Distance: 78.2 km
Ride time: 5:07:37
Average: 15.3 km/h
Max speed: 47.5 km/h
Total: 52314 km
Another climbing day in the mountainous landscape of northern Ethiopia. The roads around here are not super steep, but the climbs long and steady. It all climaxