First blog by Helen Lloyd from ‘takeonafrica’

africa, Colin, cycling, Helen, photography

Helen Lloyd is one determined woman, and we at webtogs are priveliged to help her out during her African adventure over the next couple of years. For an overview of Helen’s journey and to appreciate her simply wonderful photography go to www.takeonafrica.com

Out biking round Dorset a couple of weekends ago, making the most of the unusually hot, sunny weather and I’ve had a revelation. Two in fact.
Firstly, I can’t believe I’ve participated in high-energy sports all these years, without having discovered merino wool clothing! Busting a gut pedaling up the hills with sweat dripping out of every pore and my new Icebreaker top stayed practically dry. With the amount I sweat, that’s certainly a major achievement and possibly a minor miracle. Best feature of all though is that it’s been left disregarded, unwashed in the corner of my room ever since and there’s not even the faintest hint of the all-too-familiar ‘festering sports gear’ stench, which as my house-mates will contest, can be rather overwhelming at times! This all bodes well for when it comes to cycling through Africa where the sun will be much hotter, I’ll be sweatier and washing machines will be fewer and far between. Reckon the ‘dash tank’ looks pretty good on too.
Oh, and the other revelation? There’s pure pleasure, with zero guilt, in consuming two magnums in a day when you’ve been out biking for six hours… Don’t suppose I’ll be coming across many ice-cream vans in the Sahara though.

Right, time for bed me thinks.
Helen