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[ghjdeacon]

Wrk begins in Freetown

6

This is going to be quite a trial, mainly because it’s dark, also it because I’m very sweaty but mainly because my glasses keep falling off my nose and get dirty! some of my hands on them so I can actually see what I’ve written and I know what evidence of very good anyway! But let’s give it a go

Today has been a rollercoaster starting over 5 o’clock and I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled to have the world sde cod on my car radio and wait… Yes it’s still working. Then, early, after a quick swim, I was picked up by JOHN Harper and take it to the other side of town to get my get my drivers permit. Quite a jouryney across town very hilly down the voting card which they did it as a snake road through the woods in the middle of thesgwwge dizzy of return. The process is remarkably Smoove the chat knew that we were arriving so there is no drama at all. Then drive back and it is clear to me then is then move on but I must then move on. I was a free agent, and was therefore no longer required to be kept by the British high commission “against my will“ ,but the prospect of going and driving on the streets here and is very daunting as all, also I couldn’t get hold of the right number to speak Swedish ferry companies, secondly the Internet was not working on my phone

" are use routine so I could not get hold of any revision to help make a plan, Then I had decide where to go in the evening, then had to pick up the wagon and finally go. And it was bloody Hot. So I went and had a Coca-Cola instead. And gradually a plan started to come together

I need time for my springs to arrive but not too much time because I don’t want to be stuck here muching through the pills

I need to somehow crack down a shipping agent and decide Freetown. Ghana and warvis bay v Luanda. Then I need ferry timetables, all with intermittent email and excessive heat and dust. And/ or I look at straight routes home

Confirming Martin was happy for me to crash was The crocodile nearest to the new canoe, but he said no problem. Next, establish power and internet. Then try and simplify the drugs issues

Doesn’t that all sound simple.? It is unlesss you can’t get the phones to work, it’s really really hot and dusty and your glasses keep slipping off

At this low point I meet Matt Parker who is rsm here. Firstly he is interested I’m doing secondly he offers any help I need and thirdly restores my faith in human kind. On which note I set off across town to Martin’s where I go down the steepest hill ever and then see up camp.

Martin and Tim are are both Sierra Leonean some of the Martin group in the UK I was in the Queens regiment for awhile there’s not much she doesn’t know about what’s going on and is proving super useful already. That night I hardly slept at all: heat dust was heaters noise. (Isn’t that ridiculous just potatotes? Dust and mosquitoes!)

[ghjdeacon]

I have got such a good story to tell you but I’m afraid I am too knackered to type well although it will amuse you. However, on the bright side is Tom the website does seem to recognise my voice and I might use it in the more sober aspects of living with Parkinson is if I start off by saying it’s just take me six minutes to plug my phone in

Easy things become difficult and difficult things become nearly impossible. I am normally slightly better in the mornings and in the afternoons which is hot so I have learnt to rest in the afternoon and then drive over in the evening before I gets too dark. But when I am not very capable I have no balance my feet to move my arms are heavy so doing Anything in a low period is asking for trouble and I mean anything.

As you will be in Polarsteps and are stuck at the border of Sierra Leone well and rather amusing into place with Juliet immigration manageress. Initially friendly and cheerful (and she is again now) I scared her some was when I was limping around in the afternoon trying to put pressure on her to issue me some papers. I showed her a Polarsteps how many followers I had and I was entitled “Sierra Leone and beyond“ said as I felt like dying it were not very good on the Internet if I was found in the car park! Perhaps it wasn’t very funny but he saw no joke it all before I knew it in quarantine the corner and she was screaming at us after the masks on and, rather than being impressed by the countries I’ve been to she was wary of the disease I picked up on passing through them! Eventually, somebody managed to persuade her that Parkinson is not contagious and normal business resumed needless to say, I’m still on the border

[ghjdeacon]

Obviously I take no delight in hearing about people who have recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but is always a good thing to know there is somebody well-known who has it and thus draws  attention to it

The story of Rorys recognition of the condition is so familiar to so many of us! The article attached makes an interesting read

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50675702

[ghjdeacon]

I have tried to be able to be too clever but I’m going to leave these posted for the time being and see if I can make more order of them later what they should be, it’s a written text and video showing me writing it down or dictating it rather it doesn’t quite work like that! All part of the fun

[ghjdeacon]

I am recording this as I’m typing it so you can hear what I do routinely to answer emails to put blogs on the Internet to buy anything, to do anything really. It really is quite a good method of communicating but it doesn’t always get it quite right. At the moment because I’m speaking clearly and using my iPad and there are no distractions it’s working well and I have good Internet facilities where I’m staying. But after a while it gets bunged up as we might discover later on and you can hear me as I go through it and try and correct it.

