Cherno part two: We're talking to Denzel about the movie

August 12, 2013

We had a quick look around Gothenburg before resuming the journey north. Although it began as a nice sunny day, while we were talking with some German cyclists going the other way, I noticed some rather ominous dark clouds roll in. I offered some old bin liners I had to Cherno to cover up his non-waterproof bags and suggested we seek shelter. Sure enough it began suddenly to actually hail with tremendous ferocity. With great good fortune we quickly came across a bus shelter and avoided the worst of it. From this bus shelter Cherno called his mum to tell her (as a joke) that he was cycling to Australia with me. My German is not perfect but I believe the conversation went something like this:

Cherno: "Mum I am cycling to Australia"

Cherno's Mum: "Cherno, you don't have your passport"

Cherno: "Oh yeah, okay. Mum I need you to send my passport to Oslo"

Cherno's Mum: "Like hell I will"

Probably my favourite picture of all time.

The hail didn't last long and the weather improved again, and we kept going. We talked more and Cherno, who has a German mother and a father originally from Gambia, told me about his huge family in Gambia and how when he goes there he is called the 'white boy' and in Germany he is obviously seen the other way. I told him about the movie which is being made about my trip and about how each person I meet must have an actor to play them. I thought he reminded me of someone famous but I couldn't think who it was. "You just think that because I'm black. People always think I look like black people but I don't, its just because they think we all look the same." Then he waited a while, thinking about it, before saying with I assure you 100% sincerity, "I think I'd like to be played by Denzel Washington"

I couldn't help laughing. "Cherno, I'm not sure that Denzel Washington is at the stage of his career where playing a bit part in a movie as a young German student with his cap turned backwards will appeal to him. Why not just go for Morgan Freeman?"

We came to no conclusion as to who should finally take on the role. We are talking to Denzel about the movie.

Trying to get a photo together. I look weird because I have just placed the camera on timer, on a very large boulder, and jumped from the top, trying and failing to leap into frame and pose. Cherno looks weird because he is Cherno

We reached some islands north of Gothenburg that we had been advised to ride through and I was very glad that we did. The scenery was really nice, less farmland and more forest, and rocky outcrops bordering the sea. It was really rather lovely cycling here.

One of several bridges that link from the mainland to the large island of Orust

Cherno would sometimes put his headphones on and listen to his music. One particular song made him cycle really fast. I told him to put it on repeat

At the end of the large island of Orust there is a short ferry crossing to a much smaller island called Malo. It was getting quite late when we arrived and I was worried that it would have stopped running because there was very little traffic, but it was still there. I remember my throat being very sore when we got there because across Orust we had been playing a game of shouting at farm animals. Its a brilliant game, you just shout at them and you get a point for each one that looks up at you. Cherno was ahead after attracting the attention of a small flock of sheep and, although I had got a couple of horses in the bag, I was lagging behind. It was my turn when we came to a field with a huge herd of cows in it. There were so many cows, it was going to be a massive score. "Get ready to count Cherno" I said confidently before unleashing an almighty "OIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Well, would you believe it, not one single cow lifted its head. I was devastated, and now my throat hurt so much I couldn't speak.

Things got a lot better on the other side of the ferry. Now we were on a really interesting island, with lots of massive rocks everywhere and natural forest and no agriculture because of the landscape, and only a few holiday homes dotted among the rocks. The road wound through these huge boulders with sea views which looked amazing with the sun setting low in the sky and this was really actually my favourite bit of cycling of the whole trip so far.

A lone fisherman on the island, one of very few people we saw

It was really nice light and you can see how rocky the islands here are

Another shot as we moved from Malo to the slightly larger island of Kila

There was another short ferry crossing from Kila over to what is actually a peninsula connected to the mainland and I was keen to get there before calling it a night, partly to get more distance done, partly because camping on rocky islands is difficult. When we saw cars driving the other way we assumed the ferry had just arrived and raced to get there but we were told it wouldn't go back across until 9.30pm which was a good half an hour wait. So I started looking at a little field to see if we could camp but it was a bit wet. Cherno wanted to ask at a house to sleep inside. There was only one house near us. I was tired and actually would prefer to just throw up the tent and sleep instead of having to make conversation all evening. Cherno agreed but said he needed water so went up to the house anyway. I knew what he was up to. I listened from the road as a late-middle aged Swedish man answered the door and agreed to fill up Cherno's water bottles. He shut the door and left Cherno standing outside. Obviously I can't say for sure what this man said when he went inside but I guess it went something along the lines of "Honey, I want you to take the kids into the basement and lock the door and don't make a sound until I tell you it's safe to come out."

The man returned with Cherno's water. Cherno, as I knew he would, began a very nice spiel about our journeys to Oslo, our need to sleep and wait for tomorrow's ferry and whether he had space for us to sleep. The man, naturally, said no, and was probably cocking his gun behind the door. He did kindly suggest a place where we may be able to camp though. We went to investigate and it turned out to be the worst place to camp, being on a slope, with uneven ground and long grass. By this time the ferry was about to leave so we jumped on, just us two and one car, and crossed to the other side, where we soon found a nice flat field to set up camp. After having something to eat, we retreated to our tents, Cherno with the optimistic words "tomorrow we keep on rolling"

Today's ride: 107 km (66 miles)
Total: 2,458 km (1,526 miles)

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Gregory GarceauI remember you met quite a few interesting characters on your epic trip. Cherno was among the best.
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2 years ago

Chris PountneyTo Gregory GarceauIndeed he was!
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2 years ago