Birdy (almost) in the bush
Hello everybody, a quick update for you all.
I am finally about to cross into Africa. The Cub and I have made it the 2000 miles down Europe, and I am waiting for the ferry to Tangiers.
Although it is only really the beginning of the adventure, I already feel a sense of achievement.
I have covered 2042.7 miles, only had one major mechanical breakdown, used a litre of synthetic, drank cognac in Cognac and champers in Champage, went through Rioja, but they didn´t have a bar, so I didn´t get to drink any. I´ve been proposition by a one-armed streetwalker (who unfortunately didn´t offer me a handjob, cruelly ruining a raft of punchlines.) I´ve had my beard stroked over a wonderful dinner by a gay German, who christened me his ´beautiful Afghan,´ before telling me ´it´s ok, I vill no rape you, ja?´ I´ve watched a Spanish football match and the sun go down on the Med from my luxury apartment, and stayed in a 10 Euro a night hostel so cold frost formed on the inside of the window. I rode to the highest town in Spain, in the dark, on a road like greased glass streaked with screaming Carlos Sainz wannabes. I´ve been accosted by a crazy pin ***** pupilled smack head, who was still hanging on to my panniers as I screamed off at top speed. I was held up by an avalanche in the Sierra Nevada, which had turned the road into a dusty broken waltzer of a ride, with cracked up concrete like broken ice on the surface of a puddle. I´ve learned precisely 12 words of Spanish, and can´t wait to get to a country where I can speak the language without resorting to the act of interprative dance. I´ve already had an awesome adventure, and it can only get better in Africa.
Look forward to seeing you all soon.
Joel
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