What were we thinking!!!

Tarka — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:38:32 +0000

Firstly we are very sorry about the delay in this post, reception has been non existant!!
When dreaming of this latest journey, we envisaged it to be a true adventure, to involve a lot less planning than a typical expedition and lots of spontaneity. So it was partly for this reason we new very little about Djibouti before our arrival, and also the little information I had read was very brief, vague and out of date. In light of this and having spent 32 hours exploring its heart and sole, Djibouti may have not been the easiest of starting points to have chosen! Firstly (I know this is going to sound thoroughly British) the heat is just astronomical, I have never experienced anything quite like it, with the temperature in the high 30’s and the humidity almost unbearable you cant even blink without producing enough sweat to fill a small paddling pool!! Goodness knows what it will be like on the bikes tomorrow. We have been told we must under no circumstances cycle in the dark, and with the sun rising up and going down at 6 it leaves us little time in the cool(er) temperatures. Today just walking around the city I have drunk 7 liters of water and am still not hydrated, its just pouring out quicker than I can get it in.
On arrival yesterday afternoon we set out immediately on a quest to find two bicycles. After 6 hours of searching high and low and time wasted with what I can only describe as ‘lost in translation’ we came away with nothing. In fact we couldn’t even find an open bank so we didn’t even manage to change any money! However, just as we were walking back to our accommodation we met a group of lads who seemed to understand what we were after and said they would meet us in the morning with 2 bicycles. Not being able to sleep due to the intense heat (incidentally this was not helped by the plastic covered mattresses either) we lay quietly in pools of sweat imagining what we would like the bicycles to be like in the morning. The reality of it is that if the lads did indeed show up and with the 2 bicycles, we were going to buy them regardless, we just weren’t going to take the chance of not getting any. Little known to us before arriving here but bicycles are not as popular commodity in Djibouti as they are throughout the rest of Africa.
Well ladies and gentlemen brace yourselves!!! The young lads made good of their promise and come 9 am we were the proud owners of two bikes, and what bikes they are. As a pure stroke of luck one of the bikes was actually an old Raleigh. That one is a real treat and Katie snapped it up in a jiffy. I on the other hand was left with something that looks like it was part of the industrial revolution! The handlebars look like the classic Harley Davidson choppers and it handles a little bit like an unstable tank! We have had to do an exorbitant amount of work just to get them ridable.

Welding has featured heavily along with considerable straightening of parts and hammer beating and some little extensions here and there. On the plus side we have got a front brake (of sorts) each. My front wheel is so bent though that in order to prevent the brakes from rubbing they are too wide to actually clamp the wheel and brake. Oh well I’m sure we will sort something out.

We are taking bets on how long it will be before we have to do some major repairs. I guess it will be around 200km and Katie has hedged her bets closer to 100km. Incidentally for some reason the message board has been playing up, it is working and all your messages are getting through but they are all being marked for moderation. I will get round to fixing it but its going to have to wait until we are settled into a routine. In the mean time please leave your messages in the normal way at the bottom of each post.
We are all set for a 6am departure in the morning and we are thoroughly excited about getting underway finally. We will update you once we are out in the desert.

Exhausted

Tarka — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:41:25 +0000

Well we are finally off and i’m already absolutely exhausted with a mouth of ulcers. The last few days have been customarily hectic getting everything organised for departure. The biggest headache has been getting the communications up and running so we can keep the website updated. You would have thought that in the 21 century getting a journal onto the internet would be a breeze, even in the far flung regions of the world! Unfortunatly nothing is simple when you need it to be. In fact one of the biggest problems is power. Being at home i take electricity for granted, when i need to charge something i simply plug it into the nearest power socket. Not only is electricity a rare commodity in the middle of nature but when you do finally find a plug you can guaranty that you wont have the right adapter! Just a couple of hours ago i was frantically running around london trying to solve the power problem and when i finally did find a solution, to add insult to injury the gentleman selling the adapter wanted almost as much for it as we paid for the computer!!! Another major headache over the past week has been our widget! I have programmed a desktop widget that would save you the hassle of having to check the website to see he we have updated it. Unfortunatly i could not get the code approved in time so you will just have to do it the good old fashion way and check the site regularly for the time being. We are aiming to write posts about twice a week.

Primal Journey | Tarka and Katie-Jane L'Herpiniere » Long Haul

What were we thinking!!!

Exhausted