Ghana holiday with Lon's family

As my brother and his family live in Ireland, Hazel and I in Ghana and my sister and family and my parents in the east of The Netherlands there are not many times the whole family is together.
Instead of trying to meet in The Netherlands the plan arose to meet in Ghana.
And so it was.

We did not all have the same itinerary, but it mostly overlapped.

Just a view photos to tell the story.

After separate arrivals we all went to Cocoa village at crater lake Bosomtwe.
A basic lodge with not much more to do than swim and walk up the hill.

The road to the lodge

View from the top

Cultural exchange

After this we proceeded slowly around Kumasi and fast, but for a long time, north to Mole national park.

A quick stop at the falls. The girls were wearing plastic bags on their heads and the boys were showing of at the lower part that could be used as a slide.

Mole park has animals, but is not comparable to any east African park. The advantage is that there are far less irritating tourists in jeeps (except us).
A few animals hang around the Mole Motel hoping to catch a free lunch.
Baboons were checking out the rooms.
A monkey stole a banana.

And warthogs were relaxing nearby.

Monkey at the pool

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon

We went on a safari and a night safari.
Of course no useful pictures of the night safari.

 

A herd of some 10 young male elephants were bathing in the waterhole

Another day we went on a guided tour around a small village nearby.
Just nice to see the local life.

A woman making 'carite butter'. A long process from nut to paste.

There was an old and apparently important mosque, but too be honest I forgot the story. Something about a holy man crossing 3 big rivers and trowing his spear that became the basis of the mosque.

Lunch.

Time to make a family picture

And say goodbye to our friends

Back to the coast is again a long drive.

Some small villages besides the road

It seems to be yam season. Tons of yam are for sale beside the road.

We broke the journey by staying at Hand-in-Hand, a Dutch organisation that created a home for mentally handicapped children and earns a bit extra by offering a place to stay for tourists.
We had a friend checking us out.

The beach was lovely. For those interested, my parents rented a house from a Dutch couple and my sister's family stayed practically next door at a Dutch run hotel: Ko Sa.
The hotel is one of the nicest I have seen so far, unless you like big shiny unpersonal hotels.

We had some entertainment when a boat came and unloaded their fish. Not sure how it worked, there seemed to be no payment, but I am sure someone was keeping track.

As Dutch people we need to visit the darker side of our past. Both Elmina and Cape coast castle are worth a visit. The stories are similar, but the architecture is different.

Cape coast castle

A must for every tourist visiting Ghana is Kakum park. Here you can walk on the tree top bridges. A nice experience, specially for the kids.

All in all a great holiday. Pleasant temperatures (for Ghana) and lovely to spend some time with the family.

As the arrival; the departure was spread over time. My sisters family went on to see a bit more east of Accra, but as I was not there we don't have photos.

Crafting in Accra

Ghana has been rather good for attending small workshops to have a taster of different crafts, as well as leaving me with extra time to knit over the summer holidays when my usual activities aren't running

I spent one morning rubbing wet wools to make a felted bowl

One afternoon I learnt how to make a raffia braided bracelet - too itchy for me, but the cats are enjoying it!

 I've been knitting gift socks

 and learning how to string beads with Paola and her sister Silvia at Sun Trade Beads http://www.suntradebeads.com/

 The outcome was not exactly to my taste, but was exactly what the class comprised of!

I knit some of my souvenir Icelandic yarn into a very warm cardigan with cables

 and have finished a crochet project I started in Burkina Faso in 2011

Another batik workshop brings my count of the year to three, it's still very difficult to choose which stamps, which colours and to judge what the outcome might look like!

 and finally I finished a cardigan with a lace panel that fits just right, I feel like goldilocks!

Cycle race

Ghana has not much of a cycling culture, but there is a cycling group. The reason I don't cycle with them is because they start at 6.30 on Saturday morning; at that time I am not alive.

I do follow some of the member on Strava (famous cycling app) and of course the Facebook group.
So they posted this flyer:

I did ask what the expected fitness level was. Average 25 km/h. I did 100 km once before in Accra, I did one of the hills before; should be possible.

So, Lon watched his food for a few days, cleaned the bike, lubricated the chain and set the alarm.

The meeting point is about half an hour drive from our house at the Legon Botanical gardens.
Bike out the car, checking bike, helmet on. Ready.

I was on time, but this is Ghana, so waiting for an hour is normal. Luckily it was not too hot, so it was not so important what time we started.

We road in convoy with police escort to the starting point.

There was a total of about 40 riders. At the start the difference became apparent. 20 or so guys were out of sight within seconds. I was towards the back doing a reasonable speed. I found a couple of guys doing about the same speed, so we made a small group. Ended up pulling them a bit too long (lesson 1). But averaging over 30 km/h was nice.

Then came hill 1. 30 minutes average 12,5 km/h, heart rate and breathing of the scale.
The view was stunning, in the distance Shai hills. Unfortunately I was more concentrating on the road.

 Logic dictates that after an up there comes a down.
What logic doesn't say is that there is a second shorter, but fierce hill just after a short decent. This one 'Lartey 2' is a killer, I (and many others) had to dismount. Yet the hill was conquered in 10 minutes.

Going down Mamfé hill I saw the front-runners coming up the hill, knowing I had to do about 10 km and come back.
This was a lovely stretch of road, with some nice hills, but after 50 km you can feel every % of incline.

After a short break at the turning point it was clear that I was one of the last ones. Some people behind me stopped in the knowledge that there was another big climb.

It started raining slightly, which is not a problem as it is not cold rain, as long as it doesn't come down in buckets as it sometimes does.
Now came the big test. Hill 2, Mamfé hill. I started it with difficulties in a low gear.
I had mixed feelings after taking up the offer of the ambulance to take me up the hill. Disappointed, but glad, I also didn't want the others to wait an extra hours for this last man to arrive.

At the top of the hill I decided to get out and cycle again. This road I know and has some smaller hills and good road surface, there should be no more big climbs and only the big decent at the end.
My legs were not too happy with me, it felt hard and the rain increased. Later the app showed an average speed on this bit of 24,4 km/h, which I was surprised about.
This is a photo of another guy in the rain.

I couldn't see much with or without my glasses.
Not far from the final decent an organizer's car offered to take me on board, as I already had forfeited the race I gladly took the offer.

We gathered at the finish. I did get some compliments, don't know if they were serious.

We cycled the 5 km back to the meeting point, felt like a walk in the park after the 92 km I already did.

Road bikes don't have stands people find alternatives to park them.

 

I don't think it was meant as the Dutch proverb 'aan de wilgen hangen' which means to quit.

Lessons learned:

Go slower in the start, even though finding a group was a good thing.

2 big hills AND 100 km is too much. (for the record I still did 1275 meter elevation)

Train for hills

Excuse: I only saw one other without a road bike, my hybrid is 15 kg a road bike about 9 kg, big difference on hills. 

The winner finished in 3h 17min, averaging 35 km/h.