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Libya: they call me Rahalla

25 Aug

They say it’s the ghibli, the southern wind from the Sahara, that brings the dust down to the populated areas of Libya. Wherever it comes from, it’s everywhere here – ramula. Sand, stretching as far as I can see, on either side of the lonely strip of road, with dry grey bushes and maybe a bit of the sea to be glimpsed at times to the left. It’s encroaching on all the towns and villages; between, behind, and all around every sun-baked, run-down building, and covering what used to be gravel streets. Trucks are equipped with extra-rugged tires, just so they can pull off the road or stop for gas. And this wind brings the fine dusty sand straight in my face as I painstakingly pedal across the country. (more…)

Photos: Tunisia

8 Aug

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Photos: Bikes

16 Jul

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Every photo of a bike or anything bike-related. Bikes bikes bikes – YAY BIKES! (more…)

YAY BIKES!

13 Jul

charliecat Hi! I’m Charlie, and on September 15th, 2007, I departed on a world-wide bicycle tour.

These are my stories.

There’s a lot of philosophy, adventure, and emotion on these pages; traveling by bicycle (and sailboat) has become my life.

So please take a look around, and have fun! And please let me know what you think!

Thanks!

With Love and Joy,

Charles I. Brigham IV charlie

The Bike Effect: Tunisia

13 Jul

Downtown Tunis, Tunisia.

A little cafe on Avenue Habib Bourguiba. The waiter offers me a “personal discount” on my coffee because of something I’ve come to describe as “the bike effect”: my rig looks bad ass resting next to my table, and here the travel-worn, custom-grub adventure bike is out-of-place enough to mark me as an adventurer, a traveler, not just another tourist who comes on the ferry from France for an afternoon-in-the-medina to say “I visited Tunisia!” It’s not just literally that a bike is “open to the world” – it opens the very soul of the rider, and affects the first impressions of others in a mysterious but undeniable way.

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Fear: the mind killer

12 Jul

I’m not a terrorist, and I’ve never spoken with one, so I can’t really say what they’re really thinking. But it seems to me that the whole point of terrorism is to Spread Fear. (more…)

الجزائر : ruoF keeW

7 Jul

الجزائر, al-Jazā’ir, week four

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الجزائر : eerhT keeW

30 Jun

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الجزائر, al-Jazā’ir, week three

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الجزائر : owT keeW

22 Jun

الجزائر, al-Jazā’ir, week two

I left Oran late, after meeting new friends and really new friends in town. One random Christian Berber student taught me the phrase “asabi3 alyad mokhtalifa” – “each finger of the hand is different.” Allah loves wondrous variety!
“You sure you want to leave today? It’s five pm already….” Yes, I have to leave – my psyche is already out there pedalling.
“Aren’t you worried that you don’t know anyone down the road?” No. That is comletely normal. Adventure!

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enO keeW : الجزائر

14 Jun

الجزائر, al-Jazā’ir, week one
June 7. The visa begins, but I am still in Spain, pedaling more kms than ever before, under a hotter-than-ever sun.
I reach Almeria with plenty of time to spare, and give my rig a tune-up on the rambla, amidst an angry protest against Israeli terrorism and Spanish arms manufacturing.
The ferry terminal has a little makeshift mosque. Huge groups of Arabs and a few Europeans; ninety percent take the ten o’clock for Morocco, leaving me feeling quite hard-core alone with the Algerians. The midnight boat boards at one and leaves at one thirty.

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