all seem to really expect us to give them our bikes. Even quite fat women ask us for our food - one even tried to break off a bit of bread as we were eating it. We arrived at Mboro early enough for a beer and a game of backgammon in a european run campsite where we were the only customers. Despite this the owner could not have been less interested in us. I know I'm more nosey than the average person, but how can two women arrive by bike to your campsite and you don't even ask where they've come from? The campsite was lovely though, and had enough wifi for me to download the Joseph soundtrack. Mum and I sing when morale gets low and Joseph is a common choice.

November 13th - Mboro to Lac Rose
We left Mboro and headed along the coast to Lac Rose. This wasn't very far so we took a diversion to the seaside town of Kayar. Once we were there any thought of sitting restfully on the beach was destroyed because we were converged upon by enthusiastic locals again. In the villages further off the beaten track people are generally a lot nicer, but not less annoying. I love love talking to people, especially strangers with fascinating lives, but I also love sitting on my own and reading my kindle. This is impossible in Senegal. One person suggested we ride along the beach to Lac Rose, which in an uncharacteristic fit of adventuring we did! This was 10/10 would recommend. The sand was hard and the sea a glorious blue, and the beach mainly deserted. It also had that element of risk as occasionally the sand wasn't hard and it was scary. We got to the bit of beach *next to* Lac Rose, and it turns out that in between us and it were loads of sand dunes. There is NOTHING more frustrating than pushing a heavily loaded bike through sand. NOTHING. After an hour of this we were both seriously struggling, and then two locals came and took our bikes like absolute heroes. We got back onto the road and made it to the lake. My expectations of the lake were pretty high by this point and it was slightly disappointingly pink. By this time we both wanted to stop so we pulled up at the first place that said "camping". This was a campsite in name only - they didn't even have running water. The owner said we could pay what we want, and we agreed a price, and then he said he'd take us to his village for supper. These invitations are always met with both joy and dread - it's often really lovely and interesting to meet local people and eat their food, but it is also really hard work, both being polite and remembering to take your shoes off at the right moment, and speaking french for a long period of time. Shortly after this two other visitors arrived, one of them a British cycletourist called Robin who we had heard about from other people. He is heading to South Africa on a two year trip. Meeting Robin was unbelievably exciting. Not only was he a fluent english speaker but a fluent cycling english speaker!!! We had lots to talk about and it was really nice spending time with somebody other than mum (I'm 99% sure she'll never read this). We all went to the village and ate chicken and chips, and got a lift back (7 people in one car).

November 14th - Lac Rose to Dakar.
Before actually coming to Dakar I had a vague plan that I'd spend my medical elective (if I ever pass another exam) there. If I ever go to Dakar ever again I am not going by bike. Cycling into the city was awful beyond all imagining. I'd give us survival odds of about 4/5 so I'm quite pleased we're both alive. We had various small errands to run which were all stressful and took ages, and then we had to pack up the bikes. One of the hotel staff tried to help me, which at first I found very annoying as trying to explain what I was trying to do in French was v lengthy. Soon my stamina disappeared and I become very grateful as he moved our bikes around with ease whilst we were practically too tired to stand up, eventually we got the job done and collapsed into bed.

November 15th - Dakar to Casablanca (by plane)
I'm now at Casablanca airport in a free airport transfer hotel (who knew that was a thing?). We had an awful morning in Dakar, trying and failing to go to the Isle Goree (too tired for accents sorry Sally) and getting ripped off buying various things. The day only got worse as we got to the airport and found out we had to pay 300 euros to take the bikes on the plane. The people who told us this were seriously unhelpful and with 10 minutes before the flight was due to leave we were still outside the airport. Luckily it was running on African time and we made it with a whole 1 minute to spare...

