If it's Yellow let it Mellow, if it's Brown, Flush it Down!

These are the words that have been stuck in my head for a few days, highlighting the water problem in South Africa....

After 27hrs of travel, I finally made it home and it was great to see H and the boys having missed them for too long. After a long bath I'm trying to get get rid of some of the swelling in my legs and reduce my ankles as it looks like I stole them from an elephant. My legs & arms are all pretty bruised and stiff and my hands are blistered and sore after the pumilling they have taken. One rider likened it yesterday to riding over a 220 mile cattle grid whilst people threw cement dust and sand in your face, whilst trying to keep the throttle pinned open in 6th gear (the bikes maxed out at about 65mph, but that was more than enough in the conditions).

Well what a trip, I don't quite know how to describe it, I think the dust still needs to settle - quite literally as my kit is about 5kg heavier than when I left and the smell, enough said. I did hear Dave the tour leader apologising to the hotel staff on entering his room as it smelt like a skunk had died in there!

It has been a truly awesome adventure. Highs and Lows, both physically and emotionally - having nearly exhausted myself up a gorge/deep rut in the heat without water to getting up the infamous Qai Gorge without any real issues it's been great from a riding point of view but also form seeing some of the real Africa. There are areas other 'tourists' have never been to, villages you would never see and breathtaking views around every corner. All the children along the route happy just to see us and even happier if you waived back or attempted a wheelie. One day, Joe (a great guy & fellow Gooner in my team) saved up his plastic water bottles and carried them in a carrier bag and then gave them to a group of kids waiving on a corner - it was if he'd given them a bag of Playstations! They were so happy and just makes you realise how hard it is for them to even carry a drink of water, let alone get clean water in the 1st place.

The amount of kids we saw, bare foot with just an old tin can on a piece of wire or a old buckled bike wheel and a stick was a real insight in to the poverty there, but they were happier than most of the kids you bump in to here....The strange thing about the people there was that while the women are out repairing holes (craters) in roads, collecting firewood, washing clothes in rivers and generally carrying heavy sacks of you-name-it on their heads., the kids who are immaculately turned out out, walk up to 15km each way to school and yet the men don't seem to really do anything? Painting the school that Enduro Africa (via Touch Africa) has built and furbished was a great thing to do and the kids were really happy with the school and Jungle Gym we built, yet the men there (except for the teachers and an inspiring headmaster) don't seem to do much or even offer to help - no wonder progress is slow there. I'm sure this isn't the same for all the men there, but it does seem that they could be doing more to help too....

We did get invited in to an 'Elders' home - a simple hut made from hand made clay bricks, then covered in a mortar of clay & painted in either a whitewash or a stunning turquoise and topped with a straw roof. It was about 15ft in diameter, with a bare clay floor which inside was immaculate. There was one 4*6ft 'bed' which was raised off the ground with tin cans to keep away the evil spirits and a few bits & pieces, but nothing to brag about other than he was delighted to show us his 1 electric light.

I am really lucky to have been on this trip, both from what I have seen but more importantly from the support of my family and all of my friends reading this - the money I have personally raised from all your support, is almost enough to build and kit out another entire 4-class school!
That's an amazing fact and one I hope you are all proud of helping.

I have met some great people and made some new friends, but now can't wait to get in my own bed (without having to share with any of them)!

Cheers Gaz

Day 9 - The finale

Well the end of line.........

A good day. Included a tour through a game reserve, where we saw Lions, Giraffes and Rhino.

The "sting in the tail", we'd been waiting for, was a 12km ride through rough, bumpy sand. I came off once, I'm bruised, but OK - and my knee is rather sore. Everyone is very tired so it won't be a wild last night.

Our long journey home doesn't start too early tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get chance to take in the sea air in the morning, as we're right on the coast at Port Elizabeth.

Thanks for reading, see you back home. Gaz

Day 8 - everyone loves a wheelie

I've just received a little text from Gaz, who's checked into a rather nice looking pad tonight, where he's got a real bed for the first night in ages.

In summary today's been long and very dusty (hideous infact). Boring by comparison to previous days. They've covered a lot of miles (220) - plus hit every pot hole in Africa. It got really hot today, 35 degC. But they did have a Magnum as a treat.

Best bit of today was their first real lunch (rather than snacks and chocolate - lunch van is run by a youngster with a poor food group intake) - except that lunch was bolognese with MUSHROOMS!!! For those not in the know, Gaz is horribly allergic to the 'shroom, so he had a toasted cheese sandwich!

The monotony of the riding was broken up with various techniques of wheelie pulling for the young children on the road side - the group leaders wheelie for miles, the good riders pull a quick one and the likes of Gaz take both hands of the handlebars - all of which get great big cheers from the children!

No crashes for the Orange Team today - always good to hear!

Last day of riding tomorrow - finishes with a sting in the tail - 5 miles of sand - very tricky.

