I wrote an article on this years ago with the same title, but I cannot seem to find it online.

Anyway, I headed out today to do 75km on a well-traveled local route, but then, 5km from my house, I saw a road I had never noticed before, on the right, and decided to see where it went.

Didn’t check the computer or maps on my just went – and it was beautiful, about 5km of car-free tarmac with jungle all around. Then suddenly it came to an end, but I noticed a dirt path to the left.

‘Right, let’s see where this goes’ I thought. 200 meters in and I had to dismount and carry the bike, though there was a visible trail. After about 1.5k of bush trekking, the path just disappeared. I got on Google maps and amazingly, the map had this overgrown single trail as a road, leading to the local university’s accommodation blocks.

Anyway, after a fight with some rather large palms, I finally got out. Loved it – and this is that ‘art of getting lost’ in the title. These days we all map our drives and our rides out, and if even slightly ‘lost’ we whip the phone out and get back on track. Yet there is something enticing to me in just letting go, wandering down a country lane or trail just for the fun of it.

Isn’t it a but tiring, with everything being so easy, simple, shallow.

And, by the way, this is kinda how we run our tour company, KOJO Collective. It’s all about adventure, and sometimes we do get lost…

Long may that continue!