PICTURES TO FOLLOW

November 9th - Beer in St Louis

Our rest day in Mauritania's capital was lovely. We had a swim in the sea (in all our clothes obviously...). We also saw the fishermen bringing in their daily catch in their long boats that they had to pull up the beach. The boats were all decorated beautifully. After that we went to a supermarket for the first time in weeks which made me surprisingly emotional. I can't believe all the times last year I didn't have a cup of tea because I couldn't be bothered to walk 300m to tesco. We had weeks in the desert of mainly eating cous cous/stale biscuits/stale bread and to be suddenly presented which such a vast array of food was very overwhelming! We spent lots of money. We also got taken (with Gaby and Werner) on a tour of the city by the campsite owner who spoke flawless english. We saw the country's only fire station, and got a flavour for the city. In the morning it was a very very sad goodbye to Werner and Gaby, who we've spent 6 nights camping with, in 3 countries. They're amazing people on an amazing journey and they've given us so many luxuries over the past few weeks! Their website is www.gabyundwerner.de

November 6th - Nouackchott to a police checkpoint - We left Nouackchott with a great plan to cycle round the coast and avoid the chaos of cycling through a city of 2 million people and lots of donkeys. Sadly due to a massive disagreement about which way we should go (I was right just sayin') we ended up not only cycling through the city, but cycling through a slightly dodge seeming slummy area where the road was mainly sand. We shouted at eachother a lot and eventually managed to fight our way round the cars/donkeys/goats/children and on to the main road south, out of Mauritania. Almost immediately the desert ended and we were cycling through Savannah, filled with small villages. As we cycle through the villages hundreds of children run to the road and shout "Donnez-moi un cadeau" or an alternative. Sometimes it's the very ambitious "Donnez-moi ton vélo". These shouts often seem quite aggressive and I doubt they ever have any success. It's lucky they're so rude because otherwise I would feel terrible as these children have nothing and I have so much. We spent the night in a police checkpoint with policeman who were exactly the right level of friendly.  Interested but no marriage proposals (this is rarer than you'd think, I'm absolutely inundated by proposals) They gave us goaty pasta which we all ate in a circle with our hands. I've really gone off forks.  It was a very interesting day of cycling, with lots of animals and a varied landscape.

November 7th - Police checkpoint to Senegal - We weren't planning to arrive in Senegal that day, so we had a very relaxed day of riding, stopping often to chat to people, making coffee, having a mid-day nap. The road was very bad with lots of patches of sand that we had to push through, until suddenly the road became absolutely beautiful - thanks to the EU for building it (EU <3 <3 <3). We made cracking progress and arrived at the border with loads of time to cross. Sadly this then became a complete nightmare. We'd heard lots about the Rosso border and it was all bad, but the reality is really really bad. We were dived upon by hundreds of men trying to persuade us that they would help us through the crossing. They grabbed our bikes, grabbed us, grabbed our passports, stood really close. The border crossing involves a ferry which would have been lovely in the evening light across the river, but instead all these people were pretending they were on our side. We got to the other side and it turns out there was only one place to stay and it was really expensive and really horrible. Really really horrible. BUT we always hate our first day in a new country.

November 8th - Rosso Senegal to St Louis - We left Rosso nice and early and had a lovely easy ride to St Louis through gorgeous green land. Grass!!! It's been so long. It was so easy Mum kept falling asleep and veering across the road. We stopped with some policeman and had biscuits, water and a very interesting chat. On our way into the city we bumped into two Canadian cyclists who were just leaving and heading for South Africa! They'd been in St Louis for 9 days. Everyone seems to have more fun than us. They told us where to stay and we headed for it, before venturing out to town for some food and sightseeing. Cities are very hassley and St Louis is no exception. We just stick out so much and everyone thinks they can make money out of us. It's a very interesting and diverse place though. My favourite bit was having our first beer in 6 weeks. So cold. So good.

Today we are having a rest day in St Louis, exploring the city and chillin' (not literally it's like 35 degrees) on the beach. Tomorrow we're heading south for some more rest in a national park full of birds.

Some desert photos

November 5th - Saying goodbye to the desert

So we're finally in Nouakchott after some of the hardest days of my life.

Monday 31st - Border to Bou Laminar Our first day in a new country never goes well, but even though we had remembered that we both felt irrationally optimistic about Mauritania. We got up before dawn and packed up our stuff so we were on the road at first light. The early morning light in the desert, when it’s still cool (25 degrees or so) is the best. We’d slept in an auberge just after the border, and felt happy that we’d successfully done the border crossing bit, which has the reputation of being a bit difficult. The visa cost 240 euros and was biometric - but then they all wanted to take selfies.. A nice man came to help us, and then asked us for a LOT of money - we gave him a fraction of that. Another man was persistent with a fist full of Mauritanian Ouriga, and we changed a tiny bit of money. We’d heard you can use any currency in Mauritania so neither of us was worried, and we felt that the man at the border had to be dodgy. This turned out to be a big mistake. Most people cross the border and go right 40km into Nouadibhou where there are cashpoints and banks. We chose to turn left, 430km or 4 days cycling, towards Nouakchott. 

