March 4 :: Freetown, Sierra Leone
March 4 :: Freetown, Sierra Leone :: 115km / 3677km total
Out very early, desparate to sneak in kilometres before the heat and, now, humidity, killed me. It was only at 8:30 a.m., only an hour into the ride, when sweat was dripping off of my face, and I could see the writing on the wall... not only for today's ride, but for my attempt to ride upcountry into Sierra Leone. 40km in I came to a junction town, at 9:30, and had to admit to myself that this was the end of my push into West Africa. The season has advanced beyond what my Northern-raised body can take, and I stopped, looking past the junction, down the road to where I had wanted to go. Well, I gave it my best shot, but I can't keep forcing myself to suffer through the heat.
I zipped back to Waterloo in a pickup truck, and hopped back on the bike. Freetown sits at one end of a long, T-shaped peninsula, and I reasoned that I could at least ride the circumference of the peninsula given the cooling shore breeze. I rode South from Waterloo, and soon I could feel it, a beautiful breeze that kept the temperature down around 30C. I meandered very slowly along the coast, it was only 65km back to Freetown, and I checked out the various beach resorts and restaurants scattered along the coast. None really piqued my interest, so eventually, late in the day, I re-entered Freetown from the SW, and checked into a nice little guesthouse on the West side of the city.
Now what? My scheduled flight back to London is March 12... but its an open ticket... meaning I can change the date... I'll be at the airline office at 9 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning to see what's possible. Hmmmm. Brighton? Dover? Stonehenge? Possibly Land's End? Its gonna be wet and chilly, but at this point I'm looking forward to such a change!
Out very early, desparate to sneak in kilometres before the heat and, now, humidity, killed me. It was only at 8:30 a.m., only an hour into the ride, when sweat was dripping off of my face, and I could see the writing on the wall... not only for today's ride, but for my attempt to ride upcountry into Sierra Leone. 40km in I came to a junction town, at 9:30, and had to admit to myself that this was the end of my push into West Africa. The season has advanced beyond what my Northern-raised body can take, and I stopped, looking past the junction, down the road to where I had wanted to go. Well, I gave it my best shot, but I can't keep forcing myself to suffer through the heat.
I zipped back to Waterloo in a pickup truck, and hopped back on the bike. Freetown sits at one end of a long, T-shaped peninsula, and I reasoned that I could at least ride the circumference of the peninsula given the cooling shore breeze. I rode South from Waterloo, and soon I could feel it, a beautiful breeze that kept the temperature down around 30C. I meandered very slowly along the coast, it was only 65km back to Freetown, and I checked out the various beach resorts and restaurants scattered along the coast. None really piqued my interest, so eventually, late in the day, I re-entered Freetown from the SW, and checked into a nice little guesthouse on the West side of the city.
Now what? My scheduled flight back to London is March 12... but its an open ticket... meaning I can change the date... I'll be at the airline office at 9 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning to see what's possible. Hmmmm. Brighton? Dover? Stonehenge? Possibly Land's End? Its gonna be wet and chilly, but at this point I'm looking forward to such a change!
posted by Graham Durrant at 2:05 PM
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