Day 4 Koforidua to Begoro

I need to say again, whoever said Ghana was fairly flat is stretching the truth. Today we seemed to be constantly going up then down then up and down.

Today we completed 62km and recorded 3800 feet of climbing. We have just 1.5 days (less than 100km) of cycling remaining to reach Kwahu-Tafo.

A lot of today was spent cycling on tarmac roads (with very large potholes), the heat reflecting off the road surface in the direct sunlight makes climbing any steep uphills feel unbearable.

As we left Koforidua we came across a large number of school children singing and playing drums with banners encouraging parents to send their children to school. It was an amazing, colourful sight.

On the route we stopped at Boti Falls which is a local waterfall (approx 200 feet) As we are nearing the end of the rainy season the river was full and noise was very loud. It was a great spot for a rest as the mist was cooling. Tim had a swim (he is experienced) with a couple of the bike support team.

After 30 km we stopped for water and a look around a village. Every village we pass children appear from everywhere, and they love being photographed.

We cycled for another 20 kilometres before a very late lunch (another African time delay) which was our longest so far and I really struggled as I had drank all my bottled water and it is amazing how dependent you are on it.

You can see Ghana is not short of water it is clean water that is the problem.

The last stretch was up to the hillside town of Begoro and a planned event at the "Kitkat Club" by a local farmer on Cocoa production. Unfortunately there was a huge thunderstorm and the heavens opened which meant this had to be postponed.

Neil (my brother), Anders, Hans, Gideon (leader) and Fraser at the Kit Kat Club at the end of the ride.

Tommorrow we have the hardest day as it is virtually all off road including sand roads near Lake Volta, camping overnight then the ride into Tafo.

The map of the ride:

Gary