Our first tour-within-a-tour

Due to our plans to return to Saint-Louis for the jazz festival (for our first proper break from touring) we had a bit of time to explore Senegal in a way that was less about moving on as normal, and more about exploring in a way that ended up becoming our first tour-within-a-tour. We decided to go the whole hog and our lovely hosts at Zebrabar kindly kept some of our luggage for us while we rode a six-day loop around the Lac de Guiers, with lighter than usual set ups.

This would turn out to be a sage move and one we aim to repeat on future occasions. We set off not really knowing what this trip would hold in terms of terrain, refuelling and wild camp spots. We hadn’t been in Senegal for long enough to suss all of this out yet but we did know that what Komoot might mark as a ‘road’ could be harder going than roads we had become used to on recent legs. We also knew it was due to get very hot. We didn’t embark on this tour-within-a-tour with the aim of learning about our wishes or limits for our wider tour, but we learnt a fair bit about both. As usual, we had a great many encounters on this trip, so we decided to cover it day by day to give a flavour of how it went.

Day 1: Zebrabar - Rimbakh

We started out by riding into the local village to grab some provisions. We were already carrying enough for three main meals and some snacks but we wanted some fresh fruit. While Beck was ordering stuff from the roadside stall, I got surrounded by children. That’s not unusual and like all children, they come in various forms. These kids were pretty intense and I hadn’t quite woken up enough to deal very effectively with them. No biggie but it wasn’t the most relaxing start to a day that would prove to be more than a little bit challenging.

Despite our encounters with sand it seemed we hadn’t had enough of it, as we rode into the thick of it again. In fact, this was different. Gone were the epic sidewinds, sandstorms and large trucks, but now we were riding on the stuff. Riding on sand is a specific cycling skill. One that, in my experience at least, benefits from wide, soft tyres and a willingness to press on even when bogged down. We both struggled, although Beck more so, and we had a day of riding and hike-a-bike for 45km. Pushing in sand was fair easier with the lighter front ends of our bikes, so we got on ok.

Also, it was getting hot. It reached about 36ºC that day and we found the conditions tiring. We had plenty of water though and refilled when we could. We also stopped a few times to take photographs and do sound recordings. Or photos of me doing sound recordings.

Without paying a great deal of attention (we wanted an adventure), I had mapped this along ‘roads’ through various villages but after some very slow progress we decided to see whether the numbered road (P402) might present better cycling conditions. This ran through many settlements, so we were hopeful. In actual fact, the riding conditions didn’t improve (though gradually our riding skills did), and as we passed through various villages the conditions got worse each time with deep sand throughout, and no option but to push.

Two white folk pushing loaded touring bikes through the villages attracted a lot of attention. Predominantly, this took the form of friendly interactions but we also had a few less friendly encounters, as well as kids who simply bolted when they saw us. This was simultaneously upsetting at points and a more visceral expression of some of the thoughts we’ve been working through in our 10,000km to date. Oftentimes when we were spotted people would shout ‘Toubab’ (a term used to refer to white / European people) and then whole families would come out to see us. It really felt like we were riding (or pushing) through some places where next to nobody of our complexion had trodden before. This took a bit of getting used to (even though the majority of interactions were well meaning) and set us a little on edge as we started to seek a place to wild camp. Our nervousness wasn’t helped by the old lady that made her dislike of us very clear when ushering us out of the last village we would encounter that day.

We sought somewhere with cover to camp but failed miserably. We did what we normally do when wild camping and sat and ate food together to suss out the area a bit. Some kids picking baobab fruit seemed to see us and we wondered whether this might result in other folk coming out, but in the end we had a pretty restful night and were packed up in the morning before the shepherds came by. Our encounters with the shepherds were great, and set us up well for the coming day.

Note: we didn’t wild camp much through the Sahara and never before in Senegal. It takes a bit of getting back into the swing of but we love it when we do.

Day 2: Rimbakh to Golon

After the great start, meeting the various shepherds, our second day would be framed by positive encounters, from high-fiving kids to lengthy ‘chats’ with people with no shared language.

Unfortunately, the improvements on this front weren’t exactly mirrored where the riding conditions were concerned. It was clear that this area was having some major infrastructure work done. We would often have three tracks running side by side, giving us the unenviable choice of sand, corrugations, or sand with corrugations.

