A solo cycling trip in the tropics during the rainy season might not be everybody's cup of tea.  But it opened doors to a deeper insight into real-life Senegal and Gambia.  Armed with a rabid dog-scaring device and basic notions of the Wolof language, the author set out to explore the homeland of immigrant friends and to investigate why they risked everything on frail wooden pirogues on the ocean to seek a new life in Europe.  But she discovered so much more.

Teranga, the African welcome, a concept of hospitality which constitutes an unwritten code of honour in this corner of the continent, never failed to ease the aching muscles of a tired cyclist, and inspired admiration and affection for the region and its people.  The question arises: why is the 'developed' world so condescending towards Africa when Africa has so much to teach us, if only we would listen?  Lessons of dignity, respect, sharing and many other 'old-fashioned' values which we have lost or no longer make time for as well as an exuberant outpouring of gratitude for the gift of life. 

'The Teranga Road' is the account of the author's first foray into West Africa.  Other books in the series are:
'The Village On The Edge Of The World', her experience of living in a traditional Gambian village, and
'Between The River And The Sea,' in which she sets out once more with the bicycle to the little-visited interior of the Gambia and Senegal.