Day 85 – Angelina.

Today was, without doubt, the most fun any of us has had on motorbikes. We headed straight for the sea this morning to take the official Africa West Coast Atlantic Photograph. We teed everything up with Swiss precision, bikes in an arcing curve, helmets placed off centre to the wheel, wheels all locked over to the left, and then the bikers. No jackets, feet shoulder width apart, arms folded (wait for it) right arm over left! And, the sea breaking perfectly behind. It was quite a photo.

But then our boyish tendencies got the better of us. Below us lay the beach. The Atlantic waves rolling in. We just had to drop a 100 feet through soft orange sand to access it. So we did.

And before we knew it we were careering along the beach in and out of the waves having a seriously good time. Cameras were out. Cecil was working on his ‘hero’ shots for the loo. He was hitting waves at high speed and George was shooting. There was a lot of shouting and hollering. Eventually the whole group was cooly biking down the coast along the beach. From time to time we would come across a 4 wheel drive car with fishermen set up with multiple rods. We either ducked to avoid decapitation or tried to go round through the soft sand on the higher reaches of the beach. Either way a blast. George and Sam would attack the dune that ran along the back of the beach. This normally resulted in a sandy demise. But fun to watch. Eventually we called the cruiser down and had tea and biscuits reclining in soft sand in baking sunshine with surf breaking up the beach. It doesn’t get much better than this. Finally we needed to get going as the tide was incoming and our escape routes were diminishing. We covered 40k of beach. I doubt there are many parts of the world where you can still ride a pristine beach. And even here it will not last for long. It really is the ultimate fun biking and never to be forgotten or under appreciated.

The rest of the day we devoted to cafes. A bit of biking here and there. And then we hit the perfect cafe in Swakopmund called Bojos. As good a latte as you will find anywhere together with a coffee and walnut cake to die for.

Whilst the team then settled into our friendly accommodation on the coast, and washed the salt off our bikes, I went for my 1 month foot check up. It was another splendid hospital, built to German standards, and, it turned out to be where Angelina and Brad had one of their offspring. And the xray was all good news, bones much straighter and lots of new growth! I didn’t mention the jog.

Whist riding along the beach we had been aware of a watery figure on a bike surfing in the distance down the dunes and riding in impossibly deep water. The locals say he rides with Neptune on the seabed. Some say he eats sea urchins with the spines on. We call him the Stigma. J