Woke up very early at 4.45am, watched the breathtaking sunrise over the beach and then decided to wash all the Orange Team's motorbikes for the last stage of our journey to Port Edward. As I approached the front of the hotel, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw one of the motorbikes on the roof of one of the chalet lodgings ! As I was later to discover, I had missed all the fun last night which included midnight dips in the pool and the placing of Patrick's motorbike on the roof (he should have kept quiet last night).
After a hearty breakfast in the excellent dining room, we departed on the final leg of our journey at 8.00am in cavalcade - lots of noise and quite a sight. A lot of dirt roads to start with - very bumpy with loads of potholes and absolute hell with my broken rib - the first hour or so was just awful and excruciatingly painful and for the first time, I really wanted to stop and go home. But that wasn't going to happen, so as one of my team mates, Nick, would say "Keep calm and Carry on" in true British fashion was the only choice.
Several very hard technical sections today, culminating in one descent that was so complicated that we had to dismount and walk our bikes down the hill under power using the front brake and the clutch as a rear brake - very confusing, very tiring and finishing at a river which many threw themselves into to cool down !
Just before the last "treat"of the day (which for once was optional), I was looking at Rob, our amazingly reliable "Sweep" and I noticed a strange blue line just below the edge of his crash helmet. I asked him if all was OK and he thought he may have caught a bit of dust under his helmet. Unfortunately, some of his crew members had filled his helmet with food colouring dye and his whole head (and forehead) had turned an excellent hue of royal blue as a result !
After the fuel stop at Bizana, we were told that the last 40 km would be on tarmac and we would then rendez-vous with the rest of the teams for a cavalcade finish to Port Edward with police escort and sirens blaring.
However, someone didn't tell our leader, Dave, that the route had changed so, all of a sudden we swung off the wonderfully smooth tarmac road and started a new route back towards the countryside along a very bumpy and dusty dirt road. This was made all the more exciting given that schools were finishing, there were school buses all over the place and we were dodging both children and vehicles at very high speed (approx. 60 kph). About 15 kilometres later, Rob suddenly appeared alongside the peloton and was seen to be wildly waving at Dave telling him to stop - which Dave did, rather too quickly. Most of us did just manage to stop in time (including me) but Simon did not. I was at a standstill when there was suddenly a large crunching sound at the back of my bike which sent both my bike and me flying. Fearing the worst, my first thought was - please not now, only a few km from the end ! But adrenalin is a wonderful thing and I was amazed to find that I had sustained no further injuries from my rear end assault by Simon ! He was very apologetic and we re-mounted and did a U turn and headed back towards the right route. The 15 km return down the same dirt road was the hairiest ride of almost the whole trip. We had, of course, taken the wrong road and had to make up time so as not to miss the big cavalcade finish, so we were at top speed along the dirt road in very bad dust and narrowly missing several children, cars and buses. In South Africa and particularly on dirt roads, there is no road discipline so you are as likely to meet a vehicle coming towards you on one side of the road as the other. By the time we got back to the tarmac road, we were all shaking !
A mad 40 km rush then followed to catch up with the others and we finally arrived with about one minute to spare and then immediately set off - all 60 or so of us in formation with the full police escort along the main road into Port Edward to find that our arrival at the Hotel TO Strand was hosted by Zulu dancers and drummers outside the hotel and loads of others cheering and clapping our entry to the hotel forecourt. It was a very emotional moment and a huge amount of hugging between team members took place after demounting from our bikes. It is difficult to describe the feeling to someone who was not there but be assured that we were elated to have finished the course and, for that brief moment in time, were a very close band of motorcyclists sharing a very special experience. Not for the first time were several tears of emotion shed.
The final evening was also quite exceptional mainly for unexpected reasons. The first was that the hotel was not good - very down market and very basic and the food was absolutely terrible. However, our spirits were not to be dampened and we sat down to refectory style dinner and regaled each other with our funniest memories of the trip. We noticed that there was a board in the room with an agenda for the night's activities which included poetry, closing speeches, fire walking, motorcycle in the pool and the rest escapes me. The "motorcycle in the pool" entailed a couple of the crew members riding a bike into the swimming pool and, with the help of a couple of mechanics, getting it out and restarting it in record time. Last year's record time was 3 and a half minutes - this year they did it in 2 and a half minutes - no mean feat when you consider how much water must have got int the carburettor.
As it turned out, nobody had paid too much attention to the agenda on the board in the dining room and those who did probably thought the Zulus were going to show us their fire walking skills. Imagine our surprise after dinner when Mike announced that we would be doing the fire walking - all 60 of us !
The first thought that went through my mind was - how do I get away from here without being seen ? I couldn't believe that, after all we had been through and proven to ourselves, we were now being asked to walk across red hot embers to prove what exactly ? Anyway, there was no escape and assured by Mike that if you got into the right mind set and imagined that the red hot embers were only "ice cold snow" , we all set off, one by one, down a 15 metre bed of red hot embers. Amazingly, we all made it without any burns (well,maybe one or two, but not serious) and another wave of elation gripped the team members. It is an incredibly exhilarating feeling and I confess that, having done it, wanted to do it again !
