Ghana - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 150

When I returned to my room, I decided to leave Accra the next day. I loaded my
bike with all my gear in preparation for the morning's departure. I was so eager to try out
my new derailleur with all the gear on the bike, that I couldn't fall asleep at first.
In the morning the birds were chirping and the sun was shining. I went to mass and
had breakfast for the last time with the Fathers. I thanked them for allowing me to stay at
the rectory and gave them each a Canadian lapel pin. I promised to write to them (which I
did at the end of the tour) and finally pushed off at 8:30 a.m.
At first, I was nervous to change gears but eventually took the plunge and started
to use the derailleur. What an utter joy it was for there was no need to struggle on one
gear anymore! I only stopped once in order to shorten the chain a bit but otherwise it all
worked perfectly. I found the motorway easily enough and started my journey to Togo.
With a glorious tailwind and a flat and barren landscape, cycling was exponentially easier.
Even though the temperature quickly rose, my cycling generated a slight breeze that kept
me cool. I managed 128 kilometres to Sogakofe and cycled to the Catholic mission to seek
permission to set up my tent.
Father Giovanni arrived and was quite warm and welcoming. After a great dinner
heshowed me his mission'swork.He was anengineer anddesigned many ofthe churches,
primary and secondary schools, and water-wells in the area. When I asked, he said that he
did not need any government permits to build just permission from the local village chief.
He told me a story about an Italian family who was building water-wells across Africa in
memory of their son, Manuel. He was crossing the Sahara solo on his motorbike when his
engine stopped running. He couldn't restart it and eventually ran out of water and died of
dehydration. So, in his memory, the family was fund-raising in Italy to help build these
water-wells each costing about $1000.
I woke up the next morning to have my last breakfast in Ghana. After mass in the
native language and my final good-byes to Father Giovanni, I started my cycling at 10:30
a.m.Itwasaperfectdayforcycling.Theskywasbluewithafewpuffywhitecloudsfloat-
ing by and the sounds of the birds chirping accompanied me throughout the day. The only
issueIhadwastheintensityofthesunwhichIreallyfeltonmyrightelbowandcalf.Aside
from that, it was practically a stress-free cycle with very little traffic all the way to the bor-
der of Togo.