Things started well, and the Mauritanian tarmac is much smoother and easier on the bottom than the Moroccan version. After 20km we found a tiny shop- looking like an allotment shed, but with “boutique” scribbled on a wall. When we got to the doorway we found the couple running the shop asleep on the floor next to the counter. They had tomatoes! But their bread was stale and disgusting. We stocked up on water, but as we got going again the unmistakable draft of a head wind was beginning to build. Within a few minutes our speed was down to 6mph, and we were seriously struggling. We’d had four days of this in Western Sahara, and it’s just unbelievably hard. Plus here the temperature was already 42 degrees at 10:30am, and there was sand  blowing all over the road (I suppose it is the desert!). After another 20km (at least 2 hours) we reached the only town marked on the map, which turned out to be mainly people hanging around, with a few tiny tiny shops in makeshift sheds or tents. We asked about a cup of coffee, to which the answer was “in Nouakchott!”, and tea, which they agreed they could find (surely we weren’t the first people ever to stop and want a drink?). In the end we had to skip the tea as it was about 30m away from our bikes - 30m of sand - and the effort to move our bikes to the tea was unthinkable. In Morocco we’d have happily left our bikes, unlocked, with all our luggage 30m away, and only once ever did we feel insecure about them. Incredibly through the sand we found an auberge, with bedroom, living room and bathroom, and amazingly effective air conditioning. Outside felt like an oven and the temptation was too great, and we dived inside. A disastrous first day with only 40km or so done. But we also still had the problem, which is the auberge cost almost all of our local money, and we are still 400km away from the nearest cashpoint. In the end we asked everyone we could find, and the auberge owner rustled up a friend prepared to accept dollars (at an exchange rate decided by him….). We spent the afternoon playing backgammon (the trip score is 54 - 36 to Harriet even though I'm the better player) and left again early in the morning. 

Tuesday 1st - Bou Laminar to a police checkpoint - I'm writing this on the 5th and I cannot remember anything about this day - I think I've selectively repressed it as it was absolutely terrible. The heat/wind/sand is unbearable and whenever there was any sign of life it would be a tiny disgusting shop selling biscuits (although obvs I love biscuits). The difference in Morocco is staggering - it makes Morocco look like Farnham. We spent the night in the police checkpoint where they gave us some goaty pasta which was delicious. 

Wednesday 2nd Police checkpoint to police checkpoint - We woke up in the morning full of optimism again, and again it was an absolutely horrendous day. I can't cope with headwinds at the best of times, on club runs with loads of people to hide behind and only in one direction. This was not the best of times. Lorries overtaking with sand flying up and hitting your face, all inside my mouth, clogging up my bike, nothing except biscuits to eat... Occasionally we have moments of joy, like the truck driver who stopped and gave us both a cup of tea. 

Thursday 3rd Police checkpoint to Police checkpoint - Again ANOTHER bad day, and this was even worse for me because we arrived in a village that seemed to be entirely made of fish. I had a 20 year gap from eating fish which has only recently made its first tentative steps towards ending and I was not ready for this. They gave us an entire fish for lunch, the water tasted of fish, the children all smelt like fish, it was hot, it was windy... Anyway this was not good. 

Friday 4th Police checkpoint to Nouakchott - Today we had 103km to do, and there was no way we weren't doing it. We set off very early and gritted our teeth. The wind wasn't as bad as the previous days, and as we got towards the end of the desert there was less sand and it was less unpleasant. We stopped for a quick break at a checkpoint and a policeman gave us 6 satsumas. I was borderline crying I was so happy. At about 30km to go morale was low again, but then like a mirage Gaby and Werner overtook us again! They waited for us at the campsite turning and we followed them to a lovely campsite right on the beach and had a swim. It's amazing how quickly you can forget and be happy again...

Saturday 5th - Rest day in Nouakchott! After a lovely meal in the restaurant last night, we had the famous Gaby and Werner breakfast (it's worth going to Africa just for that) with a swim before, and now we're feeding our wifi addictions in a posh hotel. And.. We've booked flights to Rio! 

I should say that although this post has sounded very negative, there have been real moments of joy and happiness, and the sense of achievement is massive. Plus, the desert is beautiful.