Meeting Lyndon Poskitt in Ethiopia. EP 55

How's my hair? Excellent. So at the moment I'm heading to Kusum to meet someone super-duper awesome because he's here in Ethiopia at the same time we're just traveling opposite directions. Lyndon, are you ready? Are you ready to say hello to my followers? Yeah, I'm always ready with the camera, you know that. So, where are you traveling from now? Traveling from Lalibela heading north and here we are in Aksum and from here I'm going north and you're going south. Yes, you're gonna just hammer through Sudan, good luck with that, you know it's like 40-50 degrees there at the moment. Yeah, well I'm here to get some tips from you, you know, just being through there. Give me all the advice. And then, after you finish Africa, are you finishing it in Egypt? Yeah, probably Egypt or Israel, not decided yet and then a ferry-stroke boat across to Italy and then Italy back home. Right, so what's next? End of the trip when you get home? New projects already in the pipeline, I don't want to say too much. Okay, cool. How are you generally feeling after five years being on the road? I'm ready to get home, I still enjoy it though, I mean it's good fun, I mean today's riding was just amazing. Five years on the road, I'm ready to be done with it and most importantly I'm excited to finish the whole journey. Your big look. Plan I had of going around the world and racing on every continent, that's what I was set out to do and to get home and finish that. The project won't stop, there's gonna be other things but to finish the big round the world and race on every continent, that's what I'm excited about. That's awesome, I'm so glad to meet you, finally, you know, I've been following you for a long time, love your videos. I think you're gonna share a lot of stories with me. Thank you, you're a legend. Okay, say hi to my followers again. Hello everyone. Thank you. So yeah, so we're going to eat something. Lyndon, you've been in the country for what, two weeks now? Yeah, just last time, yeah. Two weeks, okay. I only had one dish in this country, so you're gonna pick what we should eat. The food is really nice, so we're gonna try and find some good food. And cold beer? I don't drink beer, so. What? Sorry. He doesn't drink beer, oh my god. I might try a little bit. You don't drink alcohol at all? Not much, no. Okay, no, he can still be my friend, that's okay. I wanted to ask you, Lyndon, about the Dakar. How many times have you completed? Completed three times, started three times. How did you finance yourself there? Dakar 2013 was a combination of remortgaging, cashing things in, selling t-shirts and clothing and things like that to raise the funds to be able to do it. Got a lot of help from sponsors, things like oils, lubricants, tires, things like that. A lot of things that cost to try and reduce the cost. How much money you need to have to raise Dakar? 2013 Dakar cost me, including getting a second hand bike, about £100,000. Everything included. And that was with a team. And then the next one I did was 2017. And I financed that through a program where I basically, I was going to make a video about it. So I told the world I was going to make a video about it. And to get people to buy in and buy t-shirts and buy into the project and buy jackets. And we got these special jackets made. And basically buying something, but in turn you're contributing to build the budget to do the video which I wanted to make from Dakar 2017. Underestimated it took me a year, with the help of many people, to make the video. It turned out really great. But in the back of my mind, the reason I went back to 2018 Dakar, was because I truly believed that I could do a better job of the media. And I wanted to do a daily video series. So that's what we did in 2018. And that was funded by, so the race itself was funded by myself and my sponsors. So for me to be at the race, doing the race, was funded by sponsors and myself. And then the actual media project was a separate project and that was funded wholly by a Kickstarter project. So that was 650 people contributing various amounts to make it possible. How was it? You regret nothing? No, nothing. But don't get me wrong, it was all hard work. Just from the beginning, it's non-stop, it's a full-time thing. Raising money is difficult, and getting to the Dakar, the hardest thing is getting to the start line. The race is actually, you might think that's really hard, but for somebody who knows how to ride a bike and can enjoy riding a bike in those conditions, the hardest thing is getting to the start line, and all the projects and fundraising to make it to the start. Are you going to do it again? I knew that question was coming. There's no plan to do it again, but I'll never say never. Yeah, never say never. Sweet, thank you. So you enjoy your water now, and I'm going to enjoy my beer. Cheers! And now we're going to have a beautiful dish. So what is it? What are we eating? Bayonet. Bayonetti. Yeah, that's