Tuesday 20th August
We got up just as it was getting light with no sign of Clueso or Kato, we had a bit of breakfast then set off, we never did go pass the police check point or hotel, we think they just wanted us out of their jurisdiction. After a while we came to a small town ?, we found a little cafe and managed to order a late breakfast early lunch, we met some young students in café, had a good bit of banter with them, they even brought a preserved egg each, bit like pickled eggs but not as strong. When we came to pay the bill, they had even paid for are meal, so with the customary photos, we were about to leave, when the police turned up again, all the same stuff passports and visas, then they said it was to dangerous to go into the town, we showed where were heading to, they then said they would give us a police escort to the highway, this ended being an escort for about 12 miles. I even had a puncture while they were escorting us, they waited as we fixed it. Finally they left us alone on a brand new road, with very little traffic. Though the road was pretty boring, least we could get some miles under are belt, with no police checks as the road bypassed the small villages and towns along the way, they really do not want us going through these places. As we were getting a bit paranoid now it suited us to stay on this road, with the landscape turning more and more into desert, with the snow-capped mountains in the foreground. Had lunch pot noddles and coffee along the edge of the road, then carried on, soon came to a service station, which was guarded like Fort Knox, stocked up on water, then pushed on again.
We finally decided to come off the highway and go through the town of ?, so we could get are camping provisions sorted, first check point, same again where are you going, where are you staying same old routine. We told them we were planning on staying in a town about 50 mile away and needed to go to a supermarket to pick up some supplies, once a again a police escort to another police check outside the town, then another one to the supermarket. We managed to get all are suppliers including some imported beer 16% proof, not a good idea really, then back with police escort to the other side of town.
Once we were on are own again, we started to look for a place to camp, we soon found a suitable place, behind a coppice of trees in a maize field, Keith and Linney set up camp, while I tucked into the strong beers, they tasted like Port, but did the job, slept like a log.