Travelogue of return from Ghana to Morocco.

IF A GOOD DAY DAWNS…

Departure for the return journey motorcycle difficult.
The first day, after 120 km, the rear shock absorber gives out, it could be, it was still the one replaced in India 25,000 km ago.
I’m stopped by the roadside, a motorcyclist stops and offers to help me. We dismantle the shock absorber, I give him some money (30 euros) and he sets off in search of a new one, a difficult undertaking as today is a holiday in Ghana.
It’s hot, over the next three hours I begin to think that the Ghanaian is perhaps having a beer with my money. At least 10 of them stop offering me their help, everyone reassures me, “you’ll see it coming”.
Finally I see him coming, I feel a little uncomfortable having doubted his good faith. He found a broken shock absorber, that’s all. We assemble it and finally after four hours I can start again. The Vespa is really bad, so I decide to reach Accra 20 km away and stop for the night, postponing the search for a new shock absorber until tomorrow.

It’s 8.00 and I’m already in front of the Piaggio dealer who, however, knows nothing about Vespas. He takes me to an area where there are only workshops, there is someone who apparently knows a lot about Vespas instead of Vespas.
After two hours the Vespa is fine with a shock absorber always replaced with a used one, which however seems to be doing much better.

I set off again and after two hours the shock absorber gave way again, I won’t tell you my state of mind.
I’m in the middle of nowhere, it’s noon and it’s 36 degrees. I call the mechanic in the morning, luckily I got the number. With difficulty I convince him to have someone send me a new shock absorber, in fact, I tell him to bring two, I’ll keep one as a spare.
Hours go by, in the meantime I look for a mechanic, I find one with a dilapidated workshop like I’ve never seen before, not even in Asia. He says something to get me going again…, I keep it as a back up position, never mind.
Also to pass the time and to get ahead, I start to disassemble the Vespa, at 4.30 the mechanic arrives with two shock absorbers, one of my model but always used and not new and one of a Vespa PK 50 that will never go up. No comment .
We must hurry, at 18.00 it gets dark. The shock absorber cannot be mounted from below because it is broken in the upper attachment, we have to disassemble everything: luggage, saddle, tank, rear rack.
The shock absorber is cracked in several places and perhaps, having given way, it allows the shock absorber to move excessively in various directions causing it to break…, it could be.
We also replace the offending rubber piece, but the shock absorber is too long. From a locksmith, gate maker, which is before us, the mechanic cuts the upper part into three parts, eliminates one centimeter and rewelds the other two. “It will never hold” I think, I’m like a chain carousel that tosses me from all sides, between anger, despair and self-control that I try to maintain because it’s the only thing I can really do.

It’s 18.00, we’ve finished and reassembled everything, the mechanic is super satisfied with the work done, I’m not at all, I’ll see myself again with the shock absorber broken in 20 km.
Let’s find an economic agreement, through gritted teeth… It’s the third shock absorber I’ve paid for since yesterday.

I have a headache, I leave, it’s dark, Cape Coast is only 40 km away, I try to avoid the potholes and the jumps, each one is a blow to me, but driving without lights, with cars traveling in the opposite direction that always travel with high beams , it’s not easy.
The place where I want to sleep, the same as the outward journey, refused me the reservation, I try to go there anyway. First I stop to get some water, I go in and out of the shop, I remember that I have no money, I gave it all to the mechanic.
I arrive in Cape Coast, I go to the Baobab Guest House, I ignore it and they give me a bed… 6.5€, fine.
I go to the ATM to withdraw, it doesn’t work, I try another one, ok luckily I made it, I’m rich.
It’s 20.00, I finally sit down to eat something, even if I’m not hungry and tired. I take a shower and at 21.00 I’m already sleeping.
Now until 2.00 in the morning, my blender is already at work and I think about tomorrow, actually about today. I just hope the shock holds up to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast where maybe a new one, or at least one without welds I can find.
It’s 400 km but I won’t be able to do it in one day, I have to go slowly, the road is bad and in between I have the Ghana – Ivory Coast border which hopefully will take at least two hours.
If the shock absorber fails again before arriving in Abidjan, what can I say, I’ll look for a new mechanic who knows how to weld and patch it up again.

How did we say some time ago?
EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE

GUINEA AND DESERTS

Here I am again two weeks after leaving Abor in Ghana, the point of arrival and restart of my VESPUP FOR AFRICA project, in support of the IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE mission.

