Upon our arrival at the Fiesta Royal Hotel shortly after we arrived in Accra, we were told that the hotel was fully booked. Not even place for a mouse. This was somewhat surprising to me since I would expect 100% occupancy rates for weekends and not on Thursday evenings. Not wanting to cycle much more, we were directed to another hotel just around the corner. Sure enough they had a double room available for Friday and me and within minutes were busy unpacking our stuff in our room. After a quick shower and a beef burger and chips we were off to the Accra Mall which is just opposite the road to go and stretch our legs.
The next morning we were off to meet up with Amanor Dodoo, one of my work colleagues who spent 4 years working in our Lagos office before returning to his hometown about a year ago. No visit to Accra is complete without catching up with Amanor. We were also going to catch up with some of my work colleagues from Lagos. During the weeks running up to the Ride for Polio, one of my work colleagues (Uzo Nwankwo) told me about his plans to visit Accra for a few days in August. We soon discovered that the timing of his planned visit more or less coincided with the few days I planned to spend in Accra. What I did not expect was that it was going to be a group of no less than about 12 of my colleagues. It was such a nice surprise to see them all when we finally hooked up at the Accra Mall on Friday evening – Uzo Nwankwo, Rotimi Adegunloye, Afeez Awowole, Seun Dawodu, Seun Okanlawon, Ogaga Ologe, Ayokunle Owoniyi, Saidi Adebimpe, Osas Atonhegbe, Chika Okoye, Lolade Ajayi, Ayoola Adojutelejan
On Saturday Amanor invited us all to his house and spoilt us with a lovely lunch. There was too much to choose from and I had my first ever taste of proper Ghanaian pepper soup. While I’m not too fond of food that is too spicy I do enjoy the occasional spicy dish. However, the pepper soup was so hot I needed to down a bottle of Nando’s Very Peri-Peri sause just to cool down my lips and mouth from the burning sensation that was making me sweat like a pig and cry like a baby. Friday just laughed at me – apparently Ghanaian pepper soup has nothing on the Nigerian version. I would not like to be the one adjudicating whether or not that is true.
After lunch we returned to our hotel to pack and get an early night’s rest in preparation for the start of the return leg to Lagos early the next morning. Admittedly I did feel somewhat anxious about having to go back but with the thought of knowing that I should have the wind I have faced all the way from Lagos to Accra at my back I fell into a deep sleep.
Early this morning (around 6:30 local time) we left our hotel. The weather, unlike what we have experienced thus far, was near perfect. Cool with light rain. With the wind pushing me from behind I was flying out of Accra and before I knew it I had covered 25km. From Lagos to Accra I stopped every 20km to rest and rehydrate. This morning I did not feel like stopping and even though my left leg was hurting somewhat I had a good rhythm going and did not want it to stop. Eventually after 1 hour 39 minutes and 40 km later, we stopped for breakfast under my umbrella.
We stopped for about 20 minutes after continuing our journey eastwards. Before I knew it we had covered 86km in total and I had not yet even finished the first of my daily three water bottles with hydration mix. That is how perfect the weather was and this gave me a huge confidence boost. I guess now I was reaping the rewards of all the hard work I had done coming into Accra.
After another stop (approximately 30 minutes), we headed off further east to complete the remaining 22km planned for the day. One thought that kept on nagging at me all the way from Accra this morning was that we should just head straight for the border with Lome – total distance from Accra to the border is approximately 190km. This certainly seemed to be an achievable task given the pace we were going. After reminding myself that this is not the Race for Polio, I eventually decided that we would spend the night in Sogakope, approximately 105km outside of Accra, which we reached in a little over 4 hours of cycling time.
What a good decision this turned out to be. After trying two small guest houses, we eventually found an absolute gem of a place right on the bank of the Volta River. This place is another one of those well preserved secrets that I would not want too many other people to know about. Off the beaten track, friendly and warm people, a comfortable room with airconditioner, a panoramic view of the river from the terrace where we would be having our dinner, Wi-Fi internet access, ice cold drinks and a cool breeze all at the incredible prize of USD55. I am so glad that I did not make any arrangements for accommodation before we left Lagos. Apart from the higher than expected hotel costs in Cotonou and Accra, it has served us well to have flexibility built into our overall travel plan.
Once again I realised how blessed and fortunate I am to be alive and well!
No comments:
Post a Comment