No 2 beach

Saturday I went to No 2 beach, so called because No2 river reaches the sea there. Why the river is called No2 I have no idea.

No2 beach and river.

It was a pretty good day for the rainy season, light drizzle and the odd bit of sunshine interspersed with heavier downpours. We played around in the surf between the rain, when the sea was warm and the drizzle light it was great fun but the rain was cold so then we sat in the beach bar drinking Star lager, the local brew.

No2 river and misty mountains in the drizzle.

To get there we travelled along what is probably the worst road I have ever been on. The only potholes we encountered were at the bottom of water filled craters. It took well over an hour to go about 15 miles. If the sun was shining it would be well worth the hardship of being thrown around the car like an ice cube in a cocktail shaker. As it was it was still an unforgettable experience.

Sunday started of pretty lousy so spent the morning in the hotel. Around midday the rain eased so went into Freetown to look for niknaks and geegaws. Found lots of toot for sale along with fresh? fruit and veg in the street markets. Have come to the conclusion that street markets are virtually the same the world over, selling the same guff, fruit, veg, spices, clothes, shoes, tools, weel just about anything you could want. Only difference in the various countries I have been to is the quality and the price. Still I love to wander around these places as it is where the locals shop and you get the feel of the place and all the local colour. A police truck went down the street below and the market parted like the red sea for moses only to immediatley close behind it as if it had never been there at all.

Freetown market.

By early evening the sun was trying to break through so went for a walk along Lumley beach. This could be a really nice public beach if the city council took the trouble of cleaning the rubbish. I saw all sorts of shit there from used hypodermics to babies nappies (daipers for the yanks out there) to faeces to all manner of plastic crap.

Lumley beach

Despite this as it was Sunday the beach was crowded with lots of football matches being played. Went to the Atlantic bar for a rest and a cider and to watch the sunset as the weather had cleared. Walked back in the gathering night with just the moonlight to guide me. Not as romantic as you would think as I had to keep dodging all the crap on the beach.

All in all a fun weekend.

Sierra Leone.

Arrived in Freetown after a two day trip from home. Left early Saturday morning and stayed overnight in London with my old friend Elaine. Had a nice curry around Sundridge Park and a few beers whilst catching up.

Sunday morning off to LHR and another adventure into the unknown. First time flying with bmi, first time to Freetown, Sierra Leone and first time sitting across the aisle from a handcuffed imigration deportee. Apart from being confronted with 4 immigration and custome officials, 3 plain clothes and 2 uniformed coppers all that seemd to be missing was the partridge in the pear tree.

Arriving in Freetown was the usual fun of travelling to the third world, all off the plane and then hanging around on the tarmac for a bus as we weren't allowed to walk the 500yds to the terminal. More chaos in the terminal with scrambles for the immigration desks. Fortunatly the customer had arranger for us to be met air side of immigration so we were whisked through with little formality. Due to the deportee returning to Freetown ALL luggage was subject to a search causing another delay.

Outside were the usual multitude of new friends who want to help with bags and then pester you for money even if you carry them yourself. I suppose they are charging for their friendly, insistent welcome to their so called beutiful country.

From the airport to Freetown city there are 4 possible ways. Firstly you can drive around the river estuary which can take over 4 hours and is pretty ropey, secondly you can take the ferry which takes about an hour depending on traffic, third you can get the bus and hovercraft to Aberdeen which is on the edge of Freetown and finally there is the helicopter again to Aberdeen. They all have their drawbacks, 1 takes a long time and during the rainy season the road could be missing, 2 necessitates a crossing of the estuary on a ferry and a drive through Freetown and can be slow depending on traffic, 3 the hovercraft has been known to sink occasionally and does not always run, 4 the helicopters are old Russian ones flown by dipso russian pilots and have been known to crash. We travelled by ferry.

And what fun that was. After driving the land cruiser we were in through a couple of feet of water and up a steep ramp onto the deck we alighted and went up on the passenger deck. Thankfully it was dark so we couldn't see just how decrepit the hulk was,

Loading the ferry.

The departure was delayed due to the inefficient way the boat was loaded. There were 4 motorbikes that were loaded last and did not quite fit which meant that the bow ramp could not be raised therefore no departure. This resulted in much shouting and geticulating by all interested parties including the captain, crew, car drivers, bikers and just about anybody who cared to give their two hap'orth. Resulting in, for my part, a very entertaining 45 minutes. Eventually they shuffled around a couple of cars and mover the bikes to a space to the side of the ferry and we were off, chugging away across the bay to Freetown. Finally arrived at the hotel at around midnight.

Almost a fight on the ferry.

The hotel did not look up to much when we arrived and we spent a while sorting out rooms as there were none assigned to up. In the morning I had to change rooms and still in the daylight the hotel did not look up to much. Good job it is only a two week assignment.

On the first morning I was suprised to find out that all the people I need to talk to are on a training course for all but two days of my visit. Bloody great organisation that. I will have to work late each evening to discuss things with them after the course has ended for the day. The upshot of that is that I do not have to get to their office until late afternoon and thus can sleep in which means I can go out and party in the evenings, life is sometimes pretty good.