Smile for the Muzungu

A quick picture of smiling children in a slum. There was another arty shot of the narrow passageways between the buildings but its a slum and not a location for a photography project

Coach Trip

The last 30kms into Fort Portal were wet and the last 10 were up a steep muddy track. I'm not great at riding off road so I was tired by the time I arrived. I followed the signs to the "Camp Site" and found 25 drunk young Kampalans. After a few questions about the bike and my trip, I was immediately given a beer and an invite into town on their booze bus. A blinding evening of beer and twerking
(Photo to follow)

The Curse of Charley Boorman

I stopped to take this tired old cliché of a photo. (Ewan & Charley took it at the same place I believe).
To punish me for my vanity, the Gods of Doing Things Properly made the battery go flat and the bike wouldn't restart.
Lots of enthusiastic locals pushed it to "Uganda Qwik Fit" where we jump started it. I rode the next 140 hard miles without stopping, in case it wouldn't restart.
Quite tiring because they haven't quite built all of the road yet.

What the Cluck?

It's always worth starting your day by popping down to the local slum. Amongst all the poverty and hardship I did manage to find Clarence the pink chicken

Pre flight checks

A rather dull one I'm afraid:

Pretty good flight down and got to bed at 2am. Woken at 5am by a family of hornbills (Harry, Hermione, Hagrid and Hinckley-Point) engaged in a Who Can Squawk The Loudest competition
I turned on the light to add emphasis to my hornbill haranguing but no electricity.... and indeed, still none at 7pm as I type this. All very well having hi tech phones but no power - no network.

I then met up with Ian and now have temporary ownership of a cracking KLR 650. A quick test ride through Kampala (including a presidential visit and a police holiday) convinced me that I haven't fully understood the East African highway code yet. The traffic, and indeed it's effects on me, are best described as "brownian"

Still, a last bit of shopping tomorrow morning (new underwear) and I should be good to go

And for those who care about such things. I'd reckon Hagrid won

And now, over to the weather centre

Ooh lumme, it's looking wet in East Africa. 

If I'd just wanted to ride around in the p1ssing rain and see monkeys, I could have stayed in the UK and bought a fortnight's pass for Longleat. 

Oh well, "We get the weather we're sent" as a philosphical old lady recently said to me. And when I'm sliding down a muddy mountain on my arse, I shall draw comfort from those wise words

Competition Corner

Study the pictures below and decide which of these creatures becomes the cause of my urgent medical evacuation back to Blighty

 

 

Tiebreaker: Complete the following sentence in an apt and amusing way

"Frankly, Officer, I wasn't in the least bit surprised when Chris got bummed off a hippo because..... "