. Firstly can I thank all those people who have signed up to follow me on Polarsteps. It does make a genuine difference to know the people are interested. They might be interested in my journey through Africa and what I have to say about the countries i am visiting, or they might be interested in the van because I have a number of followers now from the “VW California club“ it might be colleagues in the army who are only interested in what trouble I get into or it might be those who either have Parkinson’s or who are caring for people with Parkinson’s or have heard of me through the Cure Parkinsons Trust and it might be those people who are genuinely interested in what I am up to and how I am. Either way, I appreciate it.

I have found Tumblr incredibly difficult to use and if you dictate directly into it then you get lots and lots of mistakes so what I tend to do is make a note in notes and then copy and paste it in with any other thing I want to. in this particular case I need to paste in the film that I’m making while I make this message. In addition, Polarsteps seems to be able to do almost everything that tumblr can do and is more intuitive, easier to use, quicker and more accessible to you the reader. And it’s more fun to use as well

But I will probably carry on using Tumblr to write long epistles when I think it is necessary and I will direct people to it as and when on Polarsteps.

[ghjdeacon]

The longer I put it off the more difficult it becomes, so I’m going to have to get on and write this blog if I like it or not. Please excuse all the errors, I try and correct them as I go along but it’s sometimes hard to spot them! Even though they’re obvious .

Here I am in a place called Saly which is a small resort town about an hour and a half south of Dakar. Victor has gone to Bamako for work and for a short period I considered going as well. After all I’ve never been to Mali and Nicky Fenton is there. but I can’t go anywhere as I have no passport, it’s being processed for a Visa at the Guinean embassy.

To recap, After dropping David off at leyoune airport, I spent a couple of days with Robert Powell and then sped through the rest of Western Sahara to the border with Mauritania. What a scruffy place The whole experience was pretty unpleasant but the gap between Morocco and Mauritania was as bad a road as I have driven on and literally covered in crap in plastic bags and bottles et cetera! Needless to say they were fixers there which I didn’t really need but who were actually quite useful but I find myself stuck with a fellow all the way to najinhibbou which is just over the border. I say just over the border but more like 50 km at the end of a long spit. It is a very busy port town and bustling! And very hot with millions of cars and chaotic roads. I am rescued by a fellow called Omar who claims to be a teacher but like most of The disarmingly friendly strangers who meet you (rather than the other way round,) they are after the money in my pocket nevertheless he is very friendly and we have an amusing evening together, and I cannot fault him for his friendliness.

Conscious that Mauritania isa big country but only have 10 days to get through it I don’t want to hang around especially if I get the information and meet somebody who is going to go with me to go and see inland(The customs man was only going to give me three days to transit the country and! I had to persuade him to give me more time in case I wanted to stay and see the country! As it turns out he was right and I was wrong there is nothing to see in Mauritania .

The road is pretty easy to follow but it’s broken pavement and some of the potholes are dreadful requiring very careful concentration to avoid breaking anything, but there is plenty of wide open space alongside the road to pull off and kip for the night

Nouakchott turned out to be a pleasant surprise there is money in the cashpoints more than half the time (that is cif you can find one and there are plenty around) it was not insanely hot, there was a supermarket near where I was staying in and then traffic was not too chaotic". Overall a whole lot better than that place I could never spell on the Mauritanian border, I. After a night and day resting I set off for the border with Senegal 7 hours or more further self. I camped in the most amazing place in the middle of nowhere but had rather a good journey down aiming for the crossing that was not at Rosso that is the western crossing the Western crossing point going to the Darwwing National Park which is also very impressive here the road is rough and would be impossible in the winter or when there is any rain. For some reason the journey takes forever, maybe I have taken the odd wrong route, or stopped longer than expected on the way, or simply I have just underestimated the distance but it’s quite pleasant and eventually reach the frontier barrage across the river Senegal.

