taxi came to pick us up and took us to the place where we started the quad biking. We met our guide and were given a safety talk before we were let loose on the bikes.

After our talk we climbed on the bikes and had to drive them round in a figure of 8, so our guide could see how competent we were. Well I just couldn’t get the hang of it, I was all over the place and found it really difficult to steer. I don’t think our guide had much confidence in my abilities either as he told me that I had to drive behind him as I would be setting the pace - talk about putting pressure on you, I wanted to go at the back and so that the others could razz off, but no this wasn’t allowed and I had to go second. I knew that I would get the hang of it eventually but just hoped I didn’t go too slow for either Rob or Mike.

After a bit of a shaky start going down an incredibly bumpy dirt road, I started to feel a bit more confident once we got on the straight and flat bit. We drove down this flat dirt road for a good 15 minutes before pulling up at the local shop for an ice cream. I managed to park it Ok but had a bit of a wrestle getting the helmet and goggles off! We then headed into the shop, which like all shops in poorer countries was well stocked with shoe polish! Something which we had mentioned before, but it never ceases to amaze me why people in these parts of the world are so obsessed with having clean shoes! Unfortunately though the shop’s freezer was broken so we couldn’t have an ice cream, so had to settle for a cold drink instead. Anyway, after our refreshing drink, it was time to climb back on the bikes and head off once more.

I was feeling a lot more confident by this point and was getting