The beginning of the return journey was eventful, due to the double failure of the rear shock absorber, in reality the second failure was due to a repair that I could define as a little clumsy and hasty.
In any case, as I have now understood that it always happens in difficult moments, a guardian angel has arrived, in this case African, his name is Anani. At the second break, he spent two and a half hours on a Vespa to come and repair my shock absorber, two hours of repair on the road and then another two and a half hours back to Accra, a legend.
My hair straightened when I saw him cut the upper shock absorber support into three parts and weld the two ends, joining them together, using the welding machine of a gate builder, also on the road.
He calmly told me “with this you will arrive in Italy”.

Since then, 4,000 km have passed, all of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, up to the entrance into Mauritania and everything is currently proceeding without further hitches.

As demanding as the outward leg, Guinea, with its absurd, off-road and bumpy roads for hundreds of kilometres.
Five days where poverty is at its highest level, when you find sleeping often there is no running water and you shower with a bucket and basket, ditto for the electricity, present a few hours a day, from dusk until late night.
In Guinea I collected two crashes, fortunately without serious consequences for me or for the Vespa, and two punctures, again on the rear tyre.

The last days between Dakar and Saint Louis were much more relaxing, beautiful roads, sea and sun in Dakar, as well as a delicious pizza.
I also found a replacement shock absorber, just to have it.

The most demanding 5/6 days begin tomorrow for the crossing of the deserts of Mauritania and the Sahara for a total of 1,800 km.
Unfortunately, the forecasts always show a NE wind of about 15 knots, so it means that I will always have it against/laterally. I also considered postponing the crossing for a few days, but the forecasts are like this for at least the whole week so there’s no point in waiting.
I will travel at the maximum speed of 60km/h, probably 50km/h, tomorrow I will try the first 250km and see how it goes.

To cross the Mauritanian desert, I leave with 24 liters of petrol, compared to the 20 I had on the way out, this is because with the wind against the Vespa, it consumes much more.

When I have a connection, I can hear and see the children of the mission via videoconference. They have an ability to form a really important bond and parting with them upon departure was very emotionally demanding.
However, I know that they are in good hands, thanks to Father Peppino, the Spanish volunteers present, Chiara Caliceti, Andrea Foggia who will arrive on his motorbike at the end of the month, as well as the dentist/doctor Sergio Dus from Sacile and his two colleagues who will leave for Abor on February 10 (special thanks go to them for the important dental equipment they donated to the mission).

On the Road then, great meetings every day

MOROCCO, BETWEEN SEA AND MOUNTAINS

It’s just the right time to write an update on my long journey back from Ghana.

Crossing the deserts was challenging, always against the wind, at a maximum speed of 60 km/h, but with the great fortune of not having the sand blow up.
I remember on the outward journey that it entered everywhere and in the evening the shoes were full of it. Luckily none of this, just a lot of wind, to the point that, when it stopped, I felt like I had a very powerful 150 HP Vespa, …it went like a rocket.

Then the cold began, up to modest Sidi Ifni, just the first hints. Things changed when I left and I decided to take an inland route, so as not to do the same along the coast.
Slowly I dressed more and more and the cold became more and more pressing. The last two days -5 degrees the minimum and +5 degrees the maximum.
For today the forecasts weren’t good and so yesterday I decided to push, covering 400km and crossing the mountains at an altitude of 2500m.
At 18.00 I arrived in Azrou where I decided to stop, too tired and too cold, the worst was over.

And instead this morning the surprise, the snow. At 9.30 I try to leave anyway but nothing, as soon as I leave the village the road is closed. I’m looking for a bar, impossible to find them warmed up, I stop until 11.00 and then try again.
Luckily they have reopened the road, I continue at walking pace, there is fog, the road surface is bad and I don’t trust it.
After 30 km things finally improve, the snow gives way to rain, which becomes more insistent near Meknes, so I decide to stop and wait for it to stop.

It is from here, on pause, that I write this post. Hopefully tonight I’ll finally arrive in Tangier, if it keeps raining I’ll get there tomorrow.
However, by tomorrow evening I’ll be in Spain in Tarifa, where I’ll stop for a couple of days to rest and, hopefully, warm up.

In all this inside Morocco I was able to see some breathtaking views and the Vespa always great

FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO FOLLOW AND SUPPORT ME
To make a donation to the mission in Africa (you really make me a great gift, any amount – as a company you also have the tax deduction)
To purchase my book NEPAL IN VESPA (making this second trip made me realize even more the value of what I wrote)
To follow me in real time during my journey

Thank you from the bottom of my heart