The Journey

I simply have to realise that I am not good as a passenger.

Planes I can just about deal with. But being driven is not good for my nerves. And here on this trip I am being driven around a lot.

The trip organiser feels this is the right thing to do. And he's right.

We set off from Kumasi and the 250 odd kilometres took something like five and a half hours.

The problems were speed bumps to prevent people zooming through villages. A natural precaution you would say but this is the main Kumasi to Accra road. The major artery has speed bumps.

Then there was the bit where the road was actually nothing more than stones and gravel.

Do I not like that as one hapless England football manager once said.

What I do like is the spirit of commerce. Because the traffic often comes to a grinding halt due to police checks and the occasional toll, there are hordes of women selling fruits and other goodies far too exotic for my weak constitution.

On the way to Sekondi on Tuesday we were at such a toll booth and we bought some bananas. They were very good and served as lunch as we just about arrived well in advance for the Nigeria versus Cote D'Ivoire showdown at 5pm.

The mistake was not buying food outside the stadium because inside it was just a desert.

Which more or less described the place where we stayed that evening in Takoradi. But I was a trooper and I adapted to such an extent that I was in Captain Hook's restaurant eating barracuda.

I'll have to review my diary for the trip to Kumasi from Takoradi. I recall seeing small children walking along the side of the road as cars roared past.

The Kumasi Accra trek is giving me nightmares.

And I haven't even gone to sleep.