South African Firework Display

Ok so now the others are on their way and won't be reading this blog untill they return I will mention the awsome firework display at both Durban and Jo'Berg airports!
When we arrived at Durban it was heavy and overcast, by the time we were on the tarmac all hell had broken loose, the lightning was I swear as thick as tree trunks and was hitting ground all around us at an alarming rate. I thought obviously we will be delayed until the storm has abated, there is now way we can take off in this, is there?
The plane started to taxi away from the terminal as it got darker and darker, it stopped tuned and in seconds the roar of the two Rolls Royce engines drowned out the sound of the thunder, "Oh shit I don't fancy this" I thought!
We cleared the runway and for a few moments I thought, "Ah thats not so bad, expected it to be rougher than that" Then we hit the cloud and flew right into the storm!!!!
The engines whined and seemed to rev up and down as the plane was battered by the turbulance, often dropped alarmingly leaving a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, like being on a trackless roller coaster. If I thought I had done some scary stuff over the last 12 days, this put things into perspective as I seriously started thinkin about my family having to cope without me, I am not religeous but at times like this you clutch at straws!
After about 10 minutes(or was it 10 hours?) we were looking down into the clouds and seeing the full extent of the storm from above where thankfully it was a lot calmer.
In just over an hour we landed in Jo'Berg, 50 minutes later were were again at the end of the runway in a big Airbus, The storm was here too!
I though, "Ah big plane so this won't be so bad" WRONG! Same scenario, If my wife Di had been with me we would have still been in the terminal building booking a hotel for a few days, and I would not have blamed her.
Anyway we made it but that is a part of the journey I won't forget in a hurry.
Thank you all again for your support with Enduroafrica, family friends, businesses and HLLA (Ambleside Club and Cricket team) It was a wonderful experience and the two days at the schools will leave lasting memories.
I have made an offer to the guys on the second leg, if they want to send messages to friends and family, pictures etc, they can text them to me and I will put them on this blog, so the blog will live on for a while longer so watch this space.
Thank you all,
Bob and Neil

Enduro Africa - Ride of a Lifetime

Well folks we are back and have had the experience of a lifetime, thanks to Global Enduro and Mike Glover's Red Cherry Adventures. I have to say that the team were brilliant, Big Mike Glover is a real character with a sense of "I am gonna help these kids"
It was a real heart lifting experience to visit the two schools and deliver tables, chairs, toys, posters, matresses so the small children can have a comfortable knap in the afternoon. Build a Jungle Gym, fit doors on classrooms, carpets, fit locks and concrete window sills to finish off abandoned projects.
As I think I have said before, these kids have nothing but are still happy, little boys wearing Barby T shirts, odd shoes and obvious hand me downs, however most of the kids are turned out immaculately in uniforms with crisp white shirts, even if they are bare footed.
Take a photo of them and show them on your camera to make their day, if only I had a mini printer so I could have printed them off a photo!
The last day was a hard one, descending a steep muddy gorge to a River crossing with a demonstration by Eddie, Gary and the legendary Darell Curtis who lead the Yellow team for our trip, is there nothing they can climb? Respect, and I mean big time.
Mike Glover will occasionally ride with you and you may hear the phrase "You have been Glovered" when he leads you from the planned route to try something a little more interesting!
The two Doc's Emile and Adrian were characters, you may hear about a TTFU tablet (it's invisible and delivered orally!) Plus the phrase "If you can't fix it by beating it with a hammer, then it's probably electrical" The Doc's are surgeons, Emile holds a record of treating 22 patients with stab wounds in their hearts in a space of 9 months(Capetown A&E), 19 survived. When Eddie picked up a 2" cactus thorn in his hand he was in good care, still hurt like a B'stard though!
A cracking night followed at the TO Strand Hotel, watch out for the swimming pool finale that has become a ritual.
I am sorry if I have made one or two of you apprehensive, you will utter the "F" word many times in many forms i.e."What the F" , "F in Hell", "F right off" etc, I wish I had a F ometer in my helmet to count the times I said it but I wouldn't miss a moment of it.
Mike Glover will issue a safety brief on the first night and team briefings nightly, including issuing Spirit and Dick of the day awards, listen to what he says, he knows best trust me.
Just to reiterate some helpful (I hope) hints:

