But the beauty is in the walking -- we are betrayed by destinations. - Gwyn Thomas

22 October 2019, New Longoro to Koase, 58.44km
Ebenezer Hotel 40GHC (R114)

Following our river fording, we had had, yesterday, to unpack Charl’s panniers and fan-dry many of our goods, particularly those in his right-hand pannier which split at the base some months ago. We re-taped the pannier with duct tape before repacking all our goods and hitting the road this morning on yet another cool and cloudy day.
Just outside our guest house, two school boys came across to greet us. When we told them we had cycled from Cape Town, South Africa, the older of the two placed his hands on his hips, his mouth falling open following that endearing African exclamation of surprise and awe, “ao”.
There was quite a lot of climbing, though manageable, on a road surface rough enough to rattle our flasks in a constant refrain, as we passed through a mixture of nature and nurture, all green. And the traffic was light, one approaching truck so skew we could see its front face on and one back corner at the same time as it crabbed down the road toward us.
The villages through which we passed were “third world”, with broken buildings, dirt, dangerous culverts, wandering livestock, broken down trucks under which drivers sleep until someone helps them to get back on the road. Life is not easy, and it is clear there is no “fat”, no savings to fall back on in times of trouble.
At a market we bought omelette and fat cakes for breakfast while near us a man and woman pounded fufu (yam) in a wooden mortar with large wooden pestles raised above their heads with each alternating beat. And later we saw a woman making gari, a flour or meal made from cassava in a large pan over an open fire. At one stop, a man brought a small child to Charl, knowing, we believe, that the child would respond badly. In fact, the poor kid took one look at Charl’s now very bushy grey beard and let out an anguished howl of fear and horror and had to be returned to his mother. A learning opportunity lost.
We have discovered that FanMilk make a mango and passion frozen yoghurt, and bought and consumed one each just before reaching Wenchi. In town, we were very happy to find a bank that purported to allow MasterCard withdrawals as we had been husbanding our dwindling cash for several days. The ATM would not allow us to complete our transaction, but a bank official, fetched by Charl to assist, showed us that if we pressed the second from the bottom right-side button (no indication whatsoever that this was a necessary step), money would be released. Good to know…
We lunched beyond Wenchi at a restaurant run by an NGO assisting disabled youth, on hot soup and chicken. The founder, a charming woman, sat on a low wall beneath a shady tree and chatted to us while we ate. She has travelled a little, to South Africa and Cameroon and Germany, and told us that Nigerians have a bad reputation in Ghana.
Our host at the Ebenezer beyond Wenchi proper, proposed we dine at the Viglosam Lodge. They have a nice garden setting with a wandering peacock. Once they turned down their music at our request, we could enjoy it. We have discovered that fresh food, a rarity, takes a really long time to reach your table, and that it is best to both order the same meal or the wait is even longer. We ordered beef burgers and chips off an extensive menu. An hour later we were served with sinewy meat between toasted slices of bread, no lettuce or tomato included and way too many chips - a meal that cost almost a third again as much as a really good quality burger with all the accoutrements in South Africa. When we asked for salt, it was delivered to us in a silver sauce boat.
On the way to the Viglosam we saw a shop called Naked I Came Electronics; on the way home we saw several people seated on benches outside the local hairdresser watching TV.

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…