Cycling From the UK to Cape Town. Journey through West Africa (Part 1): Rob MacLennan

Ever wondered what it would be like to cycle through Africa? Well this is part 1 of a special 2 part episode featuring guest Rob MacLennan who in 2023 cycled from his home in the UK to Cape Town in South Africa. A journey of over 17,000kms and infinitely more experiences.

In Part 1 Rob will share with us how he prepared for such a trip as a complete beginner, what he packed, how he worked out his route and some of the key experiences along the way.

He crossed through Europe via France and Spain, and it was really from Morocco that the real adventure began. From there he cycled down through the Sahara desert - discovering the joy of melon milk! He also learnt how to push his limits, realising he was capable of more than he thought.

He enjoyed exploring through West Africa, observing local life, battling terrible roads in Guinea while also enjoying some of the best coffee there.  Then in Nigeria things took a serious turn when at Christmas Rob found himself held at gunpoint by militia who mistook him for a government spy. His recollections from this harrowing event were eye opening - but as Rob said, were in no way the narrative that his journey need be remembered by.

You can follow Rob via his instagram account - @Robbo_On_The_Road and be sure to tune in next week for part 2 to hear the rest of this incredible story.

Listen to the other guests who are mentioned in this episode:

Steph Devery
Paul de Tilly
Giacomo Turco
Jude Kriwald 

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Chapters

• 7:42 The Decision to Cycle to Cape Town
• 11:49 The Reality of the Journey
• 25:47 Companionship and Solo Travel
• 32:17 Overcoming Challenges
• 37:07 Reflecting on Adversity and Self Confidence
• 37:35 Journey Through the Sahara Desert
• 44:13 Crossing into West Africa
• 49:06 Humbling Encounters and Generosity
• 53:21 Beauty and Challenges of Guinea
• 1:03:00 A Harrowing experience in Nigeria

Transcript

Rob Maclennan Transcript
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Rob: [00:00:00] Never really experienced jungle before. Guinea has a lot of jungle and obviously the Congo is this is incredible. And just cycling through this sort of up and down through these hills where all you can see is just this vast expanse of, you know, these are ancient trees and like, just, you can just hear the wildlife singing and there's no one else around.

Those are really, really special experiences. Like feeling really just at the mercy of nature and being so overwhelming and awe inspiring was just some of the best moments of the trip. 

Bella: Welcome to the Seek Travel Ride podcast, where we share the stories and experiences of people who have undertaken amazing adventures by bike, whether it's crossing state borders.

Hello listeners and welcome to this week's episode of Seek [00:01:00] Travel Ride. Now today's episode is a special one as I feature adventurer Rob MacLennan. Our conversation was so engaging and packed with incredible stories, which meant that the full recording session ran well over two and a half hours. In fact, I think it was close to, if not after, 1am when we wrapped the session up.

All is to say that today, what you're going to hear is part one, where Rob will be sharing stories from the first half of his adventure, which took him from the UK, across Europe and then down through West Africa. We're going to finish today's episode at the point where Rob is about to cross the border from Nigeria to Cameroon.

Stay tuned for part two, which will be released next week, and we'll explore the rest of Rob's journey. We're going to be picking up where we left off from that border crossing and digging into the experiences from his adventure as he continued south to Cape Town, South Africa. [00:02:00] Okay, now let's get into today's episode.

Hello, I'm your host, Bella Malloy, and I'm excited to introduce my guest for today's episode MacLennan. In August 2023, Rob packed panniers onto his bike and pedaled away from his home in London. This was his first bike tour and he was a total novice. Yet, exactly at 199 days and over 17, 000 kilometers later, He would arrive at his end destination of Cape Town in South Africa.

This adventure saw Rob travel through 19 countries, his route taking him through the harsh landscapes of the Sahara, across West and Central Africa, down through Angola, Namibia and finally South Africa. His journey was anything but smooth. He faced some dangerous encounters, including a terrifying moment where he was held at gunpoint in Nigeria.

Rob also endured multiple bouts of malaria, battled stomach illness, [00:03:00] and had his fair share of bike mechanical issues along the way. But hand in hand with all of this, Rob's experiences were overwhelmingly positive. He also gave himself the deepest of insights and immersive experiences into the heart of Africa.

Travelling through so many varied landscapes, from the vibrant coastal regions of West Africa to the isolated Namib Desert and everywhere in between, he experienced the vibrant cultures of Africa up close and personal, observing the local way of life in ways that only a slow journey on a bike can offer.

I cannot wait to dig into Rob's incredible story today and hear him share his experiences from taking such a wild, immersive adventure. Rob MacLennan, welcome to the show. 

Rob: Hello. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. 

Bella: I am super pumped, Rob. Listeners, you will not know this, but Rob and I have sort of been tag teaming on when we could schedule in for a recording.

We were initially due [00:04:00] to try and record really close after you'd finished, Rob, but I'm actually glad that time has passed. We're a few months down away from that now, but I cannot wait to hear your stories. But Rob, a question that I start my show with and I ask it of all my guests is, Rob McLennan, do you remember the very first bike you ever rode?

Rob: I, I think I do. I remember riding a little blue bike with stabilizers when I was maybe three or four and I remember being so determined to be able to ride the bike without stabilizers. And I remember the first day that I was able to ride and my dad let go of me and I just kept on riding and I just felt really awesome.

And that stayed with me. And funnily enough, that was actually when I was a young kid and I was living in Malawi in Southeast Africa, which [00:05:00] was, I guess, part of the, the sort of draw to Africa in the first place for me. 

Bella: Oh, wow. I've interviewed a couple of guests who actually grew up in Africa. I don't know how I missed that you grew up there.

I had read that you , had experiences in Malawi, but I had made the assumption quite wrongly that they were more as an adult rather than also growing up as well. 

Rob: Yeah, so my parents were doctors, doing medical research out there. And I was out there till I was eight years old and it was just the best childhood.

Honestly, it was so much fun. Like life was great. I finished school at 12, played all afternoon, went to the, the mountains and the, the river and the lake sort of in the weekends, it was a really awesome place to, to be a kid and have your first memories. 

Bella: Cause I wanted to ask, like. This journey of yours, it was your first experience of bike travel.

I guess there's two sides of it. First question is, put aside the idea of [00:06:00] riding your bike a little bit in Malawi as a kid, but as an adult, were you someone that was into riding bikes? 

Rob: Not really. I I didn't particularly enjoy cycling very much, to be honest with you, Bella. I did cycle my bike around university, but that was like a very small little city and I I did one bike ride that was maybe like 30k and it was miserable.

And I was like, I don't get why people spend their time doing this. Which I realize might be a slightly surprising thing to hear from someone who spent six months on a bike. But yeah, that was sort of my, my background in cycling, literally almost quite anti it, I guess, to start with. 

Bella: Because my follow up question, and actually, funnily enough, Rob, the people that I interview that take these journeys really do fall into two camps.

And more of them than less of them would be exactly like you. They don't take a bike tour because they like riding bikes. It's pretty much they take it because they want to travel somewhere [00:07:00] slowly, and it's the perfect mode of transport to do that. Which I guess leads me to my second thought there, was Obviously, you took this journey from London right down the west coast of Africa there.

Was it your early formative experiences in Malawi that, that made you want to take this journey through Africa in the first place? And also why bike travel if you're not liking bike riding? 

Rob: That's an excellent, an excellent question. So I, I've spent a bit of time. Um, going back to Africa, I spent, I think, five months in my year off after school, sort of backpacking around the sort of southern countries in Africa and had an amazing time.

And I think definitely growing up there in that feeling like home, obviously Africa is an incredibly diverse continent, but. There was just a drawback that I felt and, you know, that, that West Coast, that was something that I've never, I've never been to the North or West Africa before. And it just looks like an [00:08:00] interesting place to travel at some point.