the one. Basically we've got, this is all like, something. This is the monument, I think the tree itself is a monument. And then if you follow this road, which is, yeah, that one there, everything else should be on the left-hand side. For today, to get fuel, which is super hard in Ethiopia, and we have our guide, what's your name, sorry? Okay. What's your name? Yarit. Yarit? Yarit. Thank you. Yarit is coming with us on a bike, on Lyndon's bike. It's not often I get to use these rear foot pegs on my bike, okay? Okay. So treat them with respect, okay? Good man. Come on. Okay. Lucky man. Not many people have been on bikes. No, and so many would like to ride with you, Lyndon, so. You okay? You all in? Hold on tight, he's fast! Is that okay for wheelie? Yeah. He only rides with the front wheel up! Cross, people. What? Cross, road. So height, colour. Cross, person. Do you know what he's saying? Usually they're asking how big the engine is. Oh, how big? 800. Yeah. Ginga, I like it when you're here, because you get all the attraction. I'm just chilling here, nobody's bothering me. This is what happens, eh? None of them have got gas. That's why I just said, you better just get in it from the black market. You just need to find someone to give you it. So we've been cruising for a while now around town, have you found anything? Yeah, they've got it, but it's 40 per litre. But it's okay, and they've got loads. They're not allowed to sell it legally, so you have to go right up to the door, so that people won't see it. You need to hide it. Even though people can still see. Secret service station. Secret service station, yeah. Ethiopian too. It was hot. So good, professional. I like your work. So we managed to find fuel at the black market. Here, at this house. Pretty much the price is double for what it is, but we don't have a choice. All the petrol stations don't have fuel today. And we both want to leave tomorrow early morning, so that's it. Always fill up yourself. I don't want it spilling all over the bike. Oh yeah, because it's quite hard access. You have to do it from the... Look, I cleaned the bike for you, especially for your sticker, see? Oh, a little bit. It's alright. Not even, that's alright. That will work, I think. Oh, that's good enough. How's that? Oh, perfect. Now we can go faster. Thank you. Hotel? We want to go see the King's Palace, he says. You want to? No, we're good, thank you. Thank you so much. I offered him, he said no. Can we give you some money? Some tip? I offered, he said no. 60, is that right? Okay, thank you. Thank you very much for your time. I am such a bad influence. Lyndon's drinking! Cheers, mate. Cheers. Finally, we're together. How's my hair? Good. Good morning! So, we're back to the hotel. I think you can call it the main square of the city. Yeah, maybe. Anyway, the tourist attraction here in Exxon. To look at, what are they? Obelisks. From which year, Lyndon? Fourth century A.D. And why did they do that? They are believed to be from mass burial grounds. So, under here there's a lot of people buried. There you go. So, now we're going to have a little picture together. Because we're on the bikes. And we'll see what's going to happen. Because we're going to try to actually get on bikes. So, yeah. Okay, let's do it. This is Lyndon's setup. And this is my little setup. Unfortunately, because my tripod got stolen yesterday. In the fourth century, fourth A.D. People believe that... Here we go. Three, two, one, jump. How long have you been going? Two years. Two years now on the road. On Chili, your BMW. 800, yeah? This is Chili, yeah. Yeah, this is Chili. And what's your plan from here? Well, I'm planning to get to South Africa by the end of the year. And then I'll make a call. I'm not sure. Maybe I'll do the west coast of Africa throughout next year. Or, if I get malaria five times and I get sick often, I'll ship my bike to South America. So, I still have Americas to go. So, I'm not even halfway. Okay, not even halfway. But, you know, it took you five years. It took me five years to get all around every continent. And I'm on the finishing leg, really, to get home. Hey, Lyndon, what did you order? I ordered a tea and I thought the teabag had already been in it. I thought you already have. The teabag's separate. So, that's just the color of the water. Yeah. Yum. Drink it. Don't be a pussy. It's got... Herbs? Herbs. Right, right, okay. You'll be alright. Hopefully, it's boiled. How is it? It's like tea now. I put more teabags into the brown water. Does it taste like tea? Yeah, well, kind of. That's good. I do with some milk in it. But, they don't do milk here. No, you probably don't want to try that milk anyway. So, our last meal together. We... From now on, we're gonna go different, opposite ways. We ordered some breakfast. Lyndon, what did you order? Deluxe. And omelette. Whatever that is. Don't ask what deluxe is. Yeah. You wanna see Lyndon's bike in details? There you go. That's it.