One of the huge tankers at Ras Lanuf "NO SMOKING" is taken very seriously here.
W today it is not considered safe. Several people
advised us not to linger in Sirte, to stop only for
fuel. Our destination will be Ras Lanuf, an oil
workers compound with a hotel within its
gates.
The next morning we wake up early. Today we
will ride a long distance and pass through
Misrata and Sirte. Sirte is the city where
Gaddafi was born and where he was killed
during the revolution. There has been a lot of
fighting in that area during the war and even When all the gear is back on the bikes, we
leave early and agree to find breakfast on the
way. We follow the same busy road along the
coast as the day before. It is raining. The clouds
in the sky are pink from the dust accumulated
in the air. There is a lot of water and mud on
the road, making it even more difficult to see
the huge potholes. Our visors are covered in
brown splatters. We try to avoid most of the
bad patches on the road; getting a flat tyre
today would not be great. After about two
hours, we stop in Misrata to buy breakfast in
one of the small shops at the side of the road.
We find bread, some cheese and even freshly
made coffee. In the store, we are again
welcomed to Libya, not only by the staff but
also by other customers. The owner comes out
to greet us and gives us the coffee on the
house. When he notices we are eating our
sandwiches outside, he instructs his staff to
give us some chairs, while another one hands
us a garden hose to clean our visors. We just
keep meeting friendly people.
e take out our mattresses and
sleeping bags and make ourselves
comfortable. The guys tell me all about their
night out. They went to a coffee shop with
Youssef and one of his friends, all five of them
cramped in a little Toyota Starlet. They bought
coffee and went to a place where they sat
around with Youssef’s friends while sharing a
water pipe and some good stories. During the
evening, both Peter and Ross had received
several phone calls from our new Libyan
friends. Mo asked whether we had found
Youssef and Omar from Tripoli called to ask
whether we had arrived safely in Al Khoms.
Peter even received a call from a person from
Ajdabiya, the town we will go to in two days’
time. He introduced himself as Hakeem, a
friend of Mo’s, and announced that he would
be waiting for us. Everyone is looking after us!