It all sounds so simple in the guidebooks. the books say it cost nothing and is manageable yet everybody expected A wedge ofmy money! I don’t mind too much but it would be nice to know in advance so you are carrying the right amount of change and then prepare for it rather than eking out every coin in your pocket or door! But after about three hours im through and on my way to Saint Louis the northern town of Senegal. Yet again, I am helped by some fixer I did not want and have to get him into town to give him some cash I didn’t have, but to be honest he was still quite helpful and take him to the hotel deal with the camp for the night.

St Louis is a bustling fishing town and very charming in its way. But I can’t hang around because I only have a three day pass which I have to get extended down in Dakar before I can do anything else so again, the next evening I set off. One of the golden rules is not to drive at night in Africa for all the reasons you can imagine. I am quite uncomfortable doing so except for two things. If you leave late enough there is no traffic on the road and you can avoid the real hassle as most people are home. for me traffic and bicycles and pedestrians all mixed together is the worst thing. Secondly you can see vehicles coming along way away because nowadays they tend to have loads of work, thirdly I don’t feel too tired at night and if I do I stop i’m set up camp straight away, and you won’t be plagued by onlookers: also, if you happen to have lots of police checkpoints they will either be pleased to see you will be asleep so you can drive on and finally you end up in the right place in the right order, in the dark now before the traffic really got going. So having had a peaceful drive listening to an audible book I got to the port of data where I need to be before the traffic was up and so could find a parking place and was ready for action.

The only problem was I’ve been directed to go to the wrong place! But people are very friendly and helpful and a chap helped me get a taxi and then watched over my car in the car park and sent me on my way to the Axa building to get my pass extended. All very straightforward as it turned out and nobody wanted any backhanders. So I was quite pleased

Then it was just a question of finding out where Victor lives and heading off in that direction. Which I managed not to do getting into all the traffic! But I eventually got to Ngor and with a whole bunch of help , his house.

Since then, which I think was Tuesday last I have been staying with Victor, and Nicole and having a very peaceful time just doing the odd chore-andthere are plenty of them much to my frustration, and the amazement of some. Of note (David take note in particular) the blinking wing mirror dropped out on the journey down and I had to get it replaced. I hadn’t realised how vulnerable I feel notbeung abBeing able to seel behind me properly so I was very keen to get it done immediately. So with victors driver we set off and can you believe it, I was stopped twice by the police twice in about 200 metres and the second one fined me for having a broken wing mirror even as we were talking to the chap who is going to mend it and heconfiscated my driving license until I pay the fine! In retrospect it’s stupid and rather amusing but at the time was One of the long snakes on the board and cause me deep, deep frustration. But, I eventually Got the mirror (retro Visa) repaired and I’m good to go again. I’ve even had the van washed and cleaned out so it is neat and tidy and now it’s just a question of waiting for my visas to be approved or not.

But yesterday I heard the border between Senegal and guinea may be closed and that changes things significantly. The question is is Guinea-

Victor and Nicole but they have been quite superb to me and insist upon me relaxing and enjoying myself, and I think they are right in fact I am feeling much better having been here for a few days and I’m not so achy and stiff as I was. I am inclined to write something about Parkinson ‘s soon and will do so. This is not to extract any sympathy from anybody or anything like that but just to explain to people who don’t know about Parkinson is what it does and how it feels. And putting right once and for all the curious British tradition of always asking how people are and getting the response “I’m fine thank you“ when half the time you’re feeling like death warmed up! I’m not feeling like death warmed up by the way but you know what I mean.

And it’s taken me for ever to do this much so I’m going to stop if you’ve even got this far reading it

[ghjdeacon]

And this is the tune for the day which brings back lots of memories

https://open.spotify.com/track/50PeqUz1BjMw9ayNTk5O4d?si=5xNJBuo5RI62D-s0ykEnWg

[ghjdeacon]

Somewhere in southern Morocco!

[ghjdeacon]

I have been very bad at keeping up with this blog over the last couple of weeks primarily because we have been on the move all the time and Internet connection has been rather bad!

I am now in Layoune and dropped David at the airport yesterday morning for his return journey to UK. I have been staying with Robert Powell who I first met back in wolfenbuttel some 30 years ago when he was serving in the RCT and responsible for moving the regiment but I remember him better when I met him in Uganda some 10 years ago.