• Don't ride in someone elses dust, it tastes like Shite and you will not see that rut that will spit you off, you must plan ahead and read the roads, never travel so fast that you can't stop withing the distance you can see to be clear.
• Expect a dog to run out and I can assure you it will, our count was 5 dogs and a tortoise.
• Expect a cow to be round that bend, there are bloody hundreds of the things all over the shop.
• Goats generally run away from the bike(not always as I found out) sheep are just suicidal!
• If you are not comfortable with the pace of your team, slow down and tell the leader/sweep, there is no shame in moving down a group. If you race everywhere you will miss the scenery.
• Don't day dream about that nice shower and a beer at the end of the day, the roads have a nasty habit of turning a corner and turing into a 1 in 20 just before another tight bend.
• Don't be fooled by the roads, cars use them too, I saw two riders do a right hander on a hill on the wrong side of the road, a black truck just missed them!
• Watch out for shiny clay roads.
• 30mm handlebar risers would be good investment, Alfred with gladly fit them for you, it will make standing up on the little CRF230's a lot easier and enhance your enjoyment of these brilliant little parafin donkey's.
• Spare goggles are a good idea.
• ENJOY IT, YOU HAVE EARNED IT!

If I can help in away way to make sure you are prepared for this fantastic ride, I will check the blog on a regular basis before you leave. It would be good also to receive some comments on here whilst you are out there.

See you at the Dirty Weekend in Wales next year.

Have a graet time, Bob&Neil

Don't expect this to be easy and you won't be disapointed

We Woke this morning to a dull muggy day, still raining and the roads very wet. As we set off for TO strand Rathers came off on the same stretch of muddy road that felled him last night, which completely buggered his confidence. The roads are hell on earth, 2k down the road i picked up a puncture in my rear tyre. We set off and Rathers said to me "I have a really bad feeling about today" - Within 200m both he and martin the rear sweep were on their backsides in the mud. Martin injured his foot and needed a strong painkiller to be able to continue the journey. Then came a massive gorge downhill, descent and a river crossing, I never knew how much i could sweat getting a bike downhill, should be easy shouldn't it?
The rest of the ride was on wet modelling clay, team 2 - its cold and wet in the hills, bring something to stop the cold!
As i write this we are being entertained at the Strand, knackered and walking like John Wayne.
Cant wait to be back with our families now!
Team 2 - good luck and i hope this blog has helped you some, enjoy it folks - its bloody hard work but you will remember the sights, sounds and smells for as long as you live!
Love Bob and Neil xxx

Ever tried to ride a duck on a pond of snot?

Well today was only 47km but was a very technical day. After the very heavy rain overnight and the persistant drizzle today the hard mud tracks have turned to the consistency of melted cream eggs! Those steep hill climbs were a bugger!
The day was split into two parts, this morning was supposed to be easy and the real hard bit was after lunch, a river crossing had to be done by wading through waist height water whilst carrying the bikes. However our leader Darrel ,who has no fear and rides up the impossible, advised that the whole team should not attempt the afternoon ride, there is no support possible in that region even by air, if someone blows a clutch then the bike stays there - remember 'you bend, you mend' - dont fancy forking out for a new bike!!
A few dicky tummies around today, could be down to some of the shitty water we have been riding through.
Tip of the day for team 2 - if you have any 30mm bad risers, bring them with you, it will make the little CRF a lot easier to ride standing up.
I am now relaxing in the bar with Mike Poxon and a few of the boys.
Looking forward to seeing my family again.
Rathers is also missing Majella!
Last riding day tomorrow, bet you guys coming on the second trip are getting really excited now!
TTFN Bob and Neil