And honestly, just on a complete whim, I just wondered, you know, I wonder if it's possible to cycle a bike down there. Uh, not quite sure where the thought came from, but I just spent an evening sort of halfway through the last year. My university, you know, I felt a bit trapped in a bubble and I wanted to just finish and go and do something crazy that I'd never done before.

And, uh, I spent, I just spent an evening just doing a little bit of, just a little bit of Googling, had a little play on Google Maps, had a few beers. And I just wondered, oh, I wonder if it's possible to cycle from London to Cape Town. That would be awesome. Did like maybe an hour of research. I was like, yeah, it looks like someone's done it before.

And then, then I walked downstairs the next morning and I told my brother, yeah, I'm going to cycle to Cape Town next year. And he said, no, you're not. And then I had no choice but to give it a [00:09:00] go. 

Bella: Once you say it out loud, 

Rob: once you said out loud and you know, like, it's just, you got to do it. So it was as much as a sort of on a whim decision as like a deep desire to just escape and do something completely different and just challenge my views of the world and escape the bubble that I'd spent.

You know, however many years being in. 

Bella: Okay. I get the idea and the motivation. And like I said before, saying it out loud to someone, it's sort of, you know, levels up on the commitment side of things. I guess you're holding yourself to an account in a way. Aren't you? 

Rob: I just said it. And then I was just like, you know what?

I'm just going to double down on this. So I just told all my friends I was going to do it. Didn't do any planning or anything right until the last moment. But I just, in my head, I was like, I've told everyone I'm going to do it. Purely out of pride. I have to at least. attempt. So that was really sort of, I just sort of tied my own hands and then went from there.

Bella: Okay. How does a complete novice decide what he needs to bring and how to prepare for [00:10:00] something like this? Were you someone who prepared in quite a lot of detail? Were you someone who just sort of figured out, I'll start and work it out along the way? How did you? How did you get ready for being able to roll out from your home on that first day in August?

Rob: It was a little bit of both, to be honest. There was a super helpful website that I think was called freewheely. com, which I think a Swiss guy who'd cycled a similar route to me in like 2013 had made an incredibly detailed account of his journey, including a very detailed spreadsheet of everything he took.

And I. Basically used that as a starting point for the things that I'd need and It was all very last minute. I only bought my bike a week before I left Everything every bit of preparation had It happened in the seven days leading up to day one. It was very last minute and [00:11:00] my mindset was like, I'll just try and get the stuff that's going to be hard to get later on and then just figure it out, you know, as I'm going through France and Spain.

Bella: Oh, I love this. Do you know what this reminds me of? There's two guests. One of them, Steph Devery, hi Steph, you're taking amazing adventures in Canada now, but Similar to you, Rob, she had this idea to cycle all the way down to Cape Town, and she said to me, I remember in our interview, when I started on day one, I didn't even know if I, if I liked riding a bike.

Like, she's just trying to figure it all out. And the other one is Paul De Tilly, who I featured really early on in the show, is a Frenchman, and he rode from Paris all the way to China. Over the Pimir Highway. That was his dream to ride the Pimir, but his training ride leading up to it was like four kilometers long and really it was laps around a Parisian park trying to learn how to, I think, use clipless pedals, so it was 

Rob: I think there is a bit of a sort of feeling amongst a lot of people that [00:12:00] Sort of doing a big cycle trip or getting into cycling is something that requires a lot of money and a lot of effort and being a bike person.

And I wasn't any of those things. At the end of the day, like, you need a bike and some stuff and you just need to start pedaling and it will work itself out as you go along. There was something actually really exciting about just being a complete novice. I think that was part of the appeal was that I wasn't really, I think the longest bike ride I'd done, In my life before day one was something like 40 kilometers.

And this like day one of my trip was our first time riding the fully loaded bike with all the panniers, first time with clip ins. It was a lot. I definitely did not prepare very much and yeah, it was a little bit overwhelming cycling out of London and just being like, I am completely out of my depth there.

I have no idea what's going on. 

Bella: And a bike handles so weirdly when it's fully [00:13:00] laden as well. And conversely, you know that moment when you're on a cycle tour and say you're staying somewhere and you have the freedom of taking all your gear off and you've got to ride to another point. It feels really bizarre then too, doesn't it?

When it, when it's not loaded up, it feels very foreign. 

Rob: Yeah, definitely. It was especially taking off like 20, 30 kilograms and suddenly it feels so light. The really extreme feeling was when I got back to the UK and then started riding my bike. And the handlebars are sort of So narrow. And I was like, how do I even say stable on this and not fall over?

Because I was so used to writing these sort of monster wide handlebars. 

Bella: You know how you were saying you got so much advice from that website, from that Swiss cycle tourer, and he had a spreadsheet of equipment and you pretty much nearly copied that list. I want to know what made your equipment list that you sort of maybe ditched somewhere along the way and what would be your one luxury item that you knew you could do without, but you still kept [00:14:00] anyway?

Rob: Oh, great question. Um, I did ditch a few stuff. I very quickly ditched The Lycra shorts and shirt. I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna wear baggy mountain biking shorts and a t shirt. So much more comfortable and appropriate, I guess. And I love your item. I, I tried really hard to take as little extra stuff as possible.

If I was going to get there in 200 days, which was sort of my, my time budget, I knew I Um, I would have to go quite long distances on average, so I couldn't really afford to take the kitchen sink with me. I did initially take a drone with me, which was epic, and got some great shots going through France and Spain.

But then, Morocco has this extremely rigid drone policy. You get in serious trouble if they catch you with a drone. And so I I got it sent back to the UK and then just didn't figure out the logistics of getting it sent [00:15:00] back out to me at another country. So that was a luxury item that I did. It just probably was for the best given some of the things that happened later on.

One mistake I definitely made, which I would give some serious advice to avoid doing, is I didn't have a tent that was freestanding. So I had a very lightweight tent, which is great if you're Going hiking in the mountains or whatever and and it works brilliantly when there's nice grassy soil that you can play into Unfortunately when the two options to keep your tent upright are either sand or just rocky hard ground It just became one of the most infuriating exercises trying to put my tent up and honestly I spent more nights sleeping on top of my tent Than sleeping inside it just because I couldn't, I just couldn't get it up.

So if I ever do something like this again, I will definitely be getting a, a freestanding tent because that was a serious error of judgment. [00:16:00] 

Bella: There's possibly ways around this, but like, when your option was to take shelter from the rain, I'm just making assumptions here, were there rainy days where you had an option to like be under some sort of rigid structure with like a concrete floor?

Because I always think that's where a freestanding tent comes into its own as well. 

Rob: Um, a little bit. Once I crossed into Morocco. It only rained twice until I reached the equator in Congo. I just happened to accidentally time it with dry season across the whole of West Africa. And so I didn't really experience a lot of rain to the extent that I had to figure out a solution.

It was more probably staying out of the sun that was was 

Bella: It's searing sun too, and I'm thinking of the Sahara, oh, that would just be blistering. And just going back to your, uh, the, what you were sharing there with the freestanding tent, there's a great place, you've got two and a half thousand kilometers of sand to deal with there, don't you?

Rob: Yeah. In, yeah, across the Sahara, especially with very few options [00:17:00] of places to stay, um, my default would be. Yeah. Finding a comfortable sand dune, Lying the, the head down as a canvas, Putting my sleeping mat on top, And then trying to avoid getting my sleeping bag full of, full of sand. 

Bella: Did you succeed? 

Rob: No, it was an entirely fruitless exercise.

Um, I think I still have sand in my panniers from the Sahara that's been there. That I've just not been able to get out. 

Bella: You needed to can them into like a little jar and make them as like a little memento. 