Day 7 - extactic but busted

Gaz has just phoned - he sounds really tired, he let me know he'd sent a brief
e-mail - here it is:

Today has been one of the shortest but hardest of the trip - only 90km
but it took over 9hrs...After heavy rain yesterday, we knew we had the
mighty Qoara gorge to climb. So after an early start we headed through
streams and rocky passes to wait 50 mins in 30oC to attack it.

I gunned it and amazingly got up after only 1 minor blip 1000m up, at approx a 1 in 4.
I was ecstatic - along with most of the team!

We then had some fantastic Forest sections and about 17 river
crossings to negotiate, some very rocky - we had a few big spills, but
unlike the other teams, no broken bones.

We then had some great fun on some sand tracks before arriving at a
beach and meeting some kids & their cows!
Finally the dodgy ferry over the river Kei and some dusty roads in.
We were 1st back to the fantastic Morgans Bay hotel.
A great day, but I'm busted!
cheers all
Gaz

Water Water Everywhere

Hi all it's actually me at least

We all know water is a sacred resource out here and it's actually the reason why lots of he kids either don't go to school, or why they get ill on the way there/back, as they have to drink from streams. Well yesterday, for many of us, that was a reality too. The hotel ran out of bottled water before we left and most of us are using 5-6L a day - I set off with 1L and 500ml of lucozade, having given 1/2 of mine to someone else. I got pretty dehydrated.... pee was like orange juice! A couple ended up on drips at the 'lunch' stop - water and a Mars bar (TM) if you are lucky.
Part of the Touch Africa project is to give kids a 'Life Straw' which filters 99% of the bacteria out of dirty water. Today we got involved in another TA project - helping to wire, roof and paint a school right up my street - Busman's holiday!

This afternoon we are maintaining the bikes and trying to stay off the pop....it's very blustery and drizzling, so the roads are like ice and the only chance to go down to a beach isn't really great. Too rough even to spot any whales today.

Bruises and blisters on the palms are quite unpleasant, but still in much more of one piece than I expected and the legs have held up well, so at least that cycling has paid off.

There are a great bunch of people here - all mucking in to lift, pull, shove and generally hoyck the bikes over all sorts of obstacles and mud pits. These little Hondas are amazing, they really are bullet proof - a bit like Joe's camera, a guy in my Orange team. He lost his head cam going in to the grand canyon (we were trying to stay out of it) but of course I ended up following him. On the 3rd time of trying to get my bike up a 4ft wall of granite, my rear wheel somehow spat out his camera - still working. He bought me a few beers for that one! I was however extremely exhausted after that and didn't really recover until we had a little race up an air strip just before we got to the Hotel. He's not lost it though, after losing the holeshot to Ed, I managed to just take the flag by a whisker! good fun

Tomorrow is going to be another really tough technical day, before 2 really long & more scenic days, although our team leader does have a habit of just taking us off-piste now & then.
Cheers Gaz

Day 5 - steep, rocky, dusty - horrible

Latest phone update from Gaz - scribbled very quickly so hope I've captured the sentiment:

A very technical and hard day today, with lots of rivers to cross, very steep, lots of nasty roots, rocky, hot, horrible and dusty. A good morning of riding, as I didn’t fall off!

Later in the day we had a shower of rain which made it terribly greasy. At one stage I found myself in a 4feet deep groove, only about 2 feet wide, but escaped with only a minor topple off rather than a wipe-out. The outcome of this was that as I wheel-spun out I unearthing one of the other rider’s cameras – so he was extremely pleased (given that he hadn’t backed up any of his images).

One of our team had a nasty, big crash on one of the roads today, but he’s OK tonight.

We also had a serious shortage of water (rather humbling). Some of the team members took rain water with them, but I opted not to drink that, meaning I was ridiculously thirsty by lunch-time. Was able to get water from the lunch-truck, so that was good, but the only food available for lunch today was MarsBars – interesting diet choice!

My bike, along with lots of others, needs a new clutch, but that's not too bad considering all we've been through.

The plus side has been seeing whales in the sea as we road along the wild coastline. We’re still getting big cheers from the children that we pass, double handed waves get really big cheers.

We’re all really tired tonight, but thankfully I have bed to sleep in, rather than a sofa or the floor of previous nights.

Day 4 - taking some air

Have spoken to Gaz this evening and he sounds in great spirits - brief summary of the day follows:

Wet feet again today as we travelled through three or four rivers, but I cleared them all. Infact, I haven't come off today, although I did receive quite a cheer when I took some air as we ascended up some giant steps and I went a little higher than I'd intended. There was an incredibly steep decent as well today which we negotiated with the engines off, to help with braking.

We've been out at a good pace today and taken in some fantastic views. I did nearlly hit a dog, which was rather alarming.

We delivered some mattresses off to an orphanage this morning, in preparation for our work there on Thursday.

