Bonus Posted August 6, 2018 Posted August 6, 2018 Some months ago, our friends who live down in Kenton-on-Sea outside Port Elizabeth, put Olivier in touch with Wendy on FB & WhatsApp after he'd stayed with them for a night while passing through their part of South Africa. Last night he finally got to our part of the world and we, along with our good friends Marce (from Costa Rica) and her husband Jeroen (from Holland), met up with him for a beer in Ainsa, Spain. In short, his story is . . . . He's a Swiss Pastry Chef who left Switzerland 4 years ago and has been cycling ever since. He stops and works where necessary. He's had Malaria three times. He's ridden 63000 km so far. He certainly didn't take "the quickest route from A to B". He loves Africa and he's met some amazing people. . . . . While we were chatting to Olivier I asked him "where was he planning to stay tonight?" and before he could properly answer, Marce offered him a bed at their house. This morning Jeroen and I looked at a problem he had on the bike (non functioning integrated roadie rear mech shifter) which we couldn't fix and then we took him to see my friend Angel at Intersport. The part was broken but Angel sorted him out a cheap and cheerful friction shifter which Jeroen fitted to his handlebars to "get him home". He only has a couple of thousand kms to go now. Neither Marce nor Jeroen had met Olivier before last night but this is just how they are. Much like us. We really have surrounded ourselves with good people. It makes me happy to know that Olivier rode from his home in Switzerland to Turkey, flew from there to Egypt and then down the east coast and up the west coast of Africa. Now he's crossing back through Europe and heading home. . . . . Awesome.
Grantc Posted August 7, 2018 Posted August 7, 2018 Some months ago, our friends who live down in Kenton-on-Sea outside Port Elizabeth, put Olivier in touch with Wendy on FB & WhatsApp after he'd stayed with them for a night while passing through their part of South Africa. can only be Shona & Mig
Rick Sanchez Posted August 7, 2018 Posted August 7, 2018 Very cool. What kind of work would he do when necessary?
Bonus Posted August 7, 2018 Author Posted August 7, 2018 Very cool. What kind of work would he do when necessary? I know he got some work as a Pastry Chef at hotels & resorts when there was a demand for it. Other times he'd just work at anything.
Bonus Posted August 7, 2018 Author Posted August 7, 2018 Would you believe that when Olivier was telling us about a mechanical issue he had on the bike whilst passing through Uganda, my friend Jeroen from Holland, who also cycled in Uganda a couple of years ago and needed help with a mechanical issue, dug out a photo on his phone of the mechanic that helped him . . . and it was the same person. Maybe there's only one bike shop in Uganda!
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