Part One of Two

                                                                                      ( May to September...For September to November see Part Two)

 

 

Obesity, Drug rehabilitation and Depression…. A ‘Welcome’ to the Real world!

 

One can only prepare so much for the emotional and physiological shock of, after four months of a single, clear and simple daily purpose, one day waking up with a shock at not having to just ´Cycle another day down Africa’.

 

The body continued demanding huge amounts of ‘fuel’, obediently loading up for the expected calorie carnage the next day. But amazingly, day after day the ‘usual’ demand never materialized!  Eventually the ‘flab tanks’ were overflowing and the ‘flab controls’ took over, cutting the intake to what a ‘normal’ human eats! But alas, it was too late the mirror told the story!!

 

Simultaneously the mind threw withdrawal tantrums, as day after day, its huge daily dose of ‘high inducing’ endorphins were not delivered. Adding to this down, I felt my ‘pure African soul’ was ‘dirtied’ as I was absorbed back into the masses of ‘normal people’. I couldn’t believe people just walked by me without asking. “What is it like to have just cycled Down Africa?” WHY wouldn’t they want to know?..Even a bit of what I had just experienced?  I soon realized it didn’t care in this new, busy world. In fact two cynics who overheard what I’d done asked with irritating cynicism: “Wouldn’t it have been easy by bus?” Makes one think…! Who is crazy? Then it occurred to me….

 

….Maybe one of the people walking next to me that day had just climbed Mt Everest? Should I have stopped and asked them? How would I know which one?….Maybe another was an immigrant from Afghanistan, with an even more valuable story to tell!  No, it doesn’t work like that……

 

…..Like I have learnt over the years….., one does these things for oneself. When I set my adventure goals, I always remember Bernard Mottisier saying before he set out to try and be the first person to sail around the world solo and non-stop:  “Anyone who is not doing this for themselves, WILL FAIL.” The other truth is….. The trip is so close to one’s soul, and the experience so intense, that one just wants to share it with others….but sadly, it can never really be shared, as like all intense and special experiences in life, nobody but the ‘experiencee’ can ever REALLY feel it like it was! Once one realizes that, one becomes free, and that allows the soul to ‘show’ the experience in each of our own personal ways.  

 

 

Turning the mind to a new challenge……A search for more exotic drugs…??

 

 

After a wonderful, dose of the Cape Town good life, and connecting with some of my South African friends, my body and mind was eventually ‘Given the OK’ as being ‘virtually back to normality’ (No wise cracks here!) and ‘able to fly’ to the Azores!

 

Taking a week stop over in London, which included a wonderful day, pub-crawl-cycling, up the Thames, for Ruth’s birthday, I finally touched down in a cold, wet and grey Horta. This being the capital town on Faial Island literally ‘somewhere’ in the middle of the North Atlantic. I’ll never forget the final landing approach, with the aircraft sidling in, at a ‘not possible to land’ angle as it dealt with the strong crosswind, and there in the marina below I saw my ‘little orange boat’, Solone, waiting for our reunion! Hmmm…! I thought….this solo sailing is quite a bit different from cycling in warm, sunny Africa, where in four months I’d only had four days with rain!

 

      Horta marina, Solone is the orange one, waiting our reunion!

 

 

 

The Magic of the Azores…but drawn back into the saddle!!

 

 

Well the weather soon improved for the Azorean summer season, and I had a wonderful month completing the full exploration of all seven islands. (The first part being done in 2006) I ended up cycling around Pico (with Ruth!), Faial, St Jorge, and Terceira islands, and sailing down to the southern most island, Santa Maria. All different, but commonly dramatic with their volcanic origin, and giant hydrangea ‘infestation’ with the colourful blooms lining the roads and acting as fences to dairy farm pastures. Extinct volcanoes are everywhere to be found, with many of the islands having beautiful elevated crater lakes, and / or sea flooded craters lying off the coasts. The coastlines are generally steep cliffed making for dramatic sea to land contrasts, often interspersed with unlikely waterfalls cascading hundreds of metres into the sea. The people are ‘old school’, Portuguese, very friendly and uncomplicated in their needs. They appear to be watching with distrust and fear as the Azores slowly gets on the tourist radar screens, and their simple world is intruded upon.

