Wherever you go in the world,
there’s always an Irishman…
As we have settled into the trip and got fitter, we have slowly been staying up later, needing that bit less sleep to recover each night, and having the odd beer. Since Kenya, the group has started looking for excuses to have some celebrations (crossing the equator led to one particularly heavy evening…), and so for St.Patrick’s day, a group of us became honorary Irishmen (under the wing of two genuine paddies on the trip, Phil and Darragh) and decided to spend the day doing challenges as we rode along. The evening before, we came up with a list of dares, with associated points, ranging from getting on a local’s bike (easy) to getting a local to buy you a beer (impossible).
The following morning, we begged, borrowed and stole anything we could find that was green, white or orange to try and look the part (this included sticking pieces of green crop in our helmets) and set off on the road.
The day was spend cajoling locals to lend us their donkey, swapping clothes, sampling as many varieties of beer as possible, which doesn’t make cycling up hills much fun, and trying to get locals’ phone numbers (Lizzie was worryingly good at this). We even managed to form the base of a 10-man human pyramid. However, the highlight occurred whilst we were in negotiations to borrow a local’s clapped out bicycle, when we heard the roar of a motorbike engine and saw Freek, a Dutch rider on the trip, tear down the road with 500cc of power behind him – his power of persuasion are clearly much better than ours.
As we have settled into the trip and got fitter, we have slowly been staying up later, needing that bit less sleep to recover each night, and having the odd beer. Since Kenya, the group has started looking for excuses to have some celebrations (crossing the equator led to one particularly heavy evening…), and so for St.Patrick’s day, a group of us became honorary Irishmen (under the wing of two genuine paddies on the trip, Phil and Darragh) and decided to spend the day doing challenges as we rode along. The evening before, we came up with a list of dares, with associated points, ranging from getting on a local’s bike (easy) to getting a local to buy you a beer (impossible).
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| The challenges are set |
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| The list of challenges |
The following morning, we begged, borrowed and stole anything we could find that was green, white or orange to try and look the part (this included sticking pieces of green crop in our helmets) and set off on the road.
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A leprechaun hides from the camera |
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| If you squint, it looks like an Irish flag... hmm? |
The day was spend cajoling locals to lend us their donkey, swapping clothes, sampling as many varieties of beer as possible, which doesn’t make cycling up hills much fun, and trying to get locals’ phone numbers (Lizzie was worryingly good at this). We even managed to form the base of a 10-man human pyramid. However, the highlight occurred whilst we were in negotiations to borrow a local’s clapped out bicycle, when we heard the roar of a motorbike engine and saw Freek, a Dutch rider on the trip, tear down the road with 500cc of power behind him – his power of persuasion are clearly much better than ours.
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A Maasai clothes swap |
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| The centre of the pyramid looking nervous |
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The coup de grace – Freek swapped his bike for a motorbike |
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