Nick Hewer: Countdown to Freetown Page #5

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Something about

an African morning, eh?

Yes. Beautiful!

We hear the c*cks crowing,

kids going to school... Whoops.

You ready?

Yeah, I'm ready.

Let's go.

The issue now is, we had to stop here

last night because the road was bad.

Yes.

So we didn't make our planned...

Whoa! Our planned distance.

Now, careful of this one. Whoa!

Even with the trailer raised,

Guinean roads still force

a painfully slow pace.

It's a fine balance between thinking,

"Whoa, this is fun,"

then you've got the dread of doing

some serious damage to something.

And you want to be

somewhere in the middle.

There's nothing worse than

being in the middle of nowhere

with a cracked sump.

Nick hits tarmac

with over 400 miles to go,

increasing speed

to make up lost time.

I'm hurtling through Africa

without stopping.

Not doing anything!

I haven't spoken to anybody!

It's the bloody Paris-Dakar Rally,

this is, with a trailer!

Nick wants to make sure

they hit Freetown the next day.

I don't know where we are.

A dawn start,

and the last 300 miles.

Unknown to Nick,

a bent axle has shred a tyre.

Let's have a look.

It's gone right through the metal.

Is there someone here

that can change a tyre?

Yes, in Boffa.

That's where we'll go.

No problem.

Every day on the road

means less time in Freetown

to turn James into a businessman.

If we had a machine, this would be

done in seconds, wouldn't it?

And also, all of them would come away

with all their toes. Blimey.

Who wants a boiled egg?

Vouz avez le gasole?

Hold on, let me smell this.

Where has this come from?

Whenever guys are in a hurry

to sell you something

and then clear off,

you know you've got a problem.

It's like Coca-Cola.

It's horrible.

The engine's all right -

pinks a bit, but it goes. It's fine.

After nearly 5,000 miles

and a gruelling last few days,

Nick finally enters Sierra Leone.

Well, we're in.

It should be a moment to celebrate,

but an exhausted Nick knows

there's over 100 miles

still to drive before Freetown.

What do I know about Freetown?

I spend, I don't know,

three or four days there.

All I know is that

everybody's sawing wood by hand

and anybody who can

do it faster and cheaply

must be an attractive sort of

proposition - simple as that.

The last leg passes close

to where James was raised -

areas that were devastated by

Sierra Leone's ten-year civil war.

Fuelled by the country's diamonds,

the population were exposed

to unimaginably brutal acts,

leaving thousands of children

traumatised and orphaned.

The war ended in 2002.

Ever since, kids have been

pouring into Freetown.

Nick hopes James will

help many with his saw.

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