February 9th, Bahir Dar Ethiopia.

support trucks at sunrise, sudan

Internet is few and far betwen through Sudan and Ethiopia, I have spent 40 minutes over the last 2 days trying to get onto blogger to write anything, its sad that I have such an urge to be in contact in this way, but it also a wake up call to how dependant I have become on computers and internet in the space of I guess 10 years. Traveling through here would be Jonny's worst nightmare, the cafe's i have tried over the last days are still on dial up and it was worse than I ever remember it having been 'back in the day' im guessing this has something to do with how much bandwidth websites use now presuming that nobody really uses dial up anymore. Anyway I digress...

Another twist on the fight for water story was revealed to me by one of the Sudanese guys that was riding with us, turns out his home town of Wada Halfa was flooded and remains beneath Lake Nasser still today, he was pretty mad about this as apparantly the Sudanese president at the time was invited to Eygypt where they got him drunk and he signed the papers to allow the damn to be built for $15,000. Dont know if this is total truth but makes for an interesting story. He also spent much of that mornings ride talking about his balls so I dont know what to take away from the whole thing.

The end of Sudan and entry into Ethipia, Sudan as I have said before was incredible but riding flat roads for so long was becoming boring and the heat was becoming unbearable. Riding 140+kms a day in 40+ degrees gets to you eventually, the hotest riding day was 44.3 degrees i ended this day by taking a wash in a cow trough surrounded by cows and amused shepherds. The water was a milky colour and far from clean but cows and shepherds alike drank from it, they had no problem with me using it to wash. One of the shepherds drank alongside me while I stuck my sweaty salt encrusted head in it, he was using it to wash down the fresh milk that was spread all over his face like a kid with chocolate.

I have been looking forward to getting into the mountains and the pain that goes with them. Being in possesion of alcohol in Sudan is also punishable by 40 lashes so the promised beer in Ethiopia was eagerly awaited.(though through a few sneaky manouveres im owed a hundred or so lashes by the Sudanese). What I didnt expect was to get hammered in immigration on the border. No lies I handed in my passport bought a beer and sat down to wait for them to fill out the journal. With 60 of us crossing at the same time this wasn't going to be a quick porcess so I bought a few more (they cost less than $1 each so it was easier to buy a round than to get change.) I should add at this point that the immigration building is a mud hut, the border is an unmaned bridge and people where thirsty.



this is the line up for immigration in ethiopia, the door in the backgound is the office

About 8 beers later i stumbled from the immigration hut across the road to the campground, a dirt bowl full of animal bones and human feaces. Border towns are never going o be the most pleasant place to visit. This is followed by a visit to the towns brothel as this is the only place to shower. Welcome to Ethiopia

If you had told me before I left I would be washing in cow trough's swimming in the Nile, sleeping surrounded by bones and human shit and showering in brothels I would have told you a different story, incredible what you do when you have no choice.

First days riding in Ethipia was fairly low key, off road finally some climbs but nothing too challenging, the terrain litterally changed over the border, much more vegetation, a bit more green, and generally more of what you expect africa to be like, I was riding sweep in the morning so the kids knew i was coming by the time I got there, a few of the villages I had a posse of 40 or so chasing me through shoulting youyouyouoyouyou or moneymoneymoneymoney while avoiding cow herds and goats and waving to the elders that all waved and greeted you in some way was great fun. i tried filming it with my camera but its a bit too shakey to bother putting up and it almost ended with my face on the gravel at one point. Lesson learnt.

Next day and some proper climbs, 109km day but some monster climbs involved high point was 2400m and we have been since sleeping at between 1800m and 2100m this was also my first encounter with the rock throwing we had been told to expect. and im not lying when I say rocks, these are not stones, the little fuckers are clever enough to take the high ground and pelt you with things bigger than apples. I stopped to chase a few and gave a couple of women a hard time who where watching it all, they motioned for me to throw rocks back at which point I relaised that in all honesty I think i'd be lucky to throw a rock as far and with as much accuracy as these kids. If there was rock throwing as an Olympic sport the Ethipinas would have it dialed.

