Another Photo

Hey look - photos

Dwabor

Now safely in Ghana and after a relaxed induction – introductions to locals, swimming, food etc. I've this morning had my first assignment in what seems to me to be a jungle village of Dwabor. I've been using a site level to survey the levels of Sabre's construction site for a new kindergarten school. 50 to 60 men are clearing the undergrowth with machetes and picks so I had plenty of helpers when it came to set up the laser level that I brought from home. I started at 6.30 and it felt like 11 by the time I finished due to the heat increasing hour by hour.

Off to Besease tomorrow for the elders meeting at 8am where I'll be introduced prior to starting to look at drainage issues next week.

3 men in a boat (and us)

Back from a river cruise on the Niger yesterday - cool breeze - slow boat - Mailian music - women washing clothes - men fishing with nets from long boats - nomad children playing in water - relaxed interaction with locals vegetable stew for lunch - sunset over mosque made of mud. A good day. Writing this in an Internet cafe before we go off to Dogon country to sleep out over night. Lots of photos taken and more blogging to be done soon maybe.

Moubachok?

Where? It's the capital of Mauritania which is a very nice country - hot with friendly people. Currently sitting in a tent in a camping ground that's the car park of an auberge so we get to use their facilities. Just about to have dinner and hoping to find a wifi connections so that I can send this...........
All well but Internet connection difficult and signal but No Access on UK mobiles.

Towards Mali

All going well after being towed out off the desert last night by a giant lorry that stopped at 0200hrs: Should cross south towards Bamako tomorrow:

 

Still no mobile connection qnd not read any of your emqils but hope to soon:

 

PS Open Internet connection so expect spam pretending to be me

 

PS q = a

All going well - am at Tan Tan near West Sahara border

That big tower in Marrakesh

 

Marrakech sights

 

Gateway to the South

So here it is. The new Tanger station where I get to buy my £28 ticket to Marrakesh before climbing onto my couchette for the 8 hour journey ahead.

Integrated Transport Systems

The welcome to Tanger was as anticipated with numerous offers of something called Taxi Hashish. The railway tracks were removed from between the port, where it previously integrated with the incoming boats, and the now terminus station, Tanger Ville. Doing so, has released a swathe of development land running parallel to the beach. It means quite a long walk along out of the port and then along the seafront but on the plus side one gets to see the posters showing forthcoming developments, as you can see from the photo.    

Dire Straits of Gibraltar

Uneventful Wednesday evening stay in a hotel in Algeciras followed by very windy crossing to Tanger. The ferry captain may well have honed his skills in a dinghy judging by the angle of the boat at some points.

 

Good to be back to speaking French on the boat although everything is written in Arabic script too.

 

 

 

Pace of life

Windy morning here in Algeciras and off to Morocco now, well after breakfast. I expect the speed of travel will start to slow. 

pub del lugar anyone?

Where was I – oh yes, North France, mid France, South France, North Spain, mid Spain and now heading south from Madrid to Algeciras which is the port of choice for those Morocco bound.

As mentioned earlier, the best part of these Spanish trains is the bar that takes up most of a carriage (or coche). I was glancing through the provided newspaper there – which isn't really a good idea as the Spanish then assume that you can understand the language – when I came across the headline on the obituaries page: "Pauline Fowler: La actriz que batio la UEFA". Of course it's not Pauline Fowler who has died, it's Wendy Richards. Why a Spanish newspaper saw fit to dedicate half a page, I'm not sure but my own translation reveals that her parents ran a "pub del lugar" in Yorkshire before starting another venture in London in "el mercardo de shepherds" – or Shepherds Market as those that know that part of London would call it. Perhaps some of my Spanish speaking friends might advise on what makes a "pub del lugar".

The train in Spain

After my bocadillo de patatas y tea and pastry for breakfast at Irun station, I'm now on the train - very spacious and modern but the internal lighting is much too bright to easily see the Pyrenees slipping by outside.

The guard has been through with complimentary headphones but no complimentary "those black bits of cloth that Victorian photographers used to use" that I could attach to the window so I could see the scenery.

Since typing the above, I've discovered the train bar (for a cup of tea of course, it's only 10.30 am) The lighting is less harsh and the decor light and airy - stainless steel bar rails and granite type bar tops against the windows to lean on and take in the passing scenery. It's a lovely feel of
being on a modern 80% empty train on a weekday.

We'll always have Paris

Of course to get to Spain by train one has to get off of the Eurostar and change to a TGV. In Paris this meant getting the Metro to Gare Austerlitz.

I find that generally it takes me a day to remember whatever I know of the local language in order to be able to put it into use. This trip of course means that the 1 day delay is of little use as I'm moving from one language to another, then to another, then back to the second one (but with a North African accent). Explaining to the sous-chef de gare that I needed him to print my ticket as their machines were not accepting my code was fine. However, small talk with my fellow travellers once on the TGV was rubbish.

It almost didn't occur to me that I could pop out from Austerlitz to soak up some non-railway station Paris. The station is next to the Seine and the Eiffel tower was visible from the bridge - I like to think that the next bridge was the pont neuf from "Les amants de pont neuf" but no waterskiers were in the river so maybe not (it's from the film, you know)

Into the night

Well, the Eurostar was as expected: dated luxury and passengers returning to their allocated seats after a fresh lot of Paris bound travellers board at Ebbsfleet. Of course it was dark as I left London (in fact, dark all the way) so still don't know where or how the train traverses the Thames although obviously it must do so now it goes from St Pancras.

I've started having some thoughts about charity and different approaches but I'm trying not to formalise my thoughts on the subject yet as although this trip is all about my experiencing charitable and voluntary work at the coal face, as it were, it's only day one.