Everyone seemed a bit subdued this morning after the drinking session last night. Today is a total chill out day doing as little as possible. The bikes are all checked over and air filters emptied of sand and cleaned again. Glen and I rode into St. Louis to go to the bank and for me to use the internet cafe. We fell victim to the corrupt police again. Riding slowly towards the town with manic taxi drivers overtaking us, we were pulled over and told we had been speeding. No radar gun or anything just the policeman's opinion. Firstly he wanted 12,000 CFA each (about £20) each and I was determined not to pay this much for a made up offense. Fortunately, Glen is more diplomatic than me (but then again, who isn't?) and he expertly reduced this fine down to 5,000 CFA ( about £7.50) each which I reluctantly agreed to pay to the slimy little creep. On the return journey I rode stupidly slowly up to the checkpoint and still got stopped. They had changed shifts and it was a different policeman who luckily wasn't as corrupt as the last one and I got away without paying anything.
In the evening we met an interesting biker called Nigel who was riding north from The Gambia. His website is at www.bignoseonetour.org. He entertained us with many amusing tales of his travels and adventures.
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