Place: Dongola
Tunes: AC/DC, Billy Idol, VNV Nation
Some scenery on the desert.
This is the Dongola sailing club.
Some damage from the incident.
Fixing the panniers. No time to even take the helmets off or someone is a bit too enthusiastic with the hammer.
Fixing some pointless little things here.
Some local villagers came to see what's going on.
Lots of friends in the corridor just waiting for you to fall asleep.
In its own way it was a difficult day to ride. Time slows down when you are driving at 40 plus degrees. We left early and it was indeed a good idea. The roads remain good and boring as we are driving through the desert. There is a beauty of sorts in the nothingness despite the plastic bags flying around and the stars would look so good at night with no clouds nor light pollution. The roadsides are much cleaner than in Egypt. Is this because the people do not litter or because there’s so little traffic, I do not know.
The time it took to travel a perfectly good road for 400km seems long, but if it was easy it would not be an adventure. I had a low-speed crash and as advertised on the front page, I am now considering ritual suicide.
Out of boredom a small excursion to a village on the side of the road was made and there was this sand road going there. On the way to said road there were bits of soft sand. Being fully competent in driving on soft sand, I did not go around, but went through. And through the windshield and the handlebars. The bike went one way and I went the other.
Most importantly, the reindeer antlers were spared. The left pannier took a bit of a beating and was bent and twisted in all sorts of directions.
The technical term for this was “low-speed crash” as the speed was so low that you steer the bike like a car, instead of counter-steering. Or is it even a crash if I am not actually on the bike when it falls down?
Sorting out the mess was interesting. It was over before I could even start to take pictures. People were all over the bike fixing this and that in no time and Pekka even produced a hammer to fix the pannier. That is standard kit in the GS 1200 Adventure I assume. We were back on the road in no time, which was good as it was very very hot.
An amateurish mistake which will not happen again, I assure you. The next time I just need to get a helicopter there to film it. And yes, I know, more throttle next time. I will repeat this when I do it next time.
Dongola is a boring place. The food on the street cafes was cooked on the street and this is why it did not look particularly safe to eat. Various bits of an unidentified fish deep fried were the only things that looked ok and some of it tasted ok.
We also met Nel from America (www.nelfinberg.com) who is also travelling all around Africa. He packs a bit lighter than us, which must be a benefit. Good luck man! Maybe we’ll see you somewhere.
Tunes: AC/DC, Billy Idol, VNV Nation
Some scenery on the desert. 
This is the Dongola sailing club.
Some damage from the incident.
Fixing the panniers. No time to even take the helmets off or someone is a bit too enthusiastic with the hammer.
Fixing some pointless little things here.
Some local villagers came to see what's going on.
Lots of friends in the corridor just waiting for you to fall asleep.In its own way it was a difficult day to ride. Time slows down when you are driving at 40 plus degrees. We left early and it was indeed a good idea. The roads remain good and boring as we are driving through the desert. There is a beauty of sorts in the nothingness despite the plastic bags flying around and the stars would look so good at night with no clouds nor light pollution. The roadsides are much cleaner than in Egypt. Is this because the people do not litter or because there’s so little traffic, I do not know.
10-11h driving and then the usual hassle with parking at the hotel. Then registration at the police station where initially, the junior police guy did not really seem to know what to do with us and later a senior officer showed up and gave us the official mantra what to tell people about Sudan and what not to. This was a bit unnecessary as we all have eyes and a brain.
The time it took to travel a perfectly good road for 400km seems long, but if it was easy it would not be an adventure. I had a low-speed crash and as advertised on the front page, I am now considering ritual suicide.
Out of boredom a small excursion to a village on the side of the road was made and there was this sand road going there. On the way to said road there were bits of soft sand. Being fully competent in driving on soft sand, I did not go around, but went through. And through the windshield and the handlebars. The bike went one way and I went the other.
Most importantly, the reindeer antlers were spared. The left pannier took a bit of a beating and was bent and twisted in all sorts of directions.
The technical term for this was “low-speed crash” as the speed was so low that you steer the bike like a car, instead of counter-steering. Or is it even a crash if I am not actually on the bike when it falls down?
Sorting out the mess was interesting. It was over before I could even start to take pictures. People were all over the bike fixing this and that in no time and Pekka even produced a hammer to fix the pannier. That is standard kit in the GS 1200 Adventure I assume. We were back on the road in no time, which was good as it was very very hot.
An amateurish mistake which will not happen again, I assure you. The next time I just need to get a helicopter there to film it. And yes, I know, more throttle next time. I will repeat this when I do it next time.
Dongola is a boring place. The food on the street cafes was cooked on the street and this is why it did not look particularly safe to eat. Various bits of an unidentified fish deep fried were the only things that looked ok and some of it tasted ok.
We also met Nel from America (www.nelfinberg.com) who is also travelling all around Africa. He packs a bit lighter than us, which must be a benefit. Good luck man! Maybe we’ll see you somewhere.
You guys are far away already and going strong.
ReplyDeleteI was a little worried, when no comments in the blog in few days. But you are now in Africa, where the time is not so important element!
In soft sand you should remember:" vauhti korvaa pienet puutteet tekniikassa!" Jus more throttle and front wheel up!
Have fun, take care!
BR
Jommu