It is now exactly one month until we depart. One month until we move out of our apartment. One month until we say goodbye to our jobs. One month until we embark on an adventure of a lifetime.
So how are we feeling? 1) Excited; and 2) Shit Scared.
We have been watching Long Way Down, (Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's documentary about their motorcycle trip from Scotland to Cape Town) as the last 3 episodes capture Kenya to Cape Town and follow a very similar route to that which are planning to follow. In these episodes, and through these countries, they share their wonder at the continent that is Africa, marvelling at the endless perfect sunsets, the animals and the people who they continually describe as extremely welcoming and kind. We cannot wait to experience these wonders for ourselves.
However, Ewan and Charley (obviously) come across things that are very scary, things that we are getting closer and closer to facing. Armed with motorcycles and support vehicles, they struggle to tackle miles upon miles of dirt/sand roads, progressing slowly even on their motorbikes. We won't be chasing some of the more serious off-road adevntures that they did, but we know that a significant proportion of the trip will not be on perfectly smooth and cycle friendly tarmac (or the potholed roads of London). On top of that, there is the prospect of wild camping. We think of ourselves as "fairly outdoorsy" (read: camped a couple of times and like picnics in Battersea park), however we haven't ever done a long camping trip, so there will be lots of learning on the job. The other thing that stood out to us, particularly in Botswana and Namibia, was the sheer isolation in spots along the route: long stretches of road with no towns, no people, no resources. Barren landscapes. We know we need to be prepared along these stretches with water and food, because it will be hot, and we will be pretty exhausted by then no doubt.
So there is scary. But there is also very much excitement.
As we are getting closer, we are also becoming more and more organised. We have our vaccines, so we are safe from Hep A, Hep B, Typhoid, Cholera, Rabies and Yellow Fever. Hopefully. Malaria tablets are also en route.
Our training is progressing, with some long-ish rides under belt, with more and more gear added to our bikes to test the loaded weight. It would be much easier to train if London wasn't currently suffering from a Siberian snow storm. Not quite the right climate for training for the African heat.
Last week Naomi organised a fundraiser through her work which went amazingly well and raised £525 for The Egmont Trust. We also have a spin class organised for the 1st, which will hopefully raise some more valuable pennies.
On the 1st, we are also very excited that we will be heading to the Cytech Training Centre in Milton Keynes, where we will be hopefully become experts in fixing and maintaining our beautiful Surlys. More on that to come...
Best bit: seeing some of the magnificent places we will be peddling to in the not so distant future Worst bit: snow cycling