Morocco proved to be the most wonderful country to visit. Everybody was very, very friendly and everything was manageable and relatively easy. Further to that the countryside is amazing. The atlas mountains are wonderful, The coast line is spectacular and there is plenty of off piste desert travelling along the south of the country, which, was manageable in the VW. Indeed, the VW exceeded my expectations and traversed bits of sand I thought would be impossible. With the help of Omar and her son we managed to get the vehicle across the Erg Chebbi and travel along routes designed only for the hardest vehicles, involving rocks, sand, mountains but luckily no mud. With David map Reading and just enough telephone coverage to download various routes we were able to explore areas that I thought might be unattainable. Using Polarsteps to put photographs on the web and let people know where we have been has been a breakthrough.

The wagon has proved fine but it takes some organisation for two people to live out of it! Everything you need seems to be behind or under two other pieces of kit so moving around and all the simple jobs require that much more effort then when travelling by oneself!

We seem to have developed a good pattern of about four nights camping in the wild, two nights in a campsite with a good facilities and then one night in the hotel each week and that seems to be a routine I will try and follow. Spending much more time in campsites or hotels will become quite expensive if I’m not careful

It seems an age since tania and millie were out here and we were walking in the atlas mountains or surfing in the Atlantic!

As for my health, the pills work well, but I have to say my back has been causing me some grief which I think it’s all about moving bits of stuff around the back of the wagon. But having had a good night staying with Roberts my back is much better and hopefully it will remain so. I need to bend my knee is much more when lifting heavy stuff!

There doesn’t seem to be too much to do in westernsahara so tomorrow I will kick on down to Dakhla which is one of the kite surfing capitals of the world and spend a couple of days there before getting down to the Mauritanian border. If I meet the right people went down there I will consider options to explore bits of Mauritania, but I’m not going to go into the dunes by myself or if there is nothing worth seeing because we have done quite a lot in Morocco and doing it by oneself is rather dull, not least a bit risky, but I have complete confidence in the wagon and various recovery bits and pieces I have should I have a problem!

So the next highlight for me it’s going to be Dakar in Senegal. I am hoping that Hugh Davies will come out and join me for a bit but either way I’m going to make contact with Victor and general Gaye but do not plan on depending on them to look after me.

I have been very bad at posting the tune of the day, although there have been lots! But it has to be this one for the time being:

https://open.spotify.com/track/37ncw2kChEJzbmmKMzGAoE?si=2qarwVC5RDCYxNCAjfSWWA

[ghjdeacon]

Please find attached an article from the Edinburgh paper on my trip. If you give us one circulation as possible that would be great. Thank you very much. Full update where I am in the moment.

[ghjdeacon]

Today’s tune: we may have had it before but it’s worth listening to again

https://open.spotify.com/track/6xCHGuPJm6xuVBBDHbzn3Q?si=Nj5wpQP1R1i2M-fyJIC3DA

[ghjdeacon]

Marskesh part 2

In the end I drove over the tiz n test pass and it was spectacular. Or at least I think it was, it was completely dark except for a very bright moon so I never thought of you(Sort of view)! I was being very careful driving to the beginning of the bars(Pass) because there was plenty of traffic but no badly behaving cyclists!

The route is one of the main ones across the mountains to Marrakesh and is well sealed within 9 km of the top at which point i gets pretty rough I stay the night at the very top well for ar least four hours anyway in a small pension where some very nice Moroccans gave me a cup of tea and some fruit. But, being freezing I woke at three and decide to set off down the road before the traffic started. This was the right thing to do as I had a free run down the The pass and then beyond to Marrakesh.

Admittedly slightly knackered I bought another pair of trousers and top and went towards the airport to meet David at midday, actually 2 o’clock and he was nowhere to be seen. The BA flight arrived with out David. As it turns out one of his bags gone missing and he was trying to sort it out.

Anyway we then decided we need to stay in marskesh for the evening decided we needed to stay in Marrakesh for the evening so I arranged to meet up with momo (Another best friend of Mohamed)and he booked us a room at the salsabli hotel. And it’s excellent. But it took a bit of finding stupidly we drove into town thinking we would be be able to park nearby, but got stuck deep inside the Medina and having a horrible time so we paid some chap to lead us out and decided to go back to the airport and park there in the open carpark! Such a goodidea,Why didn’t it occur immediately? We then came into town got the bags went out need went out to meet Momo at the riad Omar for dinner. And what a nice chap he is 1st to fix David‘s bag by speaking to a mate of his then he ordered supper for us and we are going to meet him today to discuss our route through the desert.