There were also many Spiky Things. These had been a feature of day one too but we were really getting familiar with them by this point. They mostly took the form of Goatheads (which are maybe more fittingly known as puncturevine) which would embed in our feet as we walked and our tyres as we cycled, and Acacia, which would present a greater risk to our tyres and the floor of our tent. There were more familiar bramble-like thorns for good measure too, so we had to have our wits about us.

Note: We run our tyres tubeless and we would undoubtedly have had a few holes to fix otherwise. When combined with their width and resilience, we’d really recommend them (long-term review…)

Added to all of the above, today was set to reach temperatures (39ºC) we had only cycled in once before, when riding the Vélodyssée in 2019. We were apprehensive but also hoped that the relative lack of humidity might make it more manageable. We took good care to drink plenty and stop often. The combination of all of these variables did make me question a little why we’d signed up for this rather arduous trip, but at the same time it was proving really invigorating.

The birds. Wow. We were really starting to encounter more and more interesting birds and their songs. The colours of birds like the Abyssinian roller and the Yellow-crowned gonolek are entirely unfamiliar and the cacophony of calls is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. I’d have done more audio recording but the aforementioned infrastructure projects and endless trucks prevented this from translating well in this form. We still bathed our ears in it though.

Speaking of bathing. We happened across this chap cleaning his best sheep.

The whole area was bursting with wildlife and people working in the local environment in some way. Water was also becoming more and more evident. Large pumps were used to transport water from one side of the track we were on to the other.

Today we found a wild camp spot with more cover and one that had in fact been cleared for some sort of overnighting before. We sat and ate and washed ourselves (our evening ritual), during which time we met two locals from the nearby village. We somehow managed to have some bangs with them and many laughs were shared. We asked about staying there and they seem to say it’s fine. But we never really know whether they understand what we were saying. Camping as we do seems to be unheard of for the most part, which is understandable but can make it a little difficult to make in intentions know.

We rest quite well, though we still worry a little that we might get moved on, and arise early the next day to get some miles in before the mega heat!

Day 3: Golon to Mbane

Today would be the start of three days where temperatures would reach over 40ºC (two reaching 44ºC). We weren’t sure how we’d cope but we made sure we drank and collected water at every opportunity. We rode some amazing sections, had some great interactions (like Beck racing a guy on a his horse-drawn cart and groups of women hooting at our attempts at Wolof) and really loved being in nature again.

Maybe it was the heat but we also encountered many exciting bits of driving and riding, from rammed busses (pictured below) to people thrown off motorbikes in the sand, to full Indiana Jones moves like the guy in the passenger seat of one large truck that got out, clambered along the outside of the truck, fixed something and then climbed back in again - all at ~50km/h on a dirt track. Exciting!

In the end the heat won. We decided not to carry on riding after making it 30km and made sure we booked somewhere with air conditioning for the day after. We set up a rudimentary shelter for the afternoon and rested, hard. I was particularly bolloxed (medical term) and relied on Beck to be higher functioning to get us through. We drank so much liquid (water, fruit juice, fizzy pop) and but we never felt satiated. We took care to eat plenty too but one way or another our bodies just struggled in the heat.

After a few encounters with local folk, where we tried to make it clear we planned to camp, we moved a short way away to a great spot, dodging spikes as we did so. We had started to relax into wild camping—and wild camping in Senegal specifically—where it felt like people might check in, or offer you somewhere to stay in the village, but ultimately you could camp where you fancied. We had a restful, if slightly sticky, night.

Day 4: Mbane to Richard Toll

Another 44ºC day ahead. But we were excited to arrive at what I believe they call an apart-hotel. We had organised an early check-in and made our way to the city of Richard Toll for about 11am. Actually, it’s hard to really say we were excited to arrive at an apart-hotel but we did really need it. By this stage, in that heat, my top was approximately 50% salt content and we stank like we’d slept in a skip, rather than our tent.

This was still a great day of riding. Our skills riding on sad had improved significantly and we encountered many beautiful and bizarre things en route to Richard Toll. Here are a few…

The only thing that could really do one on the ride was this.

As we arrived we met some cool locals (and help lad that fell off his bike due to the salvaged sugar cane he was carrying as he rode after us), ate a fantastic sandwich and then retired to our apart-hotel. We washed our clothes and chilled out…at 18ºC!