 

 

                  A typical Hydrangea lined pasture area

 

During the month of July, the island of Terceira becomes a bull fighting spectacle, the extent and nature of which is not seen anywhere else in the world. Rather than being the traditional ‘matador fighting a bull’ type, these are very amateurish, community participation based events lasting for 4-5hrs, with lots of pomp and ceremony. The bulls are free to run through cordoned-off, public streets and animated crowd participation is encouraged. The bull is prevented from causing serious injury by a group of sturdy professionals who take long range control of the bull via a long rope that is looped around its neck. This control encourages amateur matador-ship and promotes courage and bravery to the point that the spectacle becomes quite entertaining in its ability to allow mature adults to participate in child like ‘animal to human’ risk taking activities. Each chosen location hosts 4 to 6 bull fights´, that last up to an hour each.  The firing into the air of a single rocket, signals the start of each ‘fight’ and the firing of two rockets signals the end, and the safe return of the bull to its enclosure. During July, the island is like a permanent fireworks display as rockets go off regularly and arbitrarily from all points around the island. In parallel with the bull fights, fiestas (festivals) are run around the island, and these are very sociable and extravagant affairs.

 

                      This Bull fight was held at the Marina:

 

 

Through friendships with local Azoreans, and others, even unlikely South African immigrant, I came to understand the Azorean community policing system. One doesn’t see a lot of police around, and at both the individual and community level there seems almost an unwritten code of conduct that exists. On deeper discussion I was made aware of the amazing community policing system that exists. Basically the village communities are so socially entwined and steeped in generations of strong tradition that misbehaviour is clearly defined, and offenders treated with the worst possible punishment…they are ostracized from the very community that supports them. So even though fiestas, including free flowing alcohol are common place, its all done very orderly. The same is said for driving, and most activities in the Azores.

 

Solone in Angra do Herisimo marina, Teceira Island. (Near the bull fight above)

 

Finally on the Azores, I have never understood why one doesn’t see other cyclists there? For me it’s a cyclist paradise…good roads, challenging terrain, beautiful scenery, and very polite motorists. I never saw one other touring cyclist the whole time I was there!

 

Lasting memories…Pico mountain summit, 2300m.

 

 

Back Sailing with the right Mind…Finding the lost peace of the Ocean!

 

 

This low key adventure, ‘fun time’, enabled me to bond with Solone and switch the180 degrees from the serious business of cycling Down Africa to the serious business of long passage solo sailing that lay ahead. In late September, with supposedly perfect weather conditions ahead, I left for the first of my ‘new season’ open ocean passages… a 3-4 day trip to Madeira / Porto Santo Islands. Well first night out was black as the ace of spades, and the wind gusting up to 35 knots, and Solone screaming down the waves at 20knots….hmmm...not what I ordered for the first night back at sea!  Oh, for that grounded tent, and the peaceful 8hrs uninterrupted sleep I had in Africa! A few days later, and the special-ness of being on my own in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean returned.  Almost to help me celebrate this, I had a huge sperm whale join me for at least an hour….circling Solone,  unsure of whether in her equal size and with her ‘attractive’, freshly painted, white anti-fouled under belly she was like or foe?

 

 

 

 

Madeira….The adventures continues!

 

 

 

I spent three weeks exploring Porto Santo and Madeira. Porto Santo, with its long sandy beach, being the beach resort for Madeirians and main land Portuguese alike.  I met some interesting people, and discovered to my peril that Portuguese holiday dinner parties start at close to midnight and end after sunrise! I ended up doing quite a challenging, but extraordinarily beautiful, 7 hour sea kayak trip around Porto Santo Island in my trustworthy, folding expedition kayak. Like Solone, after quiet a few adventures together, in some quite difficult sea conditions, I feel I’m at one with the kayak and will happily take to the sea in the most challenging conditions. Quite a special bond that’s probably hard to understand by those of you who are non-‘boat people’ and where ‘bonds’ are traditionally linked to people and living things!

 

The quiet side of the kayak trip, just around that cape the wind was blowing 25knots

 

 

Once again deciding to explore the island by bicycle, Madeira itself was both impressive and challenging in its topography, with virtually every day involving torturous 1200m plus descents and assents as I followed ‘the only road’, down the steep sea cliffs accessing each coastal village around the perimeter. Sadly, Madeira seems to be losing its soul as it appears to be moving the ‘Costa del Sol’ route with the invasion of tacky tourists and wealthy ‘poms’ in search of a better ‘Costa del Sol’ solution. I was surprised to meet a huge amount of South African Madeirians who in the sixties and seventies, with limited prospects in Madeira, had landed up in South Africa. With the changes in South Africa, they chose to return to their now booming, birthplace. Quite weird to see Kudu, Impala, etc trophy heads hanging all over restaurants in on the island.

    Typical road down to the coastal towns. Up and down one each day!

