After having one of the worst breakfasts thus far on the trip, we set off in the poring rain. Unlike any of the previous rains we have encountered thus far,this appears to be here to stay. We do 80 km in torrential rain and are socked! Even the boots are filled with water, after it has run down my leg into my boot.
We now hit the " bad stretch " that the hotel owner had warned us about. He said it was 60 km of really bad road, and with the rain it was! It was nothing like anything I had experienced before. The road was so water logged, the mud had become like sludge, and what I was unaware of was what it was doing to my brakes. After an hour, we had only managed to do 10 km of the 60 km. This was turning into a nightmare! About 12 km in, we came across erden, the cyclist from the day before. He was pushing his bike with its trailer. He was to nerves he would fall. He said to us, do not worry, only another 45 km of this. What a nightmare! What we were not aware of was that, 3 km further down we would encounter parts of semi completed road. This was mostly hard gravel, with some big obstacles in it, to prevent us from using it. Normally these obstacles were in the form of tree logs, which were easy to circumnavigate around. Howeever, the 15 km had done there damage, my almost new break pads were finished. Yes,the 15 km had destroyed them totally! The fact that we still had over 200 km to go to Dar El Salam, was neither here or there. Welcome to Africa!
Eventually,after 60 km of by far the worst road I had ever done, it eventually became tar. I now know why people kiss the Tarmac in all those books one reads of overland trips.
Running late and still have almost 200 km to go, so time to sitand get one's breath back will have to wait. Just 10 km later we enter a bustling town. There are numerous cars, buses and trucks parked. This is repair city. There are all sorts of shops catering to therepairof vehicles. Not surprising after that road. There are little shacks with welders and and angle grinders going full tilt. In amounts all this, are people selling all sorts of food stuff. David and i, decide to stop for a corn on the cob. Soon we get confronted with all other sorts of food, including some form of fudge and peanut brittle, Tanzanian style. In amongst all the confusion, we also find a lady pan frying cassava, a for of potato root. We both decide to have a try. Turns out to be actually lovely and order seconds, and thirds.
Tummies fool, it is time to hit the road, still a long way to go.
At about 430 pm, in peak traffic we finally hit the outskirts of Dar. Not having any breaks makes what is a nightmare into an absolute nightmare from hell!
I could not break since, my pads were metal on metal, and every time I used my breaks, I was potentially damaging my break disks. So slowing down was using ALL my gears at my disposal, and then, to make a final stop, I would stall the engine and bring the bike to a stop by releasing my clutch while the bike was still in gear. ingenious I thought at the time. It worked very well and I managed to only use breaks on a handful of occasions. What we were not aware at the time w that, Tracks 4 Africa on our GPS, had taken us the long way round. This meant we had to go through the centre of Dar rather than taking a simple detour. It makes mates worse, 3km from our destination, we were still required to do a ferry crossing. Wearing all our gear, and still boots soaking from all the water we had to go through, was not making us feel very comfy. David lead the way, and we just followed all the people onto the ferry. It was like organized chaos! People go in one entrance, abide and 3 wheelers another, and cars the final. Then the gates open, and it is a free for all getting any space on board. Then like sardines, it is only a 5 min boat trip and one is across on the other side. Then the chaos of leaving the boat follows. Each man, woman, bike, car for themselves! Thank god we are in front of the queue, so we manage to leave all the confusion behind us.
3 km later, and we arrive at Makida Beach, and are welcomed in by Lucho, the owner. I am soo happy to have arrived in one piece, and the repairs to the bike will have wait until the morning.
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| Day 25, 2011/05/26 |
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