As I think I’ve written about before, you lack constants when touring as we do. Variables are pretty much all you have got. Tonight it was the cockroaches that threw a curveball…and made us decide to skip breakfast at the apart-hotel the next morning. Nonetheless, we definitely got a bit of a reset from this night.

Day 5: Richard Toll to (a wood 10km from) Ross Bethio

Today was due to reach a mere 40ºC as the wind started to turn. It’s totally wild how quickly the temperature rises in these parts when the wind blows from inland. A 10 degree Celsius rise is perfectly feasible, after only a few hours. It cools down a little slower but we still relished the prospect. Unfortunately, this did mean a headwind and one way or another the conditions got the better of us again.

Riding out of Richard Toll we shared the road with wonderful taxis - we love how the taxis are themed wherever you go. Has anyone made a photo book of these?

We navigated some characteristically chaotic traffic, saw some cool things and had many nice exchanges with folk before heading back into the desert…

Once in the desert, despite my half intention to ride further, we both ran out of steam around where we initially hoped we might wild camp. We were there early and set up some improvised shade again, where we rested for hours. We ‘chatted’ with many passing folk from the nearby villages before deciding we’d shift to a less busy spot to set up our tent. It turns out it wasn’t much less busy and two groups of young men from the nearby village came by to chat. They wanted to know our plans and they also offered us to go to the village with them as, again, they didn’t seem to get that we wanted to camp. One of them seemed to suggest it was too spiky by gesturing as if pins were pricking his arms. We gestured that we’d cleared the area and were fine. As isn’t uncommon, one then asked us for food. I was only happy to oblige and he strolled off happy with his orange.

Then, once we were set up and in bed, one of those variables made its presence felt again. Mosquitos! And not just a few but hundreds outside my tent door. The buzzing was intense and I spent far too much of the night worrying about how we might get out unscathed the following morning.

Note: Beck left it until this moment to remember that mosquitos might not only reside in pools of water but also deep in these cracks where the dampness is. We had basically set up our tent on top of Mosquito Hell!

That said, at least Beck knew this factoid in the first place. Left to my own devices I’d be entirely clueless…

Day 6: A wood 10km from Ross Bethio to Zebrabar

The last day started mad early. We still weren’t entirely sure who might pass through that area and we were keen to get to the coast, and lower temperatures, as soon as possible. This trip helped a lot though as we never had any hassle from anyone when we camped, despite meeting many people each time we did.

We were looking forward to getting back to Zebrabar and temperatures 23ºC lower than we’d suffered recently. Still, amazingly 21ºC! But first we had a longer day of riding ahead. Luckily, when we reached Ross Bethio, it started with our first spaghetti sandwich.

We really liked Ross Bethio. It had a great vibe. In fact we had a great ride back. We had a bit more energy for fun stuff like meeting folk, taking photographs and I even watched a bit of the snooker on my phone. The day is probably best summed up through a few photos.

Once we made it back to Zebrabar, I sat down.

What fun we had. What stuff we learnt.

We didn’t set out on this tour-within-a-tour to learn or test anything, but somehow you always do. For starters, we learnt that 44ºC is pretty much a no-go for us. In fact, in small hops with some respite (temperatures only dropped to around 30ºC overnight) we’d be ok if we had to do it but, honestly, that aspect was no fun. Days in the Sahara were hard going due to the conditions but they never caused a systems shut down in quite this way. Maybe we need some kind of supplement for our water, or similar? It just felt we were struggling to stay hydrated no matter how much we drank.

Secondly, we will definitely do a tour-within-a-tour again. It was nice leaving gear here. Probably about 5-8kg each, at a guess. We’ve talked about what we could do without but there are some comforts afforded by what we normally carry that we’d find hard to do away with permanently. Like, spare parts we’d struggle to get out here, or our D-lock so that we feel we can leave the bikes altogether when we wish. Hmmm. Something to keep pondering.

Thirdly, our bikes really came into their own. Wide tyres and wide bars worked a treat on all the mad surfaces we encountered. Riding in sand became quite fun by the end…even though our poor bikes want a good clean and check over now.

Lastly, we eased ourselves into wild camping in Senegal. That was nice. By this stage in our tour we could take a more relaxed attitude but we can both be a little nervous about it. Only really from the point of view of humans, despite the mounting evidence presented by most of those we have met that they are kind and have our best intentions in mind.

Here’s to future tours-within-a-tour!