Good! Because we are heading that way right now...

inbox
 

Hello SalCar,
I just visited Georgetown Guyana last May and my daughter did the trip from GT to Lethem then over the bridge to BoaVista Brazil. She indicated that the road from Georgetown to the mining town of Linden is paved; from there on it is red sand / gravel and it is in good shape, dusty if it is dry but a little rain would hurt. There is frequent Mini bus, supply trucks traffic. I will ride that road on the 26 of March 2011 and will post an up to date condition report. I am also planning a ride from GT to BoaVista Brazil, then down to Manus where I am planning to put the bike on a ferry to Macapa. At Macapa, I will ride to the French Giuana, then Dutch Guiana and eventually back to Georgetown Guyana. If you know of anyone interestion in joining me in 2012 kindly pass the word on.
Regards
xxx

we just booked a boot from Belem to Macapá and are waiting in line to embark. The Land Cruiser, two people. 32 - 36 hours. We paid 1.000 R$ [600 USD]. Let us see what awaits us at the other side of the equator...

Adventurous greetings,
Coen

Br-156
 

I rode BR-156 from Macapá to Oiapoque 2 days ago. It had been raining solid for a week before my arrival and rained heavily the night before. When I rode it, the sun was out and things were quickly drying out.

Some people I met in Macapá warned me that the road was not passable and I would never make it. However, I found it to be quite fun and only slightly challenging in parts.

However there were about half a dozen mud pits ranging from roughly 50 to 100 meters long or maybe a bit more. The mud in places was about knee deep I reckon and some of the muddy sections were on fairly steep inclines with stuck trucks blocking the only decent line through.

On the dry sections I was able to move along quite well while dodging big water filled potholes at 60 mph. Some of those hole are deep, but when water filled you dont know how deep, so use a little caution.

I dropped the bike a couple of times when I picked the wrong line through the muck. Then in an effort to right the bike I found myself slipping and wallowing around falling on my arse while trying to get a decent footing to lift the bike. I'm sure it looked quite comical, but fortunately for me there were not any onlookers to enjoy the show.

All said, this road was not what I would call difficult in these conditions, just a little work and some comical moments picking up the bike. But bear in mind that this is not the wet season, so take that into consideration.

If you do this during the proper wet season I could see where it could be a complete nightmare of deep mud pits with most of the road being slicker than wet owl droppings.

When markharf did this road I am willing to bet that conditions were quite different and extremely challenging. Nicely done Mark!

I must agree with you fully. We just arrived in Oiapoque. The road gave us no problems. When you ask the locals, they all talk about how difficult that strech is, and how many bridges are broken. Best to get your info from the truck drivers. We got two streches where we ingaged 4x4 for about 50 meters. But it was raining very heavy for the last few days and we saw a lot of men working on the road so it was like driving a new road to us.

French Guiana here we come!
Adventurous greetings,
Coen

"a complete nightmare of deep mud pits with most of the road being slicker than wet owl droppings..."

Yup, it's almost like you were looking over my shoulder the whole time.