Rob: Yeah. Yeah, that was, it was infuriating to start with and I just got to the point I accepted my fate.

So in the end I, especially in, once I got south of the Sahara and I was, you know, in countries where there's a lot more bugs and insects and mosquitos. I ended up trying to find somewhere indoors to stay, rather than sleeping in my tent. Partially because sleeping on a mattress, however [00:18:00] uncomfortable, is a lot nicer than on rocky ground.

And also because It took so long to try and keep my tent up and it might just fall over in the night that it just often was easier to try and find a really cheap guest house or hotel to stay in. 

Bella: Do you think that would have been the case had you not, if you'd had a freestanding tent, maybe not so much?

Or do you still think that potentially you still would have sought out shelter indoors if it was an option? 

Rob: I think honestly I decided that, If I could stay for somewhere for less than 10, then it was worth it. I wasn't trying to do it all on a shoestring, partially for sleep and partially because just even just washing myself in a bucket of cold water feels So much better than trying to get to sleep covered in sweat, horrible dust.

Bella: How many days did you go at any point without being able to even, you know, wash yourself with a bucket of cold water or, you know, have a little river swim or something? 

Rob: I [00:19:00] think maybe like three days was the limit. That was like one thing for me that was like, I just hate feeling sticky. I didn't mind it during the day, but it was It was overnight that I just, I actually found it difficult to sleep if I just felt disgusting.

Even if the option was a cold bucket of water, I would always take it. And often that was the option, even in the hotels. Yeah. 

Bella: But you weren't out there to experience four star luxury. That wasn't what this journey was about. I want to ask, you know how at the start we were talking about planning, and you were saying just get on the road and you'll work it out.

What were the milestones that you were looking forward to though? Because with a journey this big, I feel you've got to break it down into sections. Maybe that's my viewpoint, but did you do that mentally as well? 

Rob: Yeah, I think for a journey that long it's completely overwhelming to try and think about the end point and how far away it is.

Two things I really remember vividly was after my first day cycling [00:20:00] 100k and I was exhausted And I was like, I'll do this like another hundred and seventy times. I don't know how that's gonna happen It just felt completely overwhelming and the second experience was I remember crossing on the ferry from Gibraltar to Morocco, and I'd spent a weekend with some friends, um, in the south of Spain just before that.

And I just remember thinking that the next time I'm going to see any of my friends or family, I'm going to hopefully have crossed this entire continent. I can't even fathom how big that is. And just how overwhelming it was, you know, it's really hard to like stay positive and motivated when you think about things that way.

I just sort of broke it down and said, okay. This is where I want to try and get to today. And even each day I broke down into each 10 kilometers at a time. And some days, which are really tough, it was just down to getting through the next 10 kilometers and getting to the next service station where I can get a little bit of a break from the heat and get a cold [00:21:00] drink from the fridge.

And I definitely felt that breaking it down into just The next few days and today and the next two hours just made it mentally possible to to get through and that's why I found it really weird getting to the last sort of month of the trip and getting towards South African thinking I might actually get to the finish because I sort of never, I never really allowed myself to believe I would get there.

But I also never thought that I wouldn't, in a weird way. It just became a case of, I know what I roughly need to average every day, and I'm just going to try and think about one day at a time. Yeah, as I said, getting to that, towards the end, and thinking about That end point on the horizon was really weird mentally to try and sort of grapple with because I almost felt scared of thinking about the fact that I was nearly at the end, both in terms of coming back to real life, but also this sort of fear that something might go wrong at the last minute, [00:22:00] I don't think it's possible to try and do any kind of huge undertaking without breaking it down into really small parts.

Otherwise it just, just becomes overwhelming and you just. Find it so hard to not give up. 

Bella: You know how you broke things down to every 10 kilometers. I think that's such a cool technique. And you know, let's get to the next service place where I can get a cold drink. In fact, actually something I did learn when I was researching about you, Rob, and looking through some of your old stories on Instagram was something called melon milk.

Exists 

Rob: melon milk. Do you miss it? That is like, that's next to the gods. That stuff. Unbelievable. 

Bella: What is it? And, and what sort of melon are we talking, are we talking like a green melon? Is it like a rock melon or cantaloupe or what, like, and, and how is it milky? Is it like almond milk where it's not really milk, but we'll call it that?

Like what is it? 

Rob: Oh, it's exactly what it says in the tin. It's like, it's like, It's a can of [00:23:00] milk mixed with sort of cantaloupe melon juice. And I know that sounds horrible and that's, and I didn't try it for the first few times I saw it because I was like, that sounds disgusting. This was sort of in Mauritania, right in the middle of the Sahara, that this was the case.

And one day I was like, you know what, I'll just give it a go. And it changed my life. Honestly, melon milk changed my life. That stuff was just the most Clip 

Bella: it up! That 

Rob: was the most refreshing drink. Shout out to Stan and Jamie, who also love melon milk. 

Bella: Hi Stan and Jamie! 

Rob: Yeah, converts to the nectar. But yeah, it was just this Incredibly refreshing drink that I obviously it's lovely to have like a Sprite or a Fanta and that like cold bubbly hit when it's like 40 degrees outside and you've just been sweating buckets is just incredible.

Yeah, melon milk was just, just something else. Like once I went beyond Senegal, it just disappeared. And then one [00:24:00] day in the middle of Congo, I walked into a little corner shop. And there in the fridge was melon milk, and it just made me so happy, and I've not had it since then. And I, I genuinely want to sort of bulk order in from, I think it's from Thailand, it comes, like just a huge crate of melon milk and just 

Bella: As your Christmas present?

Rob: As my Christmas present, yeah. Like, honestly, you know, mum and dad, if you're listening to this, crate of melon milk. You're a very, very happy boy. 

Bella: I love this! I love this so much. I'm curious to try and try it. In fact, I know I've got listeners who, uh, in Thailand, or maybe you're even listening in countries where you've seen it.

Rob: Yeah. 

Bella: Do me a favor, have some melon milk and tell me what you think of it. Get in touch and let me know. Are you a fan? I mean, melon tastes amazing, so I guess in liquid form, why wouldn't it? It would be refreshing. Sugar. I'm a fan. 

Rob: Combined with that, well, for some reason, I wouldn't normally drink milk as a, like, refreshing drink, but for some [00:25:00] reason it's just a combination that doesn't make sense but just does in the most beautiful way possible.

Bella: Because in the Sahara, like, Oh, I feel like we're skipping ahead and actually I want to take you back a little bit, Rob, because I feel it's so easy to just focus on the African part of this journey, because a lot of the big adventures are contained within that, but you did actually cross Europe first via France and Spain and the first part through France, you were actually with a friend there, weren't you?

Yeah. 

Rob: Yeah. So I spent the first. Uh, first 10 days with my friend Seb, shout out to Seb if you're listening. Hi Seb! So, Seb, bless him, had definitely a bit more experience cycling and multi day cycling than I did and honestly having him there with a little bit more reassurance was just so helpful to me because I think just it would have just been a just so much just [00:26:00] to be by myself with just everything being completely new and just overwhelming.

And it was just really fun to have like a companion to you know, cycle alongside through France, which often is not the most exciting landscapes. A 

Bella: lot of cornfields. 

Rob: A lot of cornfields, sort of in early September. Yeah, now it's just really delightful. And it was, I guess, the start of a sort of bigger thing that made the journey possible, which was that every country I went through felt like something slightly harder than before.

If I'd just been dropped in, Senegal or Guinea. There's no way I could have coped just because it would have just been way too much all at once, but going through France first, that was, you know, more familiars with a friend and then Spain was more challenging. It was more mountains. It was hotter. But it's still European, a bit more familiar.

