Diesel, Detours, and Discovering Freetown

Good day. November 15th.

Land Cruiser Pickle

Well, there was a bit of a pickle with the Land Cruiser — a perceived pickle, that is. I have two tanks: one is the sub tank and one is the main. I had switched to the sub the day before and the main tank was close to empty.

When the sub then showed the empty light as well, I got a little frazzled. Because I didn’t want there to be an issue where one of the switching systems wouldn’t work, I worried about being stuck in the middle of nowhere. You can switch back and forth while driving, but if it doesn’t work I’m left with a problem to solve. Avoiding problems is kind of what I’m after.

Visit to Sarah Motors

I went back to Sarah Motors. They were very helpful but couldn’t really do much until Monday. That took a few hours to figure out, and then I realized all I needed to do was keep it on the sub tank and fill up some diesel in the main tank. That way there wouldn’t be an issue even if switching didn’t work later on.

This may sound confusing — and it is — but I got it figured out and felt good about the way I handled it.

Time to Explore Freetown

With the car situation sorted, it was time to explore a bit more of Freetown. I hadn’t taken much time to do so earlier because of visa and car priorities.

Freetown sits on a peninsula. There’s really only one major road coming in — a four-lane highway — and it starts at Waterloo. From Waterloo you can go north or south. If you go south you circle the peninsula; there aren’t many east-to-west routes because hills run through the middle. If you look at a map it becomes clearer.

Lumley Beach & Aberdeen

I first went to Lumley Beach, which is close to Aberdeen in the northern part of Freetown. It was fun to ride out there and gather some first impressions. There are a few casinos in that area — easy to walk into and just as easy to walk out of — and great photo opportunities.

The beaches vary in upkeep. Some stretches were not well kept, but Lumley Beach itself was tidy. According to someone I spoke with, Lumley is the prettiest beach in all of Sierra Leone — a claim I don’t fully agree with, but I appreciated the enthusiasm.

Looping the Peninsula

I spent the rest of the day driving around the whole peninsula and took some beautiful pictures along the way. The scenery was worth the time.

River No. 2 Beach

I couldn’t resist a stop at River No. 2 Beach. To reach the beach you have to pay a small fee to access the final road — the community says it’s for maintenance. Beyond that gate is an absolutely amazing stretch of sand, lots of seating, a hotel, and rustic Sierra Leone style that I really enjoyed.

Picking up an Aspiring Driver

On the way back I picked up an 18-year-old who said he wanted to be a driver. He’d been visiting his aunt and needed to get back to Waterloo. He offered to pay for the ride, but since I was going there anyway I declined. Everyone was happy.