 

And oh yes…. Did have quite a few ‘samples’ of the famous Madeira wine…. Fortified and very high alcohol content! To be drunk with caution!

 

 

 

Language insights…..A setback for my Espanol!

 

 

Being reasonably proficient in Spanish, but starting from scratch in Portuguese, I found the Portuguese environment of the Azores and Madeira linguistically challenging. As many of you would probably know, many of the Portuguese words are similar in Spanish, but also many are completely different. Taking a flyer using Spanish words can end one in an embarrassing situation where one is totally misunderstood or one that is, bordering on being insulting, for the Portuguese. It would seem that there are some sensitivities between the two cultures, and the Portuguese feel the Spanish are ‘arrogant’ in “not even trying” to speak Portuguese in Portugal, while the Portuguese are ‘respectful’ in trying to speak Spanish in Spain. Probably to do with the relative popularity of the languages, with Spanish the second most used language in the world. So when Mr. South African comes along, trying his best, but bastardizing Portuguese with Spanish, in Portugal, he is seen as promoting the arrogance! I was told that I was too sensitive about this. With my valuable South African multicultural experience, and then the Australian immigration experience I have a huge awareness for cultural respect, and do try and avoid these obvious conflicts. The net result is that I stalled on my Portuguese interactions, and went backwards on my Spanish!! Obrigado Portugal!  Spain now beckons again….

 

 

 

The Canary Islands…..Expectations low, but a Pleasant surprise!

 

My plan was to get Solone to the Canary Islands by end of August, and secure a marina berth to wait out the Caribbean / Mid Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ends at the end of November. The Canary Islands being perfectly located and the traditional starting point for most Atlantic crossings to the Caribbean.

 

I had read a lot about the Canaries, and being largely barren, increasingly developed, and ‘Costa del Sol’ like, I wasn’t very inspired to spend a huge amount of time exploring the complete archipelago as I had done in the Azores. With this in mind, I decided to avoid the big developed islands, and make La Gomera, the second smallest of the main islands, Solone’s home for the three months.

 

San Sebastian, with the marina visible, the impressive Mt Tieda on Tenerife in the background

 

The 600km sail from Madeira to La Gomera was pleasant, with the wind only picking up to an uncomfortable level just before the Canaries, and providing for an interesting, and bumpy, dawn arrival. As I find is always the case, arrival in a new port, is filled with relief, excitement and a desire to explore. That first beer or coffee in a new port of arrival with the boat secure is an especially wonderful feeling. Somehow also, on leaving a place, it always seems ‘timely’, and seldom do I have a sense of loss, because the wanderer in me knows, imbedding myself in the ‘issues’ of a community compromises my freedom, and will destroy the wonderfully idealistic view I get of how each of these communities exist.  Most times I feel a huge level of gratitude for the experience of having been able to make the friends and access the local community as I did. I find life on the boat, bike and kayak allow me to live more than superficially within these communities and environments.  

 

Back to my arrival in La Gomera….So explore I did:

 

La Gomera being the greenest and most tortuously, hilly of all the islands, provided me with the almost perfect playground for cycling and sea kayaking. The bike rides, reminisce of Madeira, but without the crowds, involved huge climbs and then adrenalin packed downhills as the road around the island roller coasted between the 1300m Laurel forested National Park in the centre of the island, and quaint Spanish sea side villages around its perimeter. Yes, I even saw one canary!!  Pet shop ones are more pretty though!

Typical terrain on La Gomera Island

 

After La Gomera I chose El Hierro island to explore. This is the smallest and the most remote of the main Canary Islands. A four day bicycle excursion around the island proved truly rewarding. The scenery at times was very lunar like, and the coastline very rugged and dramatic. Pretty tough cycling again, with huge climbs every day, but generally, through spectacular volcanic scenery. The local Seco (dry) white wine has a surprising reputation as being the best in the Canaries, and I really enjoyed it. Its only available on La Gomera and El Hierro, due to the small production volume. So there we go all you wine buffs…a very rare and pleasant white that you should taste sometime! This island also will going down in my unique places as its capital town is only commercially open for half every day!  The residents have their priorities sorted out, and demand doesn’t justify an 8 hour plus retail day so they get a half day every day!  

   

El Hierro; The dramatic volcanic rock forms, contrasted against the sea and flora

 

 

For Part Two:   Sydney Adventures and Beyond see next blog entry:

 

 

 Howard Fairbank                                                                                                    30 November 2007:                              

 

POS:      28:05.270N 17:06.5454W