I could go into it decathlon and get the spare part if I needed. And then Morocco [00:27:00] was again, a bit more challenging, um, very like culturally very different to anything I'd experienced before, but still good quality roads, very safe environment. And then, yeah, it sort of continued on where each country had a new set of challenges that slightly expanded my comfort zone, which meant that I was ready to take on something a little bit.

Harder the next time. And that's definitely made a huge difference in building up my resilience to deal with problems as they, as they arose later on in the journey. Yeah, big shout out to Seb and just like that first week of companionship to sort of get me going in the first place. 

Bella: Can I ask, where did it sort of feel natural to be doing what you were doing then?

You know how you mentioned it was great to be with Seb because it sort of kept you calm, you weren't out there on your own. When you were on your own. Did it start feeling natural? You know, the first week of anything is super hard, so then take Seb away, the first week of being back on your own may have been [00:28:00] a little bit of another hard step, but did it sort of find its own rhythm for you?

Rob: Yeah, I remember cycling away from, from Bordeaux where we left each other and he got the train back to the UK and I, I continued. I just remember cycling away feeling like, wow, I'm on my own now. This is it. This is where it really starts. And it took a few weeks to really feel comfortable and get used to it.

But then I remember, I can't remember exactly when, but, you know, there just became a day, maybe sort of down Morocco at some point where I just, just, this is just what I do now. This is what my life looks like. I get up, I find some coffee, I get something to eat, I get on my bike. I cycle, and I try and cycle 100k, I find somewhere to sleep, I try and find enough food.

And that's just what my day looks like, and that's what life is for the next six months. And there was something so, sort of, relieving about that experience. Obviously there were so many challenges, but there was such a [00:29:00] freedom in just being by myself with my bike and having nothing else really that I'm accountable to.

That all I really needed to do was just make a bit of progress, find shelter, find food. And And I just had so much more space and time to just enjoy being alive. And it was honestly like the best that like my mental health has been for years. Those six months on a bike through Africa, which you really might not expect.

But yeah, it was just so freeing to live. Honestly, a really simple life and definitely like the most simple life has been for a long time in a way that is, yeah, very unusual, but also so life giving and with so much freedom. 

Bella: You're not the first guest to tell me that either, Rob, that it sort of strips things back to basics and Actually, a recent guest Giacomo Turco.

Hi, Giacomo. He's, oh, I want to say he's in Bolivia now. But he was saying that's what he loves about [00:30:00] bikepacking is that it just takes everything back to the bare basics. What do I need? I need food. I need water and I need shelter. And then that's it. Now, obviously, there's a few things along there, but it's that simplicity of stripping it back.

You would have liked a freestanding tent. I guess that's shelter. 

Rob: Yeah. I guess so. 

Bella: And melon milk on tap. 

Rob: Yeah. Oh, what a life. 

Bella: It's interesting hearing you say that though, that just that freeing up your mind and how really good you felt mentally from that trip. Because I look at some of the things and some of the.

extreme sort of situations that you went through that For most of us would probably floor us and the resilience that you need to do to just get through that But I guess you have no choice in the time in Morocco You had your first bout of real bad food poisoning, which probably literally floored you Was that something that you expected would would pop up along the way?

Rob: Yeah, that was [00:31:00] particularly bad I definitely sort of anticipated that There would be, you know, I've put my digestive system through some, some serious hard work over the six months. Yeah, I had one particularly dodgy shawarma about a week into Morocco that completely took me out. I think, like, to the extent where I lost the power of sight temporarily.

Bella: Oh my goodness! 

Rob: It was honestly terrifying and I was just, Baking in this hostel bunk bed for like 36 hours, tried to go get some water from the street. And while I was down there, I was just, everything got dizzy and I felt super hot. And then everything started spinning and just the world blacked out.

And I was, I could still, I was still standing. I could still think and I was like feeling my way along the walls to get back to the hostel. But that was a really terrifying experience. Thankfully that was the worst the food poisoning got. I think I definitely built up some, some resilience. Yeah.

Especially because I was [00:32:00] mainly just eating street food the whole time. That was definitely a sort of background level of illness that was just there. Maybe like 50 percent of the time was just a bit of food poisoning. Just having the shits every other day was kind of just normal. 

Bella: You know, I've interviewed people who've, like you said, literally had the shits every day.

And I've often thought, how on earth are you continuing to Do the distance that you do when that occurs. Like, obviously that case in Morocco, I cannot fathom, Rob, how disorienting it would be to sort of be blacking out, but be conscious of it. Obviously that was a case where you couldn't move, but you, you did sort of have times where you just had to get up and keep going.

Was it just the, the no choice factor? Like you've just got to get it done. 

Rob: Yeah. I think people say to me, Oh, I could never, could have done that. That thing you did or whatever, but honestly, like I really think most people could when you just have no choice But to get on and do something when giving up isn't an option when there isn't an out [00:33:00] people are so More like capable just to keep going there were times where physically and mentally I just all I wanted to do was stop and I just said to myself rob.

Just get over yourself you just need to keep going and get through the next five kilometers next ten kilometers and You Yeah, every time it eventually worked out, and the first couple of times I found myself in really challenging situations and just managed to find a solution and grit my teeth and get to the point where I could stop and rest and finish the day was actually really reassuring and empowering because I was like, if I can do that, then I know there's gonna be more problems ahead.

And I don't know what they're going to be, but I trust that I'm going to be able to deal with them when they come. And that mindset that I. Gains pretty early on definitely just really helped me to push through really difficult situations that I just didn't have a choice But to keep going through and find a [00:34:00] solution 

Bella: It reminds me of a quote which I found from you Rob and you said as tough as these challenges have been Digging deep to find the willpower to overcome them has immensely increased my self confidence And taught me that I am far stronger than I thought possible.

Is that a learning that you've taken with you that that's still with you now? Like, you know, I'm talking to you now you're in the UK, you're housed with lovely electricity, you've got all the comforts back again. I'm not saying you're going to be having to battle the same grim experiences you had when you're on a bike tour in the middle of nowhere and your back wheel cracks it and you're stuck in the Sahara.

But do you ever look back on moments like that and just remind yourself of that inner resilience? 

Rob: Yeah, I definitely feel more assured in myself, and I think having been through a lot of really really tough situations and just knowing that I did manage to dig so deep and [00:35:00] push through, and I think having experienced that myself, um, has just given me a quiet confidence in life that generally whatever it throws at you, There'll be a way to deal with it.

And I definitely feel just in a sort of general base sense, less anxious about life. You know, I definitely don't have the same kind of stresses that I did before. I, you know, I have running water and, uh, electricity and heating and all these luxuries that we take for granted. But, you I just guess that, yeah, that sort of baseline, sort of quiet self confidence that I can deal with adversity when it comes has just definitely still impacted how I sort of feel in myself day to day.

Bella: If we're talking about adversity. After that time in Morocco, Morocco is where you, you start to head into the Sahara [00:36:00] and you had four weeks to cover two and a half thousand kilometers of the lovely, vast, expansive, scorching, was it scorching hot Sahara desert? 

Rob: Yeah. 

Bella: Oh my goodness. 

Rob: It was so hot. Yeah, it was epic and I remember just being in, in the middle of the desert and just looking in every direction and all I could see was sand and just knowing that.

For thousands of kilometers in that direction is just more and more sand was just crazy to think about. And yeah, it is going like four weeks without seeing anything green being like 40, 45 degrees pretty much every day. Also, this was the first time. Sort of really big, difficult, in a sense, section. And in hindsight, crossing the Sahara was pretty straightforward relative to the traveling further on in the trip.

But at the time it felt like a massive deal, but it was a flat tarmac road that was well maintained, [00:37:00] um, had good phone signal. and there was a strong tailwind almost the whole way. 

Bella: Mega! 

Rob: Honestly, that north to south wind in the Sahara is unbelievable. You can go so fast. 

