Yesterday was the last day of motorbike training. Big sigh of relief from all, especially Kate. We all made a pact that we were going to go with bravery in our hearts and try to impress Salifou. But it followed a similar pattern really. First of all I managed to very nearly mow down an ancient cyclist who just rode across the road straight in front of me. I missed him by not very much at all. Then we made the hair raising jouney through Serrekunda market. You really need your wits about you as there seem to be no traffic laws or protocol, it's very much every taxi, tuk tuk, man, goat or donkey for himself. At one point we managed to get jammed into the side by a water truck spraying the roads and got absolutely drenched. When we stopped Kate yanked off her helmet and exclaimed to Salifou " But Lucy nearly died so many times on that journey" After that perilous start we got to the off road section of the trip at which point things got much worse.

It really is very scary riding through sand when your motorbike is slipping and sliding and wobbling and you feel like you are going to fall but you know you just have to keep going. A few times I very nearly crashed into the back of Liz and at one point I ground to a halt and managed to drop my bike and add a few fresh bruises to my legs which are quite an array of colours at the moment.

Kate had another freak out at Salifou when he helpfully suggested that she should try not to ride in the sand! There was some choice language and again he tried unsuccessfully to pacify her. We did 10 k on the off road bit through several little villages. Finally we got to the tarmac road. This was the best part of the ride. We got the bikes up to 50 - 60 k and rode about 22 kilometres along the coast. This was really good fun and we managed to end the training on a high note. Salifou seemed pleased with us and even said I think me and Kate will become good friends now the training is over!

So our 4 week training period is at an end. We have run out of gas in the house so we have to eat out or at the bitikos for the remainder of the time. Our shopping trip was quite successful yesterday and now I seem to have more household equipment than I have at home in Wales. We had a text from Kanti in Soma saying looking forward to you both getting here. It's very lonely. I think we will both be glad to get there and unpack and sort ourselves out. We start work on Thursday. Our first day is meeting everyone in the office and then we have to be introduced to the important people in the community like the alkola and the district police chief and all that and then we go out to do some school visits. Me and Kate have agreed that we will go the closest schools first as the motorbiking is still quite new. Pete and Liz hit the ground running when they get to Janjanbureh. The week after they arrive they have been roped into helping deliver a week long course in Basse which is 80k from Janjanbureh, for 250 teachers on early reading. There are only four of them delivering it.

The blog might be a bit more intermittant now as Soma isn't so well equipped in terms of internet but keep emailing because I look forward to hearing from everyone. We are having a final day at the beach today which will be nice. Lots of love. Hope everything at home is well. xxx