Hello, Lucy again - apologies from bob but accommodation is basic this evening with no Internet access.
Today they made their way 171K to Cremorne at the Riverside Lodge. Roads were very bendy with lots of gravel and you cant afford to take your eyes off the road. A few people fell off bikes due to this. Was a very hairy ride due to the fact they were attacked by dogs, chickens, sheep, cows in the middle of the road, cars on the wrong side of the road and even kids throwing rocks at the bikes! One kid managed to hit a bike and it knocked all the kit of the front. Also there were quite a few punctures today.
Bikes!! - Don't expect road legal bikes - no indicators, mirrors, horns or brake lights! Make sure you read the small print on the bike hand over form - basically - "you bend, you mend" If you break your clutch etc you will be paying for it!
All in all a straight forward day, where they are staying tonight is very noisy being next to a river and pond, frogs whistling and other animals making all sorts of sounds.
Apologies to Mick - he was hoping to send some photos to you but hasn't been able to do so.
He hasn't seen any mosquito's yet, however he might do tonight! The River lodge hotel has limited accommodation with some people have to sleep in the conference room on mattresses.
They did a steep climb today and he said he ended up in a bush on the back wheel - which he does not recommend.
He also added that when they arrived at the lodge today it was chucking it down with rain!
He says everyone is OK and hopes that tomorrow the accommodation will be slightly better and he will have access to the Internet again to update you.
Sorry again if it is jumbled!
Lucy

Update by Phone

Hello this is Lucy, Bobs daughter!
He's apolagised that he cannot update the blog himself but he has not got access to the internet right now, so has phoned me and asked me to update for him. Sorry if its abit jumbled ill try my best to get down everything he has told me!
They biked across the famous Gorge today and found it very difficult, apparently its a thousand foot drop into the gorge and then a river crossing! He said also he doesnt fancy being in the shoes of group 2 - good luck boys!
They did about 147K today which was very hard and included alot of river crossings. He even got wet hands at one point the river was that deep.
Today the team suffered from 3 punctures, a broken clutch and 3 people went over the handlebars, but were all ok. One person went into the trees and a few people were troubled by the ruts. They have also lost another team member today to four broken ribs - this was due to a non-biking incident!!!
However they did make the journey in record time, the yellow team were the fastest to ever do it. They ended up at the Hole in the Wall hotel.
Along the journey they were greeted by lots of school children waving and visited a round house and saw how the villagers lived. I think they were moved by this experience as they all donated 20 rands of their own money each to the children. They were told afterwards that this is a phenomenal amount of money to them and they would be stunned.
Tomorrow they have a late start of 9am and is a 'cruising day' apparently.
He cannot post any photos as it is simply too expensive!
Apparently Neils cumbrian foot is ok but his durban bottom(?) is sore!
Sounds like they had another good day anyway! Sorry if this is abit jumbled..ive just written the notes up i have taken from the phone call.
Bob is hoping he can get back online tomorrow and update
xxx

Transkei High

Apologies for no blog yesterday, by the time I had eaten and asked about the internet usage it was too late, access is only between 8a and 6p, it's dial up too!
Yesterday we hit the Transkei and visietd one of the schools on the Touch Africa project, we delivered tables, chairs, toys and supplies,the children were fantastic and all imaculate considering their surroundings, it's nothing for them to walk 8k to school. We then set off for some really tough riding, and I mean tuff!
We lost a member of our team for 4 broken bones in his foot, quite a few injuries were received by the riders and we were all dead on our feet when we got to the hotel (Me and Rathers were ok)
This morning we set off for another school and got stuck in to putting up a "Jungle Gym", painting, putting doors and locks on, carpeting the floors, putting in concrete window sills, even cooked for the kids and refurbished tables.
Rathers also played his pipes for the kids which they loved, so did the mums and dads, saw some strange dancing!
Tips, take goggles with you to schools to keep dust out of eyes (when sweeping floors, sanding etc)
Watch out if you swim in the bay at Mezzappa bay, Great whites have been seen there!
Thats all for now, sorry its brief but the computer is very slow.
Bob & Neil x