Bella: How fast were you sort of averaging with a tailwind on a loaded bike?

Rob: I would average like 30 kilometers an hour for a full day of cycling. I did, I think my longest day was 220 kilometers, which was way further than anything I'd done before. And it made the heat feel less intense, and also, there was sometimes reasonable cloud cover that It just didn't feel as bad as it, you know, is on paper.

Bella: I've said it numerous times on the show, I must sound like a broken record, but my absolute worst type of terrain is a dead flat straight road of nothingness. And what you were describing there was just sand in all directions and a dead flat straight tarmac road. You give yourself some epic skies, sunrise, sunset, and beautiful [00:38:00] nighty stars.

But mentally, oh, it would do my head in. Like I need some variation. Are there any turns? Are there, there's no little mountains or anything, is there? The Atlas mountains behind you. 

Rob: Yeah. Mountains behind you. I guess there was. There were just road camels here and there, and then sometimes flat sand would turn into slightly bigger sand dunes, but apart from that and the occasional slight turn in the road, it was pretty much a straight flat road for two and a half thousand k's.

Bella: That was where you had your first big major bike mechanical too. 

Rob: Yeah, that was pretty bad. I had changed a tyre in the south of Spain just before the crossing. And this, I just had a weird thing where I, every time it rotated there was a slight bump on my back wheel. And I was assured that it would go away.

It didn't go away, and I just got used to it, having this like slight bump every rotation. [00:39:00] And then, where my spokes met the rim, started to, started to crack. In a few places. And I was a complete novice. This is the first time this happened. I had no idea what was going on. I didn't realize this was an issue.

And it was only sort of getting quite really south in Morocco to the point where there were very few towns and settlements. My back wheel just started to feel less and less secure and just started like wobbling around a lot. Just because so many of the spokes had just basically been pulled out on the rim, because the rim had just cracked in like seven different places.

And obviously carrying so much weight on that back wheel was just a lot for this rim to take. I got to a town about halfway down the Sahara called Dakhla, which is on a tiny peninsula, a really beautiful place. amazing kite surfing. That's sort of what it's known for. But I found a mechanic there who didn't have a rim, but sort of tried to weld it back into shape.

And then I started going back on the [00:40:00] road with this, this welded rim. And it was about a thousand k's from there to Nouakchott, which is the capital of Mauritania, whereas the next place I might be able to find a new rim. Anyway, I do a full day of cycling. About 140 k's and by the end I can tell something's going really wrong and those problems with the rim, those cracks have just all come back again.

I try to keep going the next morning and then within about five kilometers the back wheel is shaking so much that simultaneously the wheel buckles and the rack just snaps. 

Bella: Oh my gosh. And you got two broken things. 

Rob: Two broken things, 150 kilometers from the nearest settlement, 1, 000km from the nearest sort of main city in Morocco, and just a small road that had not very many cars coming through.

And I was like, this is just one of the least convenient places I could have had a breakdown. And so I was just, yeah, waiting by the side of the road for an hour or [00:41:00] two, just Trying to hail a vehicle going back the way I came, eventually a truck stopped and I managed to persuade the driver to let me strap my bike onto the roof and took a ride back with him.

The 150k I'd just done back to Dakhla. And then amazingly, I just messaged on the, this sort of WhatsApp group chat, the sort of Western Central Africa cycling group chat that was so helpful. Huge shout out to those guys. And I just said, I'm stuck in Dakhla. I need a new rim. Is there anyone in Morocco who might be able to find one that they could post to me and within that day There was someone about a thousand K north, someone called Tan Tan, who found a mechanic that had a rim that was the right size, put it on the overnight bus, and the next morning I went to the bus station and picked up the rim that had been sent.

Amazing! Absolutely amazing. And then yeah, just two days later, I got it. back on the bike and sort of [00:42:00] retracing my steps going south with a fresh new back rim. 

Bella: Wow, because I was going to ask, did you end up cycling that section? Did you hitch a ride back or? 

Rob: I just decided that I'd cycle it again because it would probably take a while to try and hitch it back and also, A lot of drivers were funny about giving hitchhikers a lift down that, that section of the Zahara.

So I just decided to just read it that section, which felt a bit rubbish, but sort of felt like I'd sort of had 150K in the bank in case I needed to sort of use those later on. 

Bella: Can I ask, you know how you were mentioning that the Sahara, like, you went weeks without seeing anything that was green. What was it like when you crossed out of the Sahara and you started getting that first bit of, you know, verdant green colour coming back?

Rob: Yeah, so that was genuinely one of the most, you know, euphoric experiences of the whole trip was crossing the river where the Sahara meets the north of [00:43:00] Senegal and crossing that river and just seeing lush green for the first time in weeks. I was just whooping and laughing out loud because it was just felt so incredible.

There'd been sort of signs of bushes and a few trees here and there. It was, it was when the camels were. Eating leaves off a tree that I knew I was getting close to the Sahara. Yeah, that moment of cycling into the new country and just being, wow, I've just finished crossing the Sahara. Even if I don't achieve anything else, that's a pretty awesome thing to have done.

Such an incredible moment. 

Bella: Including another, uh, one section twice. 

Rob: Yeah. 

Bella: Crossing the Sahara into Senegal, you're starting into West Africa now, and you mentioned at the start that That was an area that you were particularly keen on learning more about and exploring. I've actually got a question from a previous guest.

Shout out to Jude Kreiwald. Hi Jude! He's an amazing adventurer. And, and listeners, [00:44:00] his film Alone Across Gola is out touring film festivals now. If you have any way of going to see it, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It takes adventure condensing it down to the max on the screen. But back to you, Rob, Jude's question for you was, how did your perceptions of West Africa marry up with the reality of actually being there?

Rob: Hmm. Great question. Thanks, Jude. First to hear from you. So just for context, me and Jude chatted sort of what's that like a lot while we were sort of both in West Africa, sort of just sharing our experiences with each other. Anyway, so West Africa, I honestly had very few perceptions coming into it.

Obviously, my main experience of Africa had been sort of in the South and the East, which had more British influences from the colonial era. And all I knew it was sort of, it was francophone, there was going to be more [00:45:00] jungle, but I had very few expectations coming into it. And yeah, it really took me by surprise.

In a sense, it was very similar to my childhood memories of, of East Africa in Malawi with, you know, just a lot of familiarities and I guess like just. the warmth of the people, even like just the, the glass bottles of Coke and Fanta. But yeah, I think West Africa has so much diversity within it. You know, Senegal is a relatively touristy country.

They have quite a lot of foreigners. Going there and you could you could really tell that by the way that in which locals interacted I definitely felt in Senegal the default interaction that I had with Someone as I cycled by was them, you know shouting Bonjour, money, money, gift, gift and I really get it and that's something that I definitely [00:46:00] had Anticipated but there was something about just that being what almost every interaction felt like that that did start to wear me down a bit But then going into Gambia, which is this tiny country.

Within Senegal that was a former English colony that was a very different vibe switch. And that was sort of more very similar, more, a lot more similar to what I was used to and super lovely people, really nice food. And then going into Guinea was completely different. And this is a quite a big country that has very, very little tourism and the roads are really bad.

And even internally, there's, there's not very much movement because of that. You know, there was such a privilege. It was just so great cycling through really remote villages and just people being, and kids just being so excited to see someone on a bike cycling past. And I remember speaking to people in like a little roadside cafe shack [00:47:00] in the mornings, and they were like, Oh, you're the guy who arrived on the bicycle yesterday.

Like everyone's been talking about it. And there's something very humbling about feeling like even just cycling past being One of the most exciting things happening in that village for weeks. And that was a really, like really, really incredible sort of thing to experience sort of day after day after day.

