Zebra Bar is a fabulous place in Senegal, near to the city of St Louis, its a well known meeting point for Overland travellers. Over the last couple of days I have been resting and recharging all of my batteries, both physical and mentally too.

I have been taking it easy and deciding what to do next, Zebra Bar was my first big goal and i achieved that so where do I go from here? You may remember that I only have a loose plan and I’m sticking with that!

I have met a few interesting people over the last few days, a cyclist called Hans from Germany who is a few months into his trip on a pushbike to South Africa! What a nutter you might think! But no, he’s a sterling chap who has a great and open outlook on life, he expects to hit Cape Town in April next year! We had detailed discussions on nutrition and hydration and he drew some parallels with my little ride out. He was great and we got on well, I do think he’s crazy though!

I also met another couple from the Netherlands who were on this Banjul challenge thing, one of their group towed me to a mechanic back near Forum Zguid in Southern Morocco when I had the breakdown, they passed on my thanks to the tow car. They were staying here only for one night as their challenge was almost over, we passed the time of day and had a good laugh too. I had seen them in Morocco but we were on a police border check and didn’t have time to say hello. I put that right here in Zebra Bar. In the morning I was just about awake and the Dutch came calling, they had spare food and duly topped up my supplies with European goods, that was a bonus! They left for Banjul early this morning, I wish them well and they are doing some really important work improving practical skills for young people in The Gambia.

Earlier today I went in search of bread, I also had a few maintainance issues to sort out and started this by visiting a welder in the village to fix my cooking pot, the handle had become detached and with a few deft swipes of the welding rod it was fixed, well good enough for now. Another issue I had was my MSR stove bag had ripped at the seam. I’ve had this same bag (it’s an original ‘hi Karate’ soap bag so it’s a bit of a relic!) for the last 31 years and figured that it still has life left in it!

So I found a sewing shop and showed the owner my problem, he instructed one of his machinists and in a jiffy it was all fixed, she even reinforced the other seam too, it’s like new now! The cost was zero, the owner just gave a smile and waved his hand, what a lovely chap.

Back through the village I’m looking to top up a few supplies, an old artist adopts me and takes me to see his family in the village, I spend a couple of hours drinking tea and passing the time of day under a 400 year old Boabab Tree, the shade is welcome and I sit comfortably taking in the family scene. One of his family was braiding a young girls hair, it had taken two days so far and she was working intently whilst being watched by the matriarch ( who had crazy hair) They were lovely people and I showed them photos of my family and played with their children. The inevitable begging and asking for ’cadeaux’ came as I left. It’s a shame but I had bought the tea and some baobab fruit so I figured I’d done enough and left. Another day in the life of a Senegalese family I was pleased to have been a small part of that day.

Back at Zebra at I started to work on the bike, in Mauritania I had had the issue with my chain guide and guard, I figured it out today and I think that I had inadvertently lost the bolts from the chain guide, this had come loose and ripped off the chain guard.

I make a mental not to myself to be more detailed in my checks of the bike, those bolts on the chain guide muse have been loose when I left the hotel, I had checked the bike but missed that issue, that could have been avoided, I will be more thorough in future. (Hopefully)

I dig deep into my bits and bobs and with the exception of a large washer I sourced from the camp mechanic to fix the enlarged hole on the plastic chain guard, I had everything I needed to reinstate the said items.

Next on the list is my deflating sleep mat. I love my Exped ULLW sleep mat available in the shop if you are interested https://www.traveldriplus.co.uk/new-products/exped-synmat-ul-lw? ,but I picked up a puncture which means I have been waking in the night with my bed less than inflated. I used a mix of soap and water and found a leak, it took ages, some repair solution should hope fully fix the problem, if indeed it’s the only hole, I couldn’t find any more?

Yesterday I went into St Lois and I managed to find a bottle of red wine, for those who have followed my previous exploits you will be aware that this is normally an important part of my daily calorific intake. On this trip this has been sadly lacking, today I am working on redressing this balance and I’m working my way through a ‘reasonable’ French red right now!

Im planning on cooking tonight, I need to use some of the Danish donated food and I plan on moving on tomorrow so lightening the load is always a good idea.

I have had a good few days rest and I’m ready to move on, I have to go to Dakar to sort out an extension to my ‘passevent’ (temporary import permit for the bike) after that I’m hoping to head into The Gambia and see what that place has to offer?

Thanks for watching, keep safe. X

Zebra Bar is a great place to catch up with Overland Travellers

Cooking pot getting some local attention!

I spied this old Dt 125 propping up a tree in the National Park.

This local artist adopted me for a couple of hours today!

I had a go pounding the herbs and garlic for the family meal!

This hair braiding exercise had taken two days so far.

The local market takes place under a tree in the centre of the village .

It took ages to find a small puncture in my Exped ULLW sleep mat, hopefully this will fix my deflation issues in the night?

Zebra bar and a well earned rest.

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