Here We Go...

It's 05:30 and pretty dark in Basse. Time to get up and sort out a few things on the trailer, and check the food and other supplies are all to hand.
The final stretch of 'road' through Basse to the MRC Unit is pretty bad (we are on the banks of the great Gambia River, and it floods in the rainy seasons), so the plan after breakfast (porridge is promised) is to drive back to the outskirts of the town with the bikes still on the truck and start from there.
The GPS tracking seems to be working in spite of patchy cellphone coverage, and it confirms the distance as 370 km. We'll be stopping every 90 minutes to pick up more drinks and snacks, as well as for other more pressing reasons, so maybe time for a few updates en route – and certainly at our longer lunchtime stop, if the iPhone works. All being well we will be in Soma before nightfall, after about 195 km, but timing will depend very much on how we get on.
Wish us luck!