Day 140 - Wed 17 Feb - 13,161km, Latoursville, Gabon

I forgot to mention that a few days ago, not for the first time in my bearded life, I was accused of being a terrorist. Only this time it wasn’t a polite enquiry from an elderly lady when out for a run in the English countryside but an accusation that I was Osama Bin Laden from a logger in a bush meat cafe. Assuring him that I was in fact a tourist too lazy to shave not a terrorist, took some convincing. Mind you Gabon couldn’t be a better place to hide with its incredibly sparse population and vast covering of inaccessible rainforest. Hearing a forest rumour in one such inaccessible region late yesterday afternoon that there was a fellow cycling terrorist a day ahead of me I made the most of cloudy conditions and an enforced early start, thanks to a tent invasion by ants, and like John Terry on the scent of an attached lady set off in hot pursuit of Osama. Taking no breaks, the hunt was on, and gradually I clawed back the distance, eventually catching the mystery man in the evening. Short, balding and cleanly shaven it was clear I wouldn’t stand to receive millions for capturing the world’s most wanted man. However, the eccentric Hans from Switzerland, a veteran tourer of Africa, does promise to be explosive company on the road ahead and I look forward to learning from his vast experience!