Finally I can post again, there has been a problem with my computer which prevented me doing most things. And now I've lost the bottom line of things- and that's how I turn it off so this could get interesting.
anyway, a few more pics while I search to try and find the words to go with them

whoops, maybe spoke to soon, looks like I have to re-start the PC again

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

It was time to leave the island which was when things went wrong, I lost the keys, Ok, misplaced- first time in 16 years of travel. And then I also have to admit there was a bit of a language barrier and we missed the proper ferry back to the mainland – it left at the unearthly hour of 4.30 and yet I’d been told it always goes at 6.30am.
This was our alternative boat

The one in the foreground, at least it's got life jackets.
And this was the one that Suzi would go in

– an open sea crossing and they crammed a LOT of bikes into what they were treating as a vehicle ferry




We think we look great in our life jackets!


We overtook the vehicle ferry as it chugged its way across the ocean.


We still feel it was an added bonus was that we made it safely ashore to the mainland of Madagascar, we could easily still be floating around the Indian Ocean.
and our luggage also made it (handy porter service)


As did Suzi and the mopeds



And we were soon on our way

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

What I had neglected to tell my erstwhile pillion passenger was that this alternative ferry would dump us on a desolate bit of coast with 30kms of sand tracks to get to any decent road surface

She took it in good spirit and when Suzi wasn’t able to carry the pair of us through the deeper sandy bits, the Librarian got off and walked!

Or ran!

For those of you who have been paying attention, I got her to run on this part as a re-enactment of an earlier pic from this section of sand.
I said "I'm Sorry" to her a lot. And if she could ride sand I would have swapped places with her

We ran into a problem with some fishing ropes- these stretch for hundreds of yards from the water across the beach and beyond.

Luckily the librarian was behind me AND she has a loud voice as she was able to alert me before it became a problem.
A much needed lunch break at this spot

Typical Madagascan fare, lost of fried things

Something very dodgy looking being sold in the pink bowl wrapped in bits of old paper, we weren’t brave enough to try them

though we had a go at most of the food items
A river crossing or three on this route, all educational for my sister.
What’s known as a Double Pirogue in the business, fairly standard for bikes bigger than a moped, or so I was assured. The pirogues are tied together and the passengers get in one boat while the bike is in the other.

I usually sit by the bike so that I can hold it steady if anything goes wrong


Back on solid ground...

…or so I thought!

I hadn’t approached this bank with enough revs and I paid the price.

The best petrol station in town



And then back on the road alongside the Indian Ocean with the opportunity to grab a quick swim on the beach



Through a palm tree plantation, I’m not sure what kind they are.


Our final picture together on Suzi

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__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Madagascar - Land of the bright green geckos




We're heading back to civilisation

A large boulder of rock being cut into pieces and sold at the roadside.

Back in Tana, we unloaded the bike.
The Librarian had a go at riding Suzi,

and did well

Last street food- some of this sweet stuff, which looks dodgy but tastes nice

We posed for our final pictures together– photos taken by an eight year old, hence the unusual angle.

Then dodging the watchful gaze of the Gendarmerie at the airport car park (their uniform is identical to the one worn in France)

Librarian does a last bit of re-packing (in the airport)

And she’s gone.
BACK TO SOLO TRAVEL
To say thanks to our host for the great hospitality, I clean his KTM bike




The finished product - even Thelma never looked this clean

And then relax with a cold and an email session on the computer,

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

So far so good.

Love the pics and I'm amazed at the number of water crossings. Are you doing that on purpose?

Jamie

G'day Tiffany ,enjoyed your post as always.
Sam (Manicom) put a link on to facebook this morning of your(Radio) interview,i must say i enjoyed your frankness.I have to admit to wondering how you are able to afford to travel so much,makes me reassess what i'm spending money on.Do you think you sister will get behind the bars on her own bike in the future?
Anyhow you put life in my day,regards Noel

Butting in on Tiffany's page here to let all her fans know of her Podcast interview up now at Lorraine Chittock. Just scroll down to her picture, click on the download link and VOILA!

Great and fun chat between myself and the Queen of Adventure Riding.

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Rallying for A Wild Life — THE FILM!
http://igg.me/at/AWildLife

www.LorraineChittock.com
www.facebook.com/lorraine.chittock

Ah, yes Lonely Coates they call me now.
Suzi pops into the workshop

Suzi was having a facelift before I left Tana


We'll be setting off east and Suzi is getting this fitted



a reappearance by Arsene the chef who also turns out to be a mechanic as he fits the larger fuel tank to Suzi and changes the colour scheme a bit.

So Suzi and I apparently now have about 300kms range, which will be useful.

Heading out of Tana I pass the giant granite boulder which is still being chipped away



I can already see the difference from when I passed this way last time.


and the green paddy fields stretching away- apparently Madagascar is the only part of Africa where rice is grown, I must admit I haven't seen fields of rice like this apart from Asia and err, Iran yep, remember those pictures from a ride I did a couple of years ago?

