Discussing the greatest challenges of riding Africa,
Melanie suggests that for her it was the Ural, getting it
from A to B and making sure it was alright to continue.
“Sofia was an angel,” she laughs. “She coped with the
whole thing incredibly well.”
Melanie continues that the pair had plenty of practise
with the Ural before they’d reached Africa and had be-
come accustomed to its nuances, an example in Macedo-
nia when the bike backfired, and Sofia suggested it was
the timing. Indeed, it was!
“And that’s when my incredible foresight kicked off,”
Sofia offers a cheeky grin. Melanie suggesting that Sofia
enjoyed that process as it often meant they would stay
somewhere that offered WiFi. It was these moments that
had the potential to take a turn for the worst, should Sofia
become overwhelmed by it all.
“There was one time where we broke down in Ethi-
opia,” Melanie says. “It was really, really, really hot.
Thankfully there was only around 11 or 12 people around.
“They didn’t come too close to the bike,” she continues
explaining that it could be one of those moments where
Sofia had a meltdown. The people seemed to have an
understanding and offered what help they could.
Sofia’s challenge was the fact that she was often “tor-
mented by other kids”. The local children weren’t being
nasty towards Sofia, they were inquisitive and wanted
to know more about her. Any traveller to Africa would
recognise this, the fact that a crowd generates a crowd …
most find it overwhelming, for someone with autism it’s
an overload of the senses and the response can be dra-
matic.
“The response would often entertain the kids thor-
oughly,” Melanie suggests. “So, they would start doing it
more and more because they thought it was hilarious.
“The adults were normally quite good and they would
tell the kids off,” Melanie says it was usually quite man-
ageable yet a real challenge for Sofia as she had to be-
come more allowing of that type of behaviour, behaviours
that perhaps also taught both Melanie and Sofia some-
thing about themselves and of those around them.
“I became very sympathetic to the local people,” Mel-
anie says. “The tourists are always taking their cameras
out and photographing the people without asking. And it
started to happen to us.”
It wasn’t all unpleasant, often offering opportunities to
interact with the local people in ways that many wouldn’t.
Permission was asked and photographs, and stories, were
traded. It’s moments like these that all will remember.
It’s clear there’s a unique bond between these two, in
their unique way the banter flows easily and laughs are
plentiful, as the stories of Africa and future plans are told.
Cattle grids, sidestands, expert falls, we laugh at all and
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