And that was really the story of the trip. That's what the default experience I had was. And as a British white guy cycling through former colonial countries in Africa, there's, there's a tension there. And I was really conscious of being treated differently to if I was a brown or a black guy. Cycling on a bike both in being treated better, but also sometimes sometimes being treated with with suspicion And I think I felt something so I'm not sure what the right word is, but there's something very humbling about the fact [00:48:00] that these people had absolutely no obligation to be kind to me or to be welcoming.

And yet I had so many experiences of people in very, very poor situations, being so generous and so kind with their resources and their time and their enthusiasm. And it was just a real reminder to me that, you Humans are human and you don't need to be incredibly wealthy to be generous with with what you have and I Was really really humbled by those experiences going through West Africa.

Bella: I can just feel that cool excitement in a village Oh, you're the guy that arrived on a bike and I can take myself and picture What that excitement around you is like and I mean, I've interviewed guests and I've seen their photos of all the kids sort of hanging around you and running up next to you on a bike and stuff.

And I can imagine there's a, there's a flip side to that where at times it can be overwhelming to, to be the center of [00:49:00] attention in that sort of scenario. Was that ever the case for you as well? 

Rob: Yeah. So I, it's a good point. And I think sort of on, on that first bit, like there were just so many just.

amazing moments that made me smile so much where I sort of cycled past a school and all the kids would see me and just like run after and just say like bonsoir bonsoir bonsoir even if it was like 9 a. m and that made my day every day but on that point of it of it being you know being the center of attention being too much I I really felt conscious of it actually really being a privilege to, you know, to be different and to be doing what I was doing.

Having the opportunity to cycle through these countries and, and the opportunity to travel and to explore and not to just be all consumed by feeding myself and my family like that, that is such a privilege to have that opportunity. And [00:50:00] I think the very least that you can do in that context is to Acknowledge and like wave back and say hi back to people who are enthusiastic to seeing you because that might make their day.

And for you, it's just another interaction with another stranger, but in Nigeria, for example, there were so many conversations I had with people who were even like very close to the main road where I was the first white person they'd ever seen. Let alone spoken to and for them, it was so, so exciting to sort of make a connection with me and like, you know, ask my WhatsApp and I, I get messages still six months on most days from plus two, three, four numbers from people that I met for a few minutes, sort of asking you how I'm doing and like, for them, it's like super exciting to have an English guy that they met as a friend.

And while like, that's something that you could very just dismiss, be like, [00:51:00] Oh, it's just annoying having so much tension. Like that's such a privilege to be in a position where, you know, people are so excited to be your friend. And so the few situations where like, I, I think, you know, I was in a very crowded city with my fully loaded bike and I, I didn't feel particularly safe and having a lot of attention, like, didn't feel amazing from a safety perspective.

But apart from that, I was like, Rob, it's such a privilege that these people are so excited to see you. And so I, I really made an effort to always like be grateful for that. I 

Bella: can see it actually. Listen, you can't see Rob's face, but I can see it in your eyes, Rob, when you're talking like you, you sort of light up thinking back to those memories.

You were talking about Guinea and what a beautiful country it was, but I know Guinea from interviewing other guests and that's where their worst road experiences were, travelling down on their journeys. Something you also mentioned though, that I learnt, is that Guinea does a pretty good brew of [00:52:00] coffee.

Rob: Oh my goodness. Guinea, Guinea has like the best coffee culture in West Africa. Most countries that you go through there, the options are Nescafé or Nescafé. When you really enjoy a nice brew. Can get slightly depressing, but I remember my first day arriving in Guinea from Senegal and coming up and having a look around the village for some food and I saw this, this man with this enormous mocha pot, maybe with like a liter of espresso and just brewing this coffee on, on a coal fire, and then pouring it into an insulated flask and then you could get, you could go to any of these sort of like small huts by the side of the road and get a, you know, I don't know if you can see it, 10 cent espresso, you know, straight made properly from the moka pot and the Guinean way of doing it is with a wedge of lime and a tiny bit of sugar.

Oh, wow. I know that sounds weird, but a little bit of lime in [00:53:00] your espresso, really like, It gives it a little, a little something different, but yeah, after, after weeks of instant coffee or just going without completely, it was amazing to have these like proper, nice sort of espressos and just sit with whoever else was, had stopped there, you know, the police guy or the truck drivers or the locals.

And just, yeah. Talk about whatever they wanted to talk about in my, my limited French. And there was often like someone cooking like puff puff doughnuts. 

Bella: Oh my gosh. Now you're really singing to my soul, Rob. Tell me about these. 

Rob: A bowl of like, so puff puff doughnuts are sort of like. I guess like these sort of sweet dough balls that are fried in oil over a coal fire.

And those fresh doughnuts with that espresso was just such an amazing start to the day. And it'd be like 30 cents for breakfast. And that was one of the other great things about Guinea was that the food was amazing and so [00:54:00] cheap. Really, really a hidden gem. Like, zero expectations, but Guinea is easily in my top three countries of the whole trip.

Bella: I wrote it down and I thought this is such a superficial question, but I did want to ask you, what was the country that you look back at now and you get most excited about? 

Rob: Most excited about? I think Guinea and Congo would be the two. So they were both super challenging physically. really remote, often bad roads, but that was part of what made it memorable as well.

But on top of that, there was really incredible human encounters I had with people who very rarely see, see foreigners and really nice food. Sometimes really, really shitty food. 

Bella: I was going to say, it's not all great, is it? 

Rob: No, it's not, it's not all great at all. But yeah, those were just such amazing gems.

And like cycling through the jungle, I'd never, never really experienced jungle before. Guinea has a lot of jungle and obviously the Congo is, is, is [00:55:00] incredible. And just cycling through this sort of up and down through these hills where all you can see is just this vast expanse of, you know, these like ancient trees and like just, you can just hear the wildlife singing.

And there's no one else around. Those are really, really special experiences, like feeling really just at the mercy of nature and being so overwhelming and awe inspiring was just some of the best moments of the trip. 

Bella: I've been asking that question to a lot of guests recently, is like, where were the moments where you felt about the size of an ant?

Those moments of awe where nature just goes, Yeah, you're on an amazing journey, but hold my beer, here's something incredible for you. The way you talk about that scene there in the Congo. is obviously one of them. What, what's something else that comes to mind for you there? 

Rob: Yeah, definitely, definitely the desert.

So both the Sahara, but also Namibia. I remember, like in the Sahara, there's this sort of nice flat tarmac road down the coast that is sort of a regular truckers route. So like, you're never, you're never too far from people. In [00:56:00] Namibia, crossing the desert, if you avoid the highway, involves taking these very tough, corrugated gravel roads through the desert.

And I just remember really vividly being on my bike on the sandy corrugated gravel with probably no other human around me within a 50 kilometer radius. And just being in this arid expanse with these mountains looming out and the only other sign of human civilization being this one straight gravel road in front of me was just one of those moments of complete awe of like, wow, like this is so remote and nature is so epic and I can't even sort of get my head around how, you know, it just, I think both being in a place where everything around you has been there for millions of years, these sort of rocky mountains, and they will continue to be there for millions of years, and then sleeping under the [00:57:00] stars and just, just thinking about how like tiny, Earth is and how like as a lifetime and as a as an object, you're infatimably small existence.

And like, well, that sounds a bit sort of nihilistic, it gives you such freedom, but it doesn't really matter what I do like life's amazing. And being alive is so great, and the world is incredible, and it just makes me want to explore the world, and just make the most of life, and just remind myself that being alive is amazing.

Bella: I've gone through probably all of your Instagram stories, Rob, so I, I've relived a journey that I didn't go on, but I, I've There was a moment which I saw, I'm, oh, it's remiss of me to forget the country, but you were riding along, and you were like, check out this sunset, and you were just in just pure fits of joy, and you know, you pan your mobile phone sort of 360 degrees, and it's like this 360 degree Technicolor [00:58:00] sunset behind you, pinks, oranges, reds, purples.