Tomorrow will be a very technical day - I'm looking forward to it.

It's all good. x

Day 3 - mainly spent in my pants!

Hoorah - real electronic communication from Gaz today, so you're getting his own words for his eventful day today - enjoy:

After a pretty hard day 2 (day 1 of full riding) through the rain - which means deep poo to ride through, on base layer of glass like hard clay, today has been a mixed day.

I am riding in the orange team, team 3 (apparently in ability) out of 6, so opted for the 'easy then hard' route, letting the suicidal go 'hard + hard' and the sensible go 'easy + easy'.

It really Peed down in the night, so it seemed I'd made the right decision....after 2km one of the top team (marigolds) lost it on the clay-glass, causing a small pile-up, but mainly bruised egos rather than limbs.

Just stopping was tricky - I could barely keep upright and pulling away sent out rears snaking around (note from Hilary - sorry I've tried to tidy up Gaz's speed typing but I'm really not entirely sure what he's trying to say here - I guess he was sliding around a lot!?).

The Hard+Hard group were supposed to meet us at 1pm, after 3hrs, we heard they had only done 8km.....and then had a river to cross down the valley from where were waiting....so some of us were starting to fry now, in the sun, and decided we'd do what we could to help. An hour later 7 or 8 of us were in only our under crackers and motocross boots, hoyking bikes out and up the bank. Three of us ended up there all day lifting and riding bikes up to the road, as the walking wounded (one snapped knee tendon and a few on drips for dehydration) came out on foot (or not).

A great day for bonding - just as well as two others and I are on the floor tonight, so now enjoying a few bottles of 'Castle' to help the snoring (my volume that is).
Its hard, enjoyable after you've done it and the waves and cheers we get from all the kids lining the dust/quagmire roads are worth every drop of sweat and bruises!
Cheers Gaz

Day 2 - first big ride

(Hilary here as Gaz doesn't have the equipment at the mo - so this is based on his answer phone message from earlier).
Hello! A good day out today - it's very wet and muddy and my candle powered head-light isn't much use when it's peeing down. We've checked into our hotel and I've had a bath in my en-suite accommodation which I'm sharing with my room-mate, Adrian.
I'm tired but in one piece and all is well. We had our first big river experience, where we all got wet feet, wet boots and much of the day was like riding on ice.
I've had a few hairy moments with cows, goats and dogs nearly hitting me, but it's really nice and I'm enjoying it.
There are lots of smiling kids on the route and they seem to love a wave and a hoot of the horn as we pass by.
Off now for our briefing on what's coming up tomorrow......... to be continued

Day 1 - assessment

Have made it to Durban after very long journey (two flights and a coach journey) without much sleep. Exciting day with an assessment of our abilities, to check that we are all in the correct group to suit our skills. I'm in the 3rd group of 6, so I'm happy with that. Everyone is really friendly and the atmosphere is good.
Thanks to everyone for your well-wishes before I set off - will keep you posted through the next 10 days.

Offski

Well after 3 or 4 further attempts at packing, Hilary has managed to get my bags within 20g of the limit! Hand luggage is over, so plan B is to don half the stuff in there includeing my 3.5kg boots!

Thanks for all the nice comments, wishes and donations.

Now it's planes, trains, automobiles & buses for thelovely 36hr trip to Durban.

Cheers
Gaz

Helmet Cam has arrived!

Not quite sure how to use it or secure it to my helmet yet, but my waterproof (it's very wet out there) camera arrived today - I'm an IT Teacher should be a sinch.....I promise not to post the photos or films unless vetted by Mrs G 1st, but by the sounds of it, there won't be much broadband access so it will probabaly be short texted updates.

Having read all the guys Blogs who have been out there the last 2 weeks, it's certtainly going to be very challenging. Heavy rain has made it both slippy and cold at times, so a little re-think on the packing methinks. One quote of "Ever tried to ride a duck on a pond of snot?" and "another day of riding on modelling clay" are adding to the anxioty. At least I'm not alone and other similar old blokes are cacking themselves too. Can't wait to get the bag on the scales and pray it's under 20kg and then I'll be on my way to Heathrow, finally.

A small matter of a 3000 word assignment also hinders my packing, but at least I can finish it at the airport.....hmmm, course I will :)
Gaz

Packing...

After assembly my kit over the last 6 months or so, the time came today to try & get it all in one bag. No chance. We are only allowed the standard 20kg and hand luggage, so it looks like I'll be boarding the plane wearing Motocross boots and heavy jacket, at least as starters.

Having read some of the Blogs of the chaps out there already, It's definitley going to be cold, wet, muddy and bloody sloppy, so I can't afford to chuck out too much kit. Looks like it will just be 2 pairs of cacks and one pair of socks, nice.

Oh will this is just a quick test, so please check in from Friday when the whole trip kicks off with a mere 24hr travel ahead....
Cheers, Gaz