Touring on a Brompton: Cycling Senegal with Two Strangers

Seek Travel Ride

Chapters
0:00
Introduction and audio apology
1:24
Welcome to James Bale, recording face to face in the Pyrenees
2:24
Col d'Aubisque, Col de Soulor and today's challenge the Tourmalet
3:24
How the Senegal Brompton trip came together
4:54
Meeting two strangers in Dakar, including one who hadn't ridden in 40 years
6:24
Touring on a Brompton for the first time, gear, weight and comfort
8:24
Day one leaving Dakar in rush hour traffic
9:24
What it's like to travel by bike through Senegal, crowds, curiosity and welcome
10:24
James's approach to travel, no research, no expectations
11:24
Describing Senegal, people, terrain and the shift from Sahara to forest
13:24
Camping on a school playground, hospitality from a village chief
14:24
Roads, dirt, sand and the unique challenge of small wheels
16:24
Luxury item, a paperback about a West African man travelling to Greenland
19:12
Football as a universal connector through Africa
21:12
Border crossings, Senegal and The Gambia
22:12
The overnight ferry back to Dakar with Bromptons as luggage
24:12
Agriculture, industry and what sustains communities inland
25:42
Would James go back to Senegal and what's next
26:12
James's 1986 adventure and the upcoming trip it connects to
27:42
Tourmalet update and listener shoutouts
Seek Travel Ride
Touring on a Brompton: Cycling Senegal with Two Strangers
Jun 02, 2026 Season 4
Bella Molloy

James Baile, along with two complete strangers (one of which hadn't ridden a bike since he was 13!) packed their Bromptons into IKEA bags and flew to Dakar. What followed was two weeks riding through Senegal and The Gambia: navigating Dakar rush hour, camping on school playgrounds by invitation of village chiefs, pushing loaded folding bikes through sand that felt like treacle, and sparking conversations with strangers over football allegiances.

In this episode we talk about:

  • How a Facebook post about the Tropic of Cancer set the whole thing in motion
  • What it's actually like to tour on a Brompton 
  • Riding a route that goes from the edges of the Sahara Desert  to the beginnings of West African forest
  • The reality of border crossings into Senegal and The Gambia for European travellers
  • Taking an overnight ferry back to Dakar with Bromptons as hand luggage
  • Why going somewhere with zero expectations means everything exceeds them
  • James's next big adventure  connecting a journey he started back in 1986

Give James a follow via his instagram - @jamesb.adventures and you can also listen to the previous episode with him here.

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