The evening ended for me having a last few drinks with Mark (Orange Team - with whom I had lots of conversations about Chingford where we both grew up_) and Julian (Green Team) before heading off up the hill to bed in a little chalet I was sharing with Julian (Rob) from the Orange Team).
Today - 205 km (+30km on the lost boys route) and about another 10 hours on the bike (of which about 7 standing up)
That night, I slept like log !!
A Huge Thank You to all my Family and Friends who donated so much !
Thank you all so much for your contributions. Your generosity has made a lot of very poor and needy children in South Africa so happy. My blog is now almost finished and I hope that you were able to read about some of my exploits on Enduro Africa. I am already thinking about my next trip !
I'm Home and have survived !!
I got home last week and, apart from a broken rib, a couple of strains and bruises, am fine and well and already treasuring the memories of an unbelievable trip to South Africa. I did things I would never have believed I was capable of and met some wonderful people on the way. I am currently updating my daily blog, so come back again and read about all my exploits.
Welcome!
Hi, I am Stuart Redcliffe. I am 54 , grey haired, a tad overweight and unfit but this October I am taking part in EnduroAfrica 2010 and will be riding a trials bike, mainly off-road, for 1,500 kilometres from Port Elizabeth to Port Edward along the Wild Coast of South Africa. My aim is to survive in one piece and raise a lot of money for four amazing charities which do incredible work in South Africa. UNICEF, Sentebale, Nelson Mandela Children’s Charity and Touch Africa work tirelessly to provide health care, education, clean water, care and support for children, families and orphans and much, much more. Most of the work is done by dedicated volunteers and they never have enough money to tackle all the problems they face in this poor and underdeveloped region of South Africa.
Taking part in Enduro Africa could be simply be viewed as the latest episode in my ongoing mid-life crisis but I prefer to see it as a huge and potentially life changing challenge that will raise money for very worthwhile causes in return for a few saddle sores.
Each participant in Enduro Africa aims to raise a minimum of £5,000 for the named charities but many raise much more and continue their fund-raising long after the bike ride is over. The trials bikes we use for the trip all stay in South Africa after the event and are donated to provide volunteers and health care workers with much needed transport in areas with few roads and poor transport links. The Enduro Africa bikes make a real difference to local communities so I will try to make sure I get mine to Port Edward in good shape!
I signed up for Enduro last year and thought I had loads of time to get fit, remember how to ride a bike and raise money. Now it is May and I only have five months to do all the above! I have started with trying to get fit. For the first time in years I have joined a gym here in Marrakech, where I live, and I am sweating away on the treadmill almost every day. I’m also trying to shed a few pounds but not too many – I might need the padding when I fall off my bike! I bought my Yamaha trials bike 20 years ago but never got round to riding it much because life was just too busy. The bike has come along with me as we moved from England to France, then to Switzerland. It finally came home to England last May and when I took it to the local dealer for a service they were amazed to see a 1989 Yamaha in showroom condition with only 3000 miles on the clock. I also discovered I needed a new helmet because my old one was cracked and the visor had been broken off. Ah yes, now I remember why I stopped riding my bike! I am planning to take an off-road course during the summer to learn how to deal with the difficult terrain and many obstacles I will face in South Africa.
However, the biggest challenge will be getting people to sponsor me. So many fund raising events, so many good causes. Why should you give your money to me and Enduro Africa? Please, please look at the websites for each of the four charities supported by Enduro to see just what they do. From AIDS education to orphanages, their work is impressive, far reaching and very humbling.
When I first heard that my application to join Enduro Africa 2010 had been accepted I was wildly excited about the adventure to come. Then I sat down and viewed the DVD that came with the information pack and felt a bit sick. It was the most gruelling off road biking I’d ever seen – and I was expected to be able to do that! For sure, the landscapes were amazing, the people along the way were inspirational and the riders were a great bunch but all I saw was how many times people fell off their bikes in river beds or on steep narrow tracks. I had a moment of doubt that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew and my Enduro experience might come to swift end on the first bit of rough terrain. Now I have had a chance to calm down and realise that plenty of other participants are almost novices and even the most hardened bikers are feeling a bit apprehensive. Spending up to 10 hours a day in the saddle is bad enough on good roads but Enduro doesn’t use roads at all!
Take a look at the Enduro Africa website for the full itinerary, movies, photos, testimonials and details about how the money will be spent. The event is now in its fourth year and has gone from strength to strength. Princes William and Harry have both completed Enduro, spurred on by the wonderful work their mother did in South Africa. They are big supporters of Sentebale - a charity linked to the Princes Trust which focuses on helping children and orphanages in the Lesotho region. This year the response to Enduro has been so great the organisers have had to set up two trips to accommodate the growing numbers of participants.
The first group departs on 2 October and returns on 13 October and I will be among their number!
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Congratulations, I am so proud of you! A great achievement and a great blog. Now I have read it all I am very glad I wasn't there to share the experience but I am extremely happy and relieved to have you back in one piece (well, almost). Just tell me you aren't planning to do it again next year or I will have to get you sectioned. I love you. Nikki xxx
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