I left my hotel yesterday knowing I had a long way to go to reach the capital Bamako. It was about 650km away, about 7 hours riding.
I made good progress in the morning with the day getting hotter and hotter but at least it was not dusty like Senegal. At 1pm the heat was unbearable so I stopped at the roadside for a couple of hours and put a tarpaulin up over me amd the bike. At 3pm I started off again thinking at the current rate of progress I would arrive at about 7pm. Just before it got dark.
Things unraveled from then. First I was getting low on fuel and had seen no petrol for hours. I eventually refilled from my 5L jerry can. That should get me to Bamako. Then the roads started getting worse, I was down to an average of 40kpm from 80kph previously. Sometimes down to 20kph or less. Fuel was getting low again so bought 5L from a man selling fuel from old 1L wine bottles.
Now it was getting dark. What do I do? Not safe to camp and GPS says 20 minutes to go. Luckily I caught up with a coach so followed him into town. He knew the road and when to speed up or slow down for potholes. It was very dark now. I was very thirsty but dare not stop and lose the coach.
Although GPS said 20 minutes, It took over an hour to reach my camp site at because of the bad roads; it was 8.30pm when I arrived dehydrated and exhausted. I had a wash, a meal, several drinks and went to bed.
Today my plan is to stay near a toilet (last nights meal is the suspect) and to apply for a few visas.
One reply on “Day 26: A Horrible Day”
Hope you feeling better today. You must always make sure you have enough CLEAN water, do hope this is the last of your long trips you know the song, Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Midday Sun! The inspiration for this song came from the Brits who lived in India at the time of the Raj! Thinking of you every day love Mum x