Decided that I needed to go for a good walk today to burn off some of the excess calories I've consumed in recent days. Firstly, headed up the road to Bakau and called in briefly at the internet cafe I used a few days before. The staff there remembered me and were very friendly, asking me my name and making me very welcome. From there, I decided to walk all the way along towards to Butchers Shop restaurant where we would be eating tonight. I found my way to the Safari Gardens Hotel which is where I had stayed in the past. The owners of Safari Gardens are an English couple who deal with the Gambian end of the Plymouth Banjul Rally. They organise the auctions of all the cars and equipment for local charities. I met the owener Maurice and had a long chat with him about all things Gambian. They were very quiet as the Plymouth Banjul Rally had been cancelled this year due to the Mauritanian issues but a few hardy souls had still battled their way down in their old bangers to reach the place. Maurice explained that they had managed to auction off 12 cars the previous week including one connected to the GH&DT. He was fully aware of everything to do with Calum's Road and delighted that the project was going to go ahead after so many years of hoping and planning. It was great to chat to him again and really brought back some great memories of my previous visit there with my wife and sons.
When I had been walking the few miles south I was forever being hassled by taxis who could not believe that someone would walk from one town to the next so I had to politely refuse several offers of taxis rides. On the return journey of course it was the opposite, I wanted a taxi but couldn't find one! Then I remembered the Africa taxi drivers tactic of only ever buying enough fuel for one journey at a time so I walked to a petrol station and waited for a taxi to come in to refuel and sure enough I got a taxi within minutes to take me back to the Ocean Bay.
We all agreed to meet in the bar in the evening to meet up with Heather and Anna who had come down river to Banjul to join us for dinner at the Butchers Shop restaurant. We had to search around to find which bar people were in. The hotel had a few different bars, lobby, poolside and beechbar and they all had Happy Hours at different times so the trick was to drink in each one at the right time and then move on to the next one. We eventually got reunited and drove around to the restaurant which is famous in the Gambia for having a celebrity chef who has his own television show. I had recommended this restaurant to my parents who regularly visit the Gambia and they have always enjoyed their meals here. There were a total of 12 of us around the table being the "magnificent seven"(the group of seven riders), Rogers's wife Linda, Dave's wife Katherine, Heather, Anna and a local ex-politician known as "The Honourable" who had been very helpful to GH&DT in the past. We had yet another top quality meal with a top quality bill to go with it! The Gambian bank notes are only available in very small denominations of only a few pounds each so any large bill means a huge wad of notes that looks like a house brick. I can't remember the exact bill but we had piles and piles of money stacked up and needed a small box like a shoe box to put all the notes in.
We soon got back to the hotel but I wanted an early night as I knew that in the morning I would be setting off on my own for the solo ride back and it was finally sinking in just what I had let myself in for.
No comments:
Post a Comment