Linden to Lethem Part 1

All research says that the road from Linden to Lethem is broken up by a ferry crossing at km230. So we are in for a bit of jungle mud and isolation until that point. 

We were anticipating the worst so we filled our blue jerry cans with fuel as well, we have been carrying them around since Chile but they do come in handy at times. We are greeted with a very wide road initially, which made lots of space for crater sized potholes. 

Much drier than the previous picture.

The best part is they are filled with mud so it is hard to tell how deep they are until you hit one. Most are fairly shallow but there are a few that felt bottomless as it is impossible to avoid them all. It reminded me of that old joke about the cowboy up to his ears in mud commenting that it is not too bad but his horse is in really big trouble. As the pounding goes on there is a couple of quick stops to restrap the blue jerry can, once, twice, three times and we have a hole. 

Good thing is the gas is dripping onto the hot exhaust, but to fast to catch fire. We dump what we can into the gas tanks and the rest into the two 1 litre fuel bottles, then it is a creative crunch of the plastic can and strap it onto the bike with the hole to the sky. This will have to do until we burn some more fuel. We are busy dodging dirt piles, fallen trees, potholes and the occasional oncoming vehicle when we are forced to stop and deal with a second puncture, this time to the other blue gas can. I guess they were bought together and chose to die together. Once again shuffling fuel in to the gas tanks and the familiar crunch and tie method we are on our way. Almost. Brenda’s bike decides it does not want to start and after a bit of cranking the battery is to weak to spin the engine. Really...now...here...great. 


I start tearing into my luggage to get the booster cable, but before I take off the side panels and try boosting I hit the starter button one more time and it fires right up. Awesome, lets get moving again. For the most part the road was pretty good, although the 5 ton cargo truck stuck in a hole might say different, it turns out they have been there for 2 days with a broken rear differential. 

What a good section looks like.

Another jungle victim. Trailer stripped and left for dead.

A wet section, and the red clay is a bit slick.

We pass through some very small villages and the mandatory stop at the police checkpoint before arriving at the ferry. 

Checkpoint at the entrance of the Marubi Protected Forrest region. Document check/recorded.

230km and 5hours later. We are greeted by a friendly lady running a little restaurant at the ferry “terminal”, we are also told by the ferry operator that the officer at the gate wants to talk to us. We figure he wants to check documents or something because he did not ask to see anything when we passed through, instead he informs us of “how it works here”. If we want to cross we would have to pay $2000GYD, or we can wait for a vehicle to show up and cross for free with them. The ferry is a free service but this is how they reduce the costs of operation and make some money as the “fee” is not recorded. It is early enough in the day that we decide to wait for a while and see if anyone shows up. We pass the time by chatting with the restaurant lady and soon enough the fuel truck that we passed at least an hour ago rolls up. Good to go, 1pm crossing, right after the truck driver and his helper eat lunch. 

How it works here.

Our little free ferry. We have to wait for a four wheeled vehicle.

Typical cargo truck. Loaded with barrels of fuel.

One more checkpoint on the South side of the river. Passport recorded and the Police check for stamps.