We left GH&DT at 8.25 am for the journey to Banjul. I actually enjoyed the soft sand section despite the bike being fully loaded again. I had the bike in 2nd gear and just blasted through the sand as it was the last time I would be riding this section so I wanted to have the most amount of fun through it. The road south of the river was very good at first so it allowed us a good cruising speed but as always it soon got worse as there were frequent road works. In Africa they don't have temporary traffic lights to take you around road works, instead they just divert you off road to the side of the road into the dirt. I was in third place in the group riding behind Roger with Mikey leading the way when we came to one such diversion. I was possibly riding too close to Roger in that the dust cloud thrown up from his bike had not fully cleared by the time I rode through it. A vehicle coming the other way did not slow down and created a bigger and thicker dust cloud. At the same time I hit a patch of very soft sand and lost control of the bike whilst travelling fairly quickly in 4th gear. I instantly hit the ground on my left side banging my elbow and left shoulder, fortunately hitting the ground in the soft sand area and not on the harder rock surface. Apparently the crash looked spectacular to the riders behind me who of course were soon on the scene to help me. I was dazed for a few minutes as I had also banged my head in the crash but there was no lasting damage. John poured cold water over my elbow to prevent swelling and then we checked over my bike for any damage. Surprisingly, there was little damage, these old BMWs are made very strongly, and there were just small scratches on the petrol tank and the alloy panniers. Considering the speed at which I crashed I think I had a very lucky escape. My guardian angel never gets to rest on this trip. Further down the road there were some giant potholes and Roger was unable to avoid hitting one full on which caused his pannier to fly off his bike and bounce down the road towards me like the bouncing bomb from Dambusters. We recovered his pannier and then all had to wait for the ferry across the river again to get to the north side. Once on the northern side of the river, the road was newly surfaced and we were able to ride at higher speeds which was welcomed as it allowed some cooling air in the midday heat. I only realised how much I had hurt my shoulder when I tried to wave to some villages. As soon as I tried to lift my arm to wave I got a sharp pain right across my back between the shoulders. At this point I had to think that I might have to fly my bike back with the others and give up my hope of riding it back solo. I discussed this with the other at a break and Roger advised me that it was still an option to fly back if my shoulder continued to hurt.
Then it was on towards the infamous Barra/Banjul ferry. On my last trip, this ferry had been one of the low points of the trip, having to wait for hours in the heat and being constantly hassled by the "bumsters" all trying to sell you something. However, this time we were herded directly to the front of the queue and able to go straight in to buy the tickets which Mikey proceeded to do on our behalf. Some obnoxious little jobsworth came up to me whilst I was stood by my bike and poked me three times between my shoulders and told me to move my bike up a few inches. I told him that firstly, I was unable to move my bike as Roger's bike was directly in front of mine and secondly, please do not poke me between the shoulders as I don't like being poked at the best of times and much less when I have just crashed my bike and injured my shoulder. When, a few moments later, he did the same thing again, I started to lose my temper, not helped by the intense heat that we were trying to shelter from. When he poked me in the back for a third time I was actually ready to break the offending finger that he was poking me with. Luckily, two heavily armed policemen had seen what had happened and quickly stepped in to prevent me ripping off this chaps finger and inserting it somewhere else in his body. They told this annoying little creep to go away and they calmed me down sufficiently. Some cold drinks were found and this helped to reduce everyones temperatures. Amazingly, we were moved through the large steel doors down to the end of the waiting area and again told to just head to the front of the queue. The Barra to Banjul ferry takes one hour and everyone is squeezed on so that no square inch of space is wasted. We were wedged in between a couple of large vans with only millimetres to spare on each side. At first I was worried about scratching the sides of these vans but soon realised that nobody cared about that sort of thing in The Gambia, and least of all on the Barra ferry. Glen was directly behind me and Glen doesn't like ferries or boats of any kind so this was a real endurance test for him. John who was in front of me had managed to get a piece of metal in his rear tyre but there was not enough space for him to repair it on the ferry so as soon as we got off he needed to attend to this. Luckily, I had an excellent little mini compressor which was able to inflate it enough to get us to the hotel.
Between the ferry port and the Ocean Hotel we got stopped by one police check. I had read in Lonely Planet guide book that the police in The Gambia could be even worse than the Senegalese so I was a bit concerned. However, they could not have been more polite or friendly. As soon as we explained about our charity mission, they thanked us for what we were doing in the country and said they would not detain us any longer.
After four days up river at GH&DT, we wanted a bit of luxury so headed for the Government owned 5* Ocean Bay Hotel at Cape Point. I went in first to do the negotiating for good deals on the rooms. The manager was a very pleasant man who knew all about the Horse and Donkey charity and even about Calum's Road. After much begging and pleading, he did us a very good rate for the rooms in this luxury hotel. We were soon checked in and checking out the excellent bar after a long days ride.
I needed extra alcohol for medicinal purposes to numb the pain in my shoulder.
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