This morning I only had a kilometer to go to the village where I needed to get my passport stamped. Right from the outset the steering did not feel right. It was notchy when turning rather than smooth. Ok when going straight and fast but very difficult when going slow and using the steering to help balance.
Getting my passport stamped was straight forward although I had to wait for the man with the stamp to arrive. He hinted he wanted some money for getting out of bed at home and travelling to work (lazy bugger should already have been there). I played the “je suis anglais, je ne comprend” card to avoid paying.
The road to Kankan slowly improved although remained unpaved all the way, however I kept my speed low because of the difficulty steering. I arrived in town at 11.30am and went straight to a hotel. I did not have the right spanner to remove the steering head nut so took the bike to a bike shop. For £5 they stripped it down, cleaned and regreased the bearings and it now feels ok. The true test will be the ride to Conakry today. The rest of the day was spent reading and relaxing.