A question I'm not regularly asked is "what's a typical day like?". The difficulty with the answer is that they're all different but there are similar elements. Then today I was thinking that the day I've had has included lots of those elements. So this has been my day:
- Wake up at 5am after a pretty bad nights sleep [1] as a result of some very persistent mosquitos.
- Oversleep.
- Just make breakfast.
- Load the bike (unusually don't immediately turn around and find something I've not packed).
- Leave, wave at some small boys who look at the bike (not gender stereotyping bit is always small boys who wave).
- Bike decides to stop working, on second time it doesn't restart, push it uphill to a layby, strip off all the luggage and get the Haines manual out.
- Bike starts working, but I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with me.
- Stop for fuel at a petrol station with three vehicles parked outside it. Find out it's (permanently) closed. Still not sure what the other vehicles were doing there.
- Ride on along beautiful roads with amazing views but don't stop as I'm worried I might not be able to start the bike again.
- Tarmac gives way to dirt roads and I'm still 70km away from my destination (according to one map anyway). Wasn't expecting that.
- GPS map roads start tracking 100m or more off my actual position, suggesting the maps for this area aren't particularly accurate.
- Plan to stop for some food and a cold drink at a place about 1/3 to 1/2 way there. Get there and it's pretty dead so push on.
- Not happy worth the route the GPS is taking (no mention of São Tome on any signs), but have plenty of fuel.
- Rejoin GPS road. Hurray!
- Follow it to a padlocked gate - boo!
- Turn around, summon the assistance of Google. Ride on.
- Sun's going down and the temptation to race it home is enormous (riding after dark is a lot slower) but keep it steady.
- Ride past a campsite where I could have stayed but push on the last 2km to town, up a horrible dirt road with undulations similar to riding up a mogul field uphill.
- Arrive at in town just after sun down.
- Pull over to look at a map and am approached by a biker. Short chat, photo taken with him and get given a sticker. Smile for the photo and try and make coherent conversation even though I'm tired and my focus is on getting somewhere for Lena and I to spend then night.
- Go to the place I want to stay, get the last room, more expensive than anticipated but I'm tired...
- Park bike.
- Have a look at the room and check in.
- Unload bits off the bike.
- Unpack. Find shampoo bottle has leaked / exploded.
- Shower, washing shampoo of all my kit before I get a clean - apart from my hair as there is no shampoo left in the bottle...
- Go for food and beer (or two), then a short wander around town before deciding to get an early night.
- Repeat, this time with added rain! "Highlights" of the following day being:
- A pub in town has a band playing live music, loudly, until about 5am.
- Loading the bike, then setting off and dropping the bike within 3 feet because I hadn't taken the disc lock off (d'oh) while being watched by the lady who worked at the hostel and wanted to lock the garage behind me. On the bright side I was able to lift the bike without unloading anything - embarrassment being almost as effective as adrenaline.
- 35 of the last 50km being on wet dirt roads, uphill, in the dark, through cloud / fog (it was above 1,500m altitude) and distinctly off my GPS mapping.
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| There may be trouble ahead... |
Notes:
1. Other reasons for getting bad nights sleep include, but are not limited to, uncomfortable beds, people snoring, people having sex (mostly sleeping in dorms), postpone getting in late and drunk, people getting up early and packing to catch buses and flights, rooms too hot, too cold, too noisy. Insects, primarily mosquitos, occasionally bed bugs (only come across them 3 times this trip but the decontamination process afterwards is a real hassle).
2. It was the side-stand cut-off switch (which is designed to prevent you from driving off with the side-stand down). But it wasn't making the connection and it fails off, cutting the engine out. I'm undecided as to whether that's the safest thing to do as it happened when I was overtaking a car... I later discovered I hadn't fixed it either [see here].
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