I think that's one of the best gifts of people who take bike travel in these isolated areas is, it's just you and nature putting on a show sometimes and you had some grim moments but the counterpoint is there was often something uplifting that occurred to you each day. 

Rob: Yeah, those, those evening sunsets were like, that's the best time of day because it's starting to cool down.

You're near the end of the day, you've, you know, you've hopefully got like a really decent number of K's under your belt. And, you know, you're excited for some food and a cold beer. You look around and like, there's just this awesome sunset appearing. And yeah, there were multiple times, like there was one particular one in Namibia, I remember, where there was just this unbelievable Technicolor sunset happening over this jagged mountain range.

And then look the other side and then there's this like, other mountain range where it's lit up with this golden [00:59:00] light and ahead of me there's a sort of fuzzy rain cloud over the mountains ahead, and there's sort of rainbows coming out that are sort of fusing with this sunset. And I was like, wow, like, I'm the only person in this place right now experiencing how epic this is.

And there's just something so exhilarating about being in that. And like, you know, once if you've been alone all day, and you've been pushing your body, You just become a bit delirious. And then being in that sort of epic, epic experience as the sun is setting is just a different level of euphoria. 

Bella: Put you in the right mood for the end of the day too.

And did you find yourself looking forward to that every day in a way? Like, did you find yourself consciously sort of looking forward to, oh, it's going to be sunset soon? Or were you sort of racing the clock to find somewhere to sleep? 

Rob: It was a bit of both. I think once I I had something I was confident would work out and I always tried to get to where I was going to sleep before sunset.

I regularly [01:00:00] failed at that, which I would not recommend to fellow bikepackers just in general. Yeah, I think there was sometimes fear trying to like race the sun to find somewhere to stay before sunset, but often there was, it was more the like, This is so awesome. I'm almost at the end. This is time to like, just really enjoy the moment.

And those are the bits I definitely remember a lot more than the, than the sort of slightly anxious endings. 

Bella: If we were to talk about slightly anxious, or I don't think slightly is the word I would use. In Nigeria, you had an experience, Rob, which My goodness, yeah, I would, I don't know how I would react.

You somehow found yourself in a scenario that most people could never even fathom being in, where you were taken by gunpoint. I guess your life was threatened in that moment, and this wasn't a fleeting few minutes either. It was probably, those hours probably felt extended. 

Rob: Yeah. 

Bella: I can't fathom an experience like that, and I [01:01:00] often feel troubled with it when I talk with a guest about even raising it, but it was definitely an event which occurred to you on this journey, which most likely changed.

Possibly you and the journey for you. I'm lost for words to even describe it, but I do want you to take us there and tell me what happened there. 

Rob: Yeah, this is definitely an experience that I, I wasn't sure how to like grapple with how I talk about it. Mainly because I think there's such a perception of Africa being dangerous and lawless and somewhere to be conquered and, That's a whole like another thing to go into that I, I really dislike.

And often this is the thing that people ask about immediately, Oh, you got held at gunpoint in Nigeria. Um, and yeah, I just want to say that this, this is not the story of the trip. The story of the trip is tens of thousands of incredibly positive encounters that I had with people. But yeah, I think recognizing [01:02:00] that this was an important moment that.

You definitely don't walk away from as the same person and that it definitely was a part of my trip that was important. Anyway, sorry, let me, let me just, yeah, given that context. Um, so this is towards the end of my month, pretty much the month in Nigeria. It had been a real mission to get into Nigeria in the first place.

Um, I had to become an official Benin resident. I had to get all these documents. I had to get a host and a passport and all these things. And then I got to the embassy and I got told, come back in a week because the ambassador is on holiday and no one else is allowed to approve the visas. And you know, 10 days and 250 quid later.

I finally crossed the border into Nigeria, and it was a really tough month, like I had a lot of great experiences, but it was sort of the period leading up to Christmas, which is particularly dangerous on the roads, and I had a lot of people telling me the whole time, like how [01:03:00] dangerous it was, I was really warned about, you know, I really avoided camping because It just didn't feel safe.

And I always felt very, very unsafe whenever I didn't manage to find somewhere to sleep before nightfall. And so I'd sort of been going through this really tough experience that I kept getting punctures and my chain kept snapping and I had so many mechanicals and my progress was really slow. This was the first time I was really missing home around Christmas and Christmas day, especially.

I just felt really lonely and just like quite, quite sad. And then, yeah, three days after Christmas, sort of near the end of my trip, like the, the route across Nigeria, I was getting towards the Cameroon border and I was, you know, excited to, to get to a new country and sort of leave that, that chapter behind.

And, um, I went down a road that on Google Maps looked like a, you know, like an A road would be in the UK. Like, not a highway, but a pretty [01:04:00] major road. And I was warned by some military guys, oh, this is a dangerous road. Like, there are people down here that won't let you pass. And I guess at that point I'd had so many, People telling me that the roads are dangerous and that I need to be careful that I was like, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Anyway, I go down this road and things start to feel a bit more dangerous and I send a whatsapp to my mum saying just to let you know I've been warned this place is dangerous if I don't text you in the next three hours Then something might have happened Might have happened to me and three minutes later.

I got to a checkpoint and I realized, oh, these guys are not police or military as sort of, you know, 15 guys in ripped clothing and with AK 47 sort of like came out shouting at me and I was like, okay, this is like, this is serious now. I just, And in that moment, like, while I was, I was told to put my bike down and walk away with my hands up and I was just thinking, [01:05:00] if I walk away from the situation, um, so like, I don't care what happens to me or what happens to my bike, like, I just, all I care about now is just walking away from this life.

And I just felt such a sense of calm and focus in that moment. And I think I very quickly realized that I needed to convince these people that I was a friend rather than an enemy. And just for context, this was like a rebel militia group who, uh, were fighting the government and they thought that I was like a government spy or a suicide bomber and were obviously very, very suspicious of me.

My, my beard was very long. My skin had got quite dark. At this point, and these guys who are from a Christian background fighting the, the Muslim government thought that I was Arab and I was sort of, uh, an agent of the government who they were fighting on a regular basis. And, and they took my phone off, we went through my phone, saw that, saw these messages I sent my mum [01:06:00] and thought that this was like my, my handler and sort of made me, held out the phone on speakerphone and held a, you know, pointed a gun at me and told me what to, to tell her down the phone.

And then, yeah, I was just sat on this plastic crate for a couple of hours being interrogated and trying to tell a story that, if you think about it. Isn't a particularly convincing alibi. I'm just, I'm just a British guy who's just on a bike. I'm just cycling because it's fun. Like in that concept, they were like, we don't believe you.

That doesn't make any sense, which, which is reasonable in fairness. And, um, yeah, it was just a very, a very, a very scary moment. And I think because it lasted so long, I had time to sort of really contemplate what was happening and think about, like, you know, like this could be, like, this could be like the last, you know, the last thing that happens.

And obviously I've walked away from it, but that was actually quite a slightly funny moment where. [01:07:00] They asked me if I was thirsty, and I was like, yeah, I'm a bit thirsty. And they, they gave me this plastic sachet of gin to drink, which is sort of how, how spirits, how spirits are sort of consumed in a lot of West African countries is through like, almost like ketchup sachets, but clear.

Um, just like a, almost like a shot, but in a, in a sachet. And I just had this incredibly surreal moment where I was just thinking like, I'm sat on a plastic crate in Nigeria, sat with A group of rebel militia pointing guns at me, drinking gin out of a sachet at 11 a. m. at Christmas. Like, this is probably the most surreal moment of my life.

