I saw it come but I did not see it go

Yesterday I was packing my bike with my kit in a pile about 10m behind me. When I turned back I saw that my tank bag was missing. It contained my camera, hence no photos, 2 mobile phones, Victorinox multi tool and a plethora of other things that I forgot to put in the police report. The couple that I had been riding with decided to go on and leave details of their location at the police station in the town we were heading for. After I eventually finished with the police I hit the road only about 30 minutes behind them.

About 2 hours down the road I have this vague recollection of a cow running diagonally across the road from left to right, me hitting it, flying through the air and then nothing. I awoke to hear an American voice saying do you speak English? This was Lacey, her and her boyfriend were overlanders who had been on the road for 2.5 years. They had arrived third on the scene after the Peruvian family who probably owned the cow and had removed my helmet. A big no no for motorcyclists involved in a crash. Another Peruvian guy had also pulled up. I was probably unconscious for 5 minutes or so. To cut a long story short the bike is at the farm of the family and will probably be stolen by the coppers who turned up. Lacey and Luis drove me all the way to Lima where a 'got my training from the back of a Corn Flake box' doctor diagnosed that I had separated my clavical from the shoulder. I could have come to that assessment from the X-ray.

I have no option to leave the bike where it is in the middle of the mountains, get a flight home tomorrow and get the NHS to look at my shoulder. I think my motorcycling days are over since from the state of the bike that has a missing front end and a lot of pannier damage I was very very very lucky. Perhaps I will convert a Mercedes van into a mobile overland home. There was no sign of the cow just a lot of fur on the road. I suspect it is in a lot of pain. Overlanders stick together one couple has offered me the spare bed in their room since there is no available room fo me.

Toodle pip until the next overland adventure.