Slept well at my campsite along the river. The only issue was cows wandering down to the river to drink. They were very polite, walking calmly, but made enough noise to wake me up a couple times.

Had to fix a flat this morning on my front tire. This one was not a snakebite, found a piece of wire in the inside of my tire. Thinking more and more about tubeless. Enjoyed a breakfast of bread and sardines, and a couple Nescafés. Very nice morning but didn’t get moving until about 10.

The road gets worse almost immediately and starts climbing more significantly. There is a small military post of some kind in the town right across the river from my campsite. They don’t even notice me until I’m mostly past, and yell, halfheartedly for me to stop. But I don’t have time and wave and smile and keep riding… slowly up a steep hill.

I pass through surprisingly few villages today. I am getting into some of the more remote and barren parts of the Futa Jallon. It will mostly be like this for the rest of the way back to Senegal.

It’s very slow going all day today. The road is… let’s just say I forgot roads could be this bad, it’s been weeks since I was in the Futa Jallon.

My goal is to get back to Dar Salaam by the 29th, so I can spend the last day of Ramadan in village. It will be an effort to make it back to in time, but I am really enjoying the challenge.

As dusk falls I arrive in Tougue, which is a prefecture and a decent sized spot, several thousand. I find a small group of men gathered around a woman who’s smoking meat and fish. I say hi and they all greet me warmly. I ask if there is a hotel or something in Tougue. Thus begins a spirited discussion if such a thing exists here. Turns out these men are mostly military, originally from other parts of Guinea and posted here. After a while one of them just says, “why don’t you stay with me, we have a room.” I verify that I can charge my phone, and say it sounds good. Turns out this guy is from Bossou, the town right next to Mount Nimba with the Chimpanzee research station. He’s very nice and chill and his wife dishes up an excellent leaf sauce dinner.