The flight to Lungi Airport was very straightforward. Even getting through the scrum of people wanting to ‘help’ us the other side of customs was easy too! Reuben and Francis were their to meet us and whisked us and our luggage into the car and off we drove to Tagrin where we were to catch the ferry. The ferry was there too, ready and waiting for us, but…
…a large container lorry had decided to reverse off the ferry and on to the ramp. The angles make a V-shape, and the container had got grounded half way across. There was no way it was going anywhere. Eventually the other ferry was sent across from Freetown. That landed just fine, and then simnply sat there doing nothing. Reuben came into his own then, and went off to sort them out. And so it was that we arrived at 4pm at the hotel instead of midnight, to get 2 1/2 hours sleep before today began. A perfect introduction to Sierra Leone for Tim!
Today has been a long day, with much to reflect on. We visited Elder Clinton Jackson’s family to bring our condolences, before heading to Lumley Church. From there to the Milton Margai School for the blind – a fantastic place! Next stop Jui church and finally the Youth Conference Singer Fest at Hastings. Here I was to discover that I was due to deliver a sermon some 5 minutes before being asked to stand up and speak! I’ll try and post properly tomorrow, but now I’m ready for some sleep before another early start…
Just downing a final cup of coffee before Tim arrives and we head over to Heathrow! Next time you hear from us, all being well, we should be there! Not encouraging gambling, but anyone want to bet on how long it takes us to get from the airport to Freetown via the ferry? Any advance on 6 hours?!
It just hit me that in a weeks time we will have already checked in at Heathrow and be passing a couple of hours in the departure area… Suddenly it feels like there is an awful lot to do in the time that is left!
Had an email from Reuben yesterday with an updated itinerary. I think we have agreed to travel from Lungi to Freetown on the ferry. It has also been arranged that Francis who helps the Friends of Sierra Leone with their building projects will be our driver when needed. It will be good to finally meet him. I shall try and post the updated itinerary later.
For some reason I don’t know, and can only speculate, the airport is 8 miles north of Freetown, the capital, across the river. There are three main choices for getting from one to the other, the ferry, the hovercraft and the helicopter. We’re currently trying to decide which. The ferry is slowest but cheapest by far. The helicopter and hovercraft are much faster, but cost a lot more. All three have various horror stories connected to them…
The first time I came to Sierra Leone we chose the ferry. It took me 6 hours to fly from Gatwick to Lungi Airport, and then 6 1/2 hours to travel the remaining 8 miles! One ferry had broken down and the next never arrived…