I have since learnt that it is just the Shepherd kids that can do this as they throw rocks to steer the herds, and its only when your out in the fileds that they get you. It is also worth noting that its a way of life here, when an adult sees you coming he starts pelting rocks at the kids to get them out of the way. In each country we go through we have a couple of native guys who know the land route and ways of making life easier and these guys will grab the kids and give them a beating for any reason, this seems totally acceptable to them and is accepted by the kids and anyone else who witnesses it as normal.

It has to be said that most of them are cool, they are obviously curious when we come cruising through town, i figure we are the equivalent of 60 ethiopians cruising through whistler in snow on camels, you'd want to have a look and see what's going on. We have perimeter ropes around some of the camps and especially the lunch trucks, they respect the perimeter and stand at the edge staring 10-20 deep at times. If you walk toward them most of the time they back off like your going to start throwing punches. I was fixing a flat at one point and was surrounded by them to the point of there being hardly any light when the new tube I put in blew as well with a loud hissing sound, they where falling over each other to get away....good times.

the photo below is the street leaving from camp on the first morning, you kinda get the idea what we ride through at times

February 15th, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A few more days have passed, I was thinking about what I have to write about today while i was crusing up one of the climbs yesterday and thought I didnt have much to tell you about, then realised I was somewhere around 3100 metres above sea level riding a 100km stage in the hills surrounded by some incredible rolling countryside, this was followed by leading a 60 rider convey through the capitol of Ethiopia at 30kph so i guess a normal day here is a little different to home right now.

Have had some pretty impressive climbs over the last few days, we dropped into the Blue Nile Gorge, similar to the Grand Canyon in appearance, 1800m descent cross a bridge then 1800m climb out the other side, this was the first mountain time trial from the bridge straight up. I have been ill for a few days now with some ethiopian stomach and wasnt feeling my best but hit it as hard as I could and crossed the line after 1hr 44 minutes. I suffered like I havent in a long time, that was 1hr 44 minutes solid climbing in a gear that I could only just turn, I must have tried to change into a lower gear about 50 times despite knowing your in your lowest already I had to check again just incase the gear fairy has popped another one in there for me. Even the little fuckers at the side of the road left you alone on this hill, they looked at you and knew what was going on and must have had sympathy for a change.

Through each country we have had a selection of local riders join us, they are normally pretty strong and ride some interesting bikes, whatever they have been given is kinda the rule of thumb. Hanging out with the Ethiopians has been some of the most fun so far. Addis, one of the guys has transleted some of the things that have been said as we pass by, the one I like most is two kids looking at him as we rode through a town saying 'he must be their slave.' I was talking to one of them the other night who had a sheep tied to a tree by him, the sheep had a bit of charecter and I was rubbing it behind the ears, the rider asked if I wanted to join them a bit after dinner for a 'grill' ive been in bed pretty early so declined, didint realise till morning that the sheep I was rubbing behind the ears was the 'grill'.

Svend, one of the Canadians, gets help putting up his tent by a couple of Ethiopians with AK 47's

Kenya is looming, as much as it sounds like Ethipoia is a nightmare, it is a place I will return to, the people in general are very helpful, kids are in your face but it seems to be thought that this is a biproduct of mismanaged aid in the 80's and misguided tourists more recently. Living here is cheap, a beer is less than a dollar and a good capucino (the Coffee is some of the best i've had in my life) is around 25 cents. Juice bars are eveywhere with a pint of fresh mango, avacado and pasion fruit coming in at around 60 cents. Like Sudan you are a spectacle as a tourist and can expect to be treated as such. The landscape is stunning and far from the sand, mud and starving kids images that we are left with from the 80's, the one thing that does piss me off though is all the kids support Arsenal or Manchester United....muppets.

Looks like we might be getting some time off around Arusha, Tanzania to go do the safari thing, if anyone has any contacts please let me know, will be booking something when I get there and would like to avoid the hassle of trying to find out what you should really pay as opposed to what they will try and get from you.