And I was also sort of sat there thinking, Oh, I, I, I want to drink this because I want to show that I'm, you know, happy to drink alcohol and that I'm, I'm not being unfriendly. But I have quite a long motorcycle still today and I don't want to, I don't want to get pissed. I long as I can. 

Bella: Do you know, subconsciously there [01:08:00] was something in your mind obviously thinking, I'm getting through this and I've got to keep going.

Rob: Yeah, no, I, I didn't, I didn't allow myself to catastrophize or break down because, And it just wouldn't have helped me get out of that situation. I tried to be friendly and sympathize and explain who I was and be patient and understanding. And I, yeah, I told my story and the leader said, okay, if I decide to tell you the truth, I'm going to let you go with all of your stuff.

If I decide you're lying to me, then yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to shoot you. And so I was just sat there sort of in this limbo for, for a while while they went through all of my bags and sort of asked me what all of my different items were. Anyway, eventually the leader said, okay. It's fine. I believe you're safe.

Uh, you can go and as I'm packing up, he says, have you got something for me? And I was like, I was thinking to myself, like, you could take anything I have, like, you're the guy that guns it. And I offered him my money, and he was like, no, I don't want your money. And I was just thinking, like, what have I got this guy could want?

[01:09:00] And then I found, like, this packet of, um, of, like, energy sweets, of dextrose that a friend had given me in, in Spain that I've been saving up for a rainy day. Anyway, I thought, maybe this will do it. And so I sort of said to him, oh, I've got these really nice sweets. Do you want them? And he was like, oh, yeah, brilliant.

Like, I'll have those. And so I gave him my sweets. I got back on my bike and his, his little brother who was wearing a Santa hat escorted me through, you know, 10 kilometers of rebel held territory, which was just, yeah, a long end to it. Very surreal and very bizarre and scary experience. And, you know, I got, got back to safety and I got back to the main highway and I just like, Yeah.

Okay. You know, it was just emotionally so overwhelming and I was just so grateful to be alive and obviously like called my mom and like who had probably been more scared than I was because she just, you know, cool, which obviously like was a bit suspicious saying, Oh, don't worry, mom, these people aren't terrorists, you don't have to do anything, [01:10:00] which is obviously a super big deal.

But, uh, yeah. Reassuring. But yeah, and then I was just like, yeah, I guess I, I got stuck in, in this Nigerian port over New Year, waiting to sort of be able to cross into Cameroon and processing all of this. And yeah, it, you know, I mean, even now I probably haven't processed sort of everything and like. have recognized how it's, it's impacted me, but I think this is an experience that, you know, you don't walk away from as the same person.

And I just feel such a renewed sense of life being so valuable and that we just can't take every day for granted. And I have to remind myself, like, there's no reason that you're still here. Like that could have been the last day. And in a way, like sometimes I need to remind myself that. Every day is so precious and you can't just think, Oh, like, I'll just allow myself to just be in a place I don't want to be because in 20 years time, I'll be happy.

I [01:11:00] think that's, that's not sort of honoring to life as a sort of thing. And I, it just made me realize, like, it's just being alive is so, so great. And it just made me so grateful for my family and my friends and just like, really focused what, what I cared about. And yeah, it just changed like how I felt about life and death.

And I actually, like, after that I felt I felt less scared about sort of being in a really scary moment again, because, because I'd been in a situation where I'd had to face the very real possibility of that being the end and actually experiencing that for myself and be able to get through it and know how I reacted was in a sense, reassuring.

I also just want to say like, on that point, like, we can't just take it for granted that like, we'll just sail through these adventures and also to sail through life. Without the potential for things to go wrong. And very tragically, one [01:12:00] of the, the other active members of this West Africa cycling group chat, also while cycling through Nigeria, uh, got taking truck and died.

And that was. Yeah, that was really hard hitting for, for I think all of us in that community. There's no reason that couldn't have been me. Those trucks drive like crazy and the, the roads are pretty lawless. And yeah, I think that, that, that tragedy just really reminded me how, how lucky I am to have gone through that and Not had anything more sort of physically harmful than, than that and, and getting ill.

I realize that's all a bit a bit deep and slightly dark, but I think it is important to recognize these things, but also walk away positively from them and say like, what, how am I gonna change the way I look at life because of this situation? 

Bella: Rob, when I knew I was going to interview you, I knew we'd obviously discuss this, and you know how you said you can't go through this and be the [01:13:00] same person?

Of course you can't, my gosh, like, and you talk about it like you realise you had a second chance at life in a way, like, and you're taking it with both hands. Cause my initial reaction was, is that a situation where you're like, nah, I've done my bit and now I'm going home. Because I think if that had happened, naturally no one would have thought anything less of you.

You'd mentioned before you'd come into that situation you were feeling particularly lonely cause it was Christmas time, so you're obviously missing friends and family, you're probably what, five, five months on the road at this stage as well. Was it just your default reaction of, I'm going to keep going now, or did you have to have the conversation with yourself to say, do I still want to do this?

Rob: Yeah, that's, that's a really good question and I definitely walked away from that thinking, is it a good idea for me to keep going on? And yeah, I, I spoke to a lot of friends and [01:14:00] who were asking the same thing and my family. And I, I definitely didn't feel a pressure to keep going at all. I mean, I never really felt like I had to get to the end.

It was, it was always an arbitrary goal and it was always, it was never about reaching Cape Town. It was always about the experience of the journey. And so I think that. Yeah, it just made me rethink about why I was doing what I was doing and if it was the right thing to keep going. And honestly, like, I actually felt okay.

And I said to myself, if I ever get to a point where I mentally feel like I'm not in a safe place to keep going, then I have absolutely no shame in getting on the next bus to To the airport, airport and flying back. But I wanted to keep going and just take it day by day and almost like going through such difficult month and like sacrificing, you know, spending time with friends and family at Christmas.

I was like, I'm not going to [01:15:00] let this be the end. I think I would have always sort of looked back thinking, what if. But yeah, I just thought I'm just going to take it, keep going day by day and just be really aware of like my mental health and how I'm responding to processing this. And I guess I was lucky enough that it didn't impact me in a way that put me in a sort of vulnerable or dangerous place.

But I was definitely like ready to, to sort of call it a day, if that was the right decision to make. 

Bella: Mmm, and I think it's really great that you know that within yourself, that you're doing this journey on your terms. It's not a must do and, and there's no success or failure to what you do either. And as you say, the destination, You know, there's an arbitrary line and a goal and an endpoint, but it was never about Cape Town.

It was about all the bits that happen in between. Okay, listeners, that's the end of part one of this special two part [01:16:00] episode. I just want to say a big thank you to Rob for letting me share his story here. And also, wow, I really cannot fathom what it would have been like to go through that harrowing life or death situation in Nigeria.

But something Rob said to me before we recorded and also many times during our subsequent conversation Was that there's such a danger that people look at this situation and make it the narrative for his entire journey What was pretty clear to me listening to Rob speak was that while this was a hugely unsettling experience to have gone through, the perspective which he then viewed the rest of his journey with, it was really profound.

Now, don't forget to join us next week for part two, where we're going to continue the conversation and adventure down the western side of Africa all the way to Cape Town. I can tell you now the stories Rob's going to share in episode two are incredible, So you definitely want to keep your eyes peeled for that when I [01:17:00] release the episode next week.

Now if you've been enjoying Seek Travel Ride, please consider sharing an episode on your social media channels. It really helps me so much to be able to push the show out to a wider audience and it gives me so much joy to see that our global Seek Travel Ride community is just growing week on week. Now when you do share an episode, be sure to tag me in your posts and I'll share those as well.

For me, the best part of producing this podcast is that global community which has sprung up all around and I can thank all of you awesome listeners for helping me to make this possible. Until the next episode, I'm Bella Molloy. Thanks for [01:18:00] listening.