Saw a piece of Marrakesh we did not see before: thousands of people enjoying themselves having a lovely evening. Then shower late to bed!

[ghjdeacon]

Does the BBC still have a world service?

if it does after another 2 hours and even reading the manual I can’t find it on my all-not-singing SW radio!

But I woke up with this tune in my mind,

https://open.spotify.com/track/0bLOiofyBB62YU2cNnONJG?si=WjmUXJaJRyC5ceRTzDvAJQ

[ghjdeacon]

Will this ever behave

The last few days have been really quite difficult. Every single little thing takes more effort than it should, and usually requires me to do it twice or sometimes three times before it works for example I barely have the strength to open the car door and when I do it automatically closes again! Even standing up or sitting down (the process of moving) requires some considerable concentration and because there’s not much room in the van I need to plan every single little move. Asfor doing up zips and buttons, well I don’t bother and laces!! When it comes to typing up the blog what’s the name important emails by the time I corrected myself I have normally forgotten what I’m trying to say, so then when it doesn’t upload I get grumpy as well.

Anyway, I’m in a glorious little campsite where I’ve just spent last evening with some French people speaking my best French. And today, I’m going to try and make up my plans for the next couple of weeks.

You May not like today’s tune but it deserves an airing as it gives me an hour and a quarter make-believe In Ambridge each week

https://open.spotify.com/track/6tc2KTmP5CVOx7s2KFt1l8?si=lMSR41_WSlenYNiXrJx21g

[ghjdeacon]

First proper solo adventuring

I have been out of communications for a couple of days and plenty has happened. I dropped Tania and Millie off at the airport two days ago (I think) and want to stay in a place I can never pronounce called “who says eight” but spelt Ouarzazate

It was a pleasant drive up over the Atlas Mountains with a good road and plenty of good views without too much traffic either which was nice. But the hotel was pretty crap. But you get what you pay for. For €27 I had a room with ensuite although it needed some work and a pretty terrible breakfast. I spent the next morning sorting out the wagon very, very slowly because it was cold and I was just in a slow mood. Anyway, I got away at midday and headed for fint oasis some 10 miles south of the town and really rather charming. The road in was my first rough road and I let the tires down to 25 psi (from a whopping six bar!) Which made the ride much more comfortable and the VW had no trouble at all.

I arrived in time for lunch and ordering omelette which came in a “guess what“ tagine, but actually was very good. That afternoon left around in the van and had a sleep then suddenly it was time for supper which I couldn’t avoid as I was the only guest. This time vegetable Tejean which was not so good made worse by the fact the cook sat with me and watch me not eat it all.

I slept well enough but it was effing cold as usual so woke early when my frustrations began. I had a hideous four hours in the dark and the door because my tablets were working, it was very cold and all the things that should’ve been simple weren’t does anybody else have the same problem with the sunny shortwave radio that I have? No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get it to make any noise at all let alone the BBC World Service. Then I started faffing around with the GPS and all it kept doing was recording my position is yet another way point! Then I tried my remote control of the camera and you’ve guessed it, that didn’t do anything either. By now I had kit strewn all over the place and most of it doing nothing useful! Anyway, dawn came it got warmer breakfast was okay and I started to feel a bit better so set off back to that funny town but then decided to turn left or the right and take an a dirt road route due south To a forgettable place called something like TAzenkhat which is on the southern route south of the Atlas Mountains to Agadir and could prove useful to me returning to Marrakesh. Anyway the van behaved beautifully and didn’t even deposit the stuff in the back all over the floor.

Now in rather a good campsite at a place called Talloween but spelt Talouine Which has all mod cons but not the charm of last night. . tomorrow I’ll probably head back up towards Marrakesh tomorrow

[ghjdeacon]

It is 6 o’clock in the morning very dark and not very warm and I am just about to take tania and Millie to the airport. It’s been a great couple of weeks but this has to be the song for today

https://open.spotify.com/track/2z7xtlgcHFjAPFCYgQLxUN?si=Rwq3QOEST0GZx_u8wA99DA