Gael warning in the Congo

As posted in technical help, bike starts ok now and rubs ok so if it starts in the morning I shall go for it☘️����.

Bit unsatisfactory not to know what caused the issue but not confident I can do a good diagnosis here so I am just going to be philosophical*♂️.


The bike has now had new brake pads, plugs, oil filter and both oils changed and sports some squeaky new tkcs that I have been scrubbing in.

Wish me luck, please.


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Best of luck Simon! :D

You've got ukgser at your back. Micky will no doubt be along shortly to re assure you with tales of darkest Siberia!
 
So a quick update on Day 1 of tropical storms:

Heavens opened about 7 pm and huge gust and walls of water, came into my thatched hut by the door and through the roof. No where to shelter the bike so 🤞🏼

After a heart stopping moment when the bike refused to start, and I pushed it up a slope in preparation for a jump start, it started on the button. Hurrah

I had various overnight messages from contacts as I was concerned how I was going to leave Cameroon as I had no passavant, usually a vital document in Africa. I spoke to a police biker contact Amadou who gave some advice and then in the morning I received details of another conu, this time in the gendarmerie, who could be of help.

But after much reflection i decided just to wing it at the border. In fact neither the police control point at Ambam nor the Cameroon border officials (who were plentiful) even asked for it so I parted myself on the back!). Like Drumacoon Lad, I believe these are busy people with important work to do and I don't want to trouble then with too much information or bother!

So over the bridge I go to Gabon. I am the only traveller and it's a contrast to the bridge I crossed into Cameroon from Nigeria in February, where there were armed special forces in armoured vehicles and the tension was palpable, since the border had been closed all morning during military action against insurrectionists.

On the other side is the renowned edMr Grumpy (flagged in HUBB forum) who, even if you have a visa, insists on seeing a Gabonese hotel booking and telephoning the hotel to confirm it. He has been know to refuse entry to people who have cancelled their booking.com reservations once they got the visa, with dire consequences.

So I was very pleased I got through in 10 minutes even though he couldn't get my hotel to answer! (I have cancelled the booking now ).

There was still the usual faffing round seeing police, gendarmerie and Douane then being sent to a nearby town, Bitam, to do the same thing again.

But the lady who did my passport pulled out a banana and offered me it (she had another) which was great as I was starving! She was equally delighted by the postcard of London sights I gave her.
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I had got through in such good time that I got to Oyem by 2 and so decided to go a further 120 kms to Mitzic. Foolishly (but I have now learnt) I ignored the gathering storm clouds
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And soon the heavens opened and games blew, accompanied by thunder and lightning. At one point I stopped at a roadside shelter to eat my lunchtime bun (saved from breakfast) and out on my waterproof jacket. I joined this cheery crew and we had a great laugh
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The laughter was because I had just told them I was happily married and they weren't to get any ideas! I think they were tickled by my presumptuousness


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They were in fact a family, Together for the funeral of father/grandfather pictured here
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When the rain eased I set off....into what became an even more tempestuous storm...I have a great video but cannot upload it.

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I had to sit out the worst of that as it really was like living in a yellow (GS) submarine. As time was pressing (it gets dark at 6 here) I decided to press on, dodging fallen trees.

Amazingly the GS survives the rain, although the gear indicator decided it liked the look of 4th and now that's all it will show!

Eventually and gladly I arrived at Mitzic and found a basic hotel but with the essential amenity (Guinness!).

And if it stops raining so hard, and the bike starts, tomorrow I should cross the Equator🕺


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Well done Simon. I've see the video Simon took, and it looked like the inside of a washing machine, an amazing storm. Hope the bike electrical will dry out overnight. Enjoy the Guinness!

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Looks like you picked a good stall to stop at!
Years ago in a storm like that in Cameroon I went out with a bar of soap and had a shower in the rain, it was heavy and warm enough. Not nice trying to ride in it, plus the potholes get filled up so you have no idea where some are and how deep they are. Slow progress.
Hopefully the electrical thing won't be an issue.
Safe travels, enjoy Gabon
 
2 October

Make an early start 0600
Bike blocked in but guy arrives soon
Refuel... consumption 60 mpg so fine
It's dry so press on, leave town refuelled (but not breakfasted!) 06h20
By 9 I am at Ndole having done 200 kms on superb windy roads but it starts to rain so I don my gear (glad I brought the BMW waterproof ones!) And plug on.

Lots of overturned lorries down gullies and crashed cars, caught out by the twisty roads! Superb tropical rainforest, lots of hardwood logging sadly and huge logging trucks to be avoided or overtaken with care.

Stop for a coffee and pain au chocolat by the Ndole petrol station, sheltered from the increasing rain.

So just keep on for Lambarene, looking out for the Equator sign that never comes, so a bit of an anti climax. It was somewhere about here, after Mifoun, when I was more focused on the traffic jam over the bridge.

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So now pleasantly accommodated at the Albeit Schweitzer Hospital and had very interesting visit to the old hospital (in part of which I reside, just by his old house)
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Have been doing some route planning by chatting with a few guys from South of here and it seems the road from Ndende to the Congo Brazzaville border is red mud with deep holes filled with water. Hmmmm.....45 kms of it


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Have you got a length of something that can be used as a towrope? In case that mud gets a couple of feet deep
 
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My new best friend
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A 'light' lunch on arrival at Lambarene


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So Wednesday’s mission was to ride from Lambarene to Ndende in the very south of Gabon and investigate the state of this road section
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There were some unpleasant stories on iOverlander about the poor state of this road and some people I spoke to said it was full of crevasses and deep puddles.

Time to investigate! Breakfast was a Cameroon history lecture from a Cameroonian guide who took people through some interesting places like Central African Republic.

I remembered to refuel before starting but the first 2 were out of petrol but finally succeeded. Then off on excellent Gabonese roads towards Muila. It started to spot with rain so I put on waterproofs and sweated uncomfortably until I capitulate and take them off. And in fact despite threatening clouds it didn’t rain the rest of the day.

Got to Muila to find the only bank had 3 atms none of which worked! So ended up being led to a bloke called Prince who exchanged euros for me at a hefty commission.



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When I get I Ndende it has a very bombed out frontier feeling
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This hotel won’t be getting my custom
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I head off to check out the fabled piste
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Here’s how it began....
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I chatted with these codgers by the roadside and they said ‘it was like that most of the way to Congo ‘
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They even said they had seen graders working on the road...
So, cheered by that I went to find an open hotel and ended up here
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It was not underpriced at £5.50 but it had water and a fan.
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And the bike got its own little shelter
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There was a (closed) bar next door where I sat that evening chatting with these folks which was interesting to understand something about their lives
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The red headed lady, Reine, is 18 and has a 3 year old and this one year To her dismay her husband, a 30 year old ruler, has since taken a second wife.

The sun sets on a good day, although I am very apprehensive about the 300 kms of piste tomorrow
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All good so far - apart from the closed bar!

And well done with the photo of the iconic signpost, one to remember and share occasionally!

Have a good one tomorrow, enjoy the gossip stops
 
Wish that I hadn't started reading this..just makes me want to get out there and explore now ..and it will happen at some point :D

Please keep entertaining us :thumb2
 


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