Buildings change from scruffy concrete to mud



and there's still tarmac on the road

In Andasibe, I got roped into doing a jungle walk



this was a guy attempting to get a giraffe necked weevil down out of the tree to show us what it looked like



I won't bother doing all the far away shots, I had to take as we made our way through the jungle catching glimpses of them, here is one of them closer...but what is it...



They've got faces like a koala, no tail and yet they're a type of lemur




called an Indri

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Jamie,
I'm as surprised as you are- I'm definitely NOT doing it on purpose as there are lots of delays, all the negotiations and then the actual reality of bobbing across a river, you and your precious bike- usually close to where it meets the sea, and as you know that is often the roughest and most unpredictable water. It makes you appreciate the infrastructure we have in the more developed countries- this harks back to a time when there were few roads and even fewer bridges, or bridges which have been washed away by cyclones..speaking of which...
Wait until you see what is coming up.

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Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Hi Noel
I'm still waiting to get a good enough Internet connection and time to listen to the radio interview- Lorraine and I chatted for quite a long time and I'm now wondering exactly what I said!
I'd love it if my sister got into bike travel- no one in my family even rides a motorbike, so none of that lot really understand although they've all had a pillion ride at some point.

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Bet you didn't know that Madagascar has crocodiles- so there I was thinking what a bonus it is to be able to camp in an African country and not have to worry about lions, when someone took me to see the crocs!
Must remember not to camp near rivers

and apparently these are just the small ones, look at this croc skin



someone else can do the maths, but I'm 5'6" tall

and look who arrived in town?


It's Kim, the Korean guy on the Honda whom I last saw on the west coast a couple of weeks ago. Once more we're going in opposite directions but we had a couple of s over dinner. And then in the morning he headed off into the jungle to look for Indri before heading into Tana where he returns his hire bike and gets his next flight onward to... well I can't think of a more extreme opposite to Madagascar at the moment, he's off to Iceland


Good luck Kim. And no, don't worry folks he hasn't been travelling like that 0 it's just his day kit.
Another familiar face ( remember the flat tyre from a while ago?) I was passing through the same village and stopped to have a cup of tea with the family who helped. Antonio wasn't around but his Mum was, and she's carrying around a pic of Antonio sat on Suzi with my sister next to him


I think she has got an eye on my sister being her new daughter-in-law! I tried pointing out that I'm the single one


Mango season has started and my favourite fruit is everywhere and very cheap



and then down the road, just as it started raining I saw these guys and pulled over to see if I could help

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Those blokes were simply out of fuel, and how pleased were they that I had stopped?!

They pulled out an old drinks bottle and had my fuel pipe off in seconds!






back to their moped- amazed that I wouldn't take any money for the fuel they had taken
They headed off, with a cheery wave and...


squeezing on with the hatted one's sister and her basket of shopping which was somehow crammed in between his knees.



The rain was heavy and made the rest of the day a bit grim for riding, I eventually stopped at a town which promised beach bungalows by the name of Tropicana (oh those days of Wham), but it didn't look very tropical, even when the deluge had stopped pouring


Down on the beach they were bringing in the day's catch

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Whoops - wrong title and now I can't change it!

The day started peacefully enough, with watching this guy in the water, up to his neck in the lily pads



I'm not sure exactly what he was doing


Pulling up handfuls of roots and draping them over his makeshift raft.

The first river crossing of the day, with a mechanised barc




Watching what appeared to be the whole village in the water perilously close to the massive breakers


getting the fish in





Some dirt tracks (no tarmac for a while- or at least some days...no one ever seems sure) these were fun to ride

Then the first of the river crossings where the barc (barge) didn't appear to be operating



refreshments were on hand for those waiting


I was most disappointed to find that they had fish in them and so was she to find that I didn't eat fish as there were no other customers


However, there was an alternative to the barc



Yep, the good old double pirogue

although on closer inspection, this one didn't appear very seaworthy


I held my breath as they heaved Suzi onto it


Though actually, once we got going it didn't seem too bad


__________________

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Just to prove there are some bridges in Madagascar



It was a day of dirt and sand, the hours went by and the heat built up- I got tired and the inevitable happened

Suzi had a lie down



I had a few attempts at heaving her back up









In the end I had to take the bags off.

I liked the look of this burnt tree



The ultimate shadow puppet



The sand turned to dirt and I out on a bit of speed, I was hoping to reach a town for the night so that I could have a ,



Note to self - I've got to stop pulling the Daisy Duck face when I'm riding

and then there it was, one more river to cross (I crossed four in total today, but I thought you wouldn't appreciate too many river crossings!)



these guys just really didn't seem to know what they were doing. So I showed them pictures on my camera from other pirogue crossings and so they started to rope these two together


They went a bit more fancy than Suzi and I are used to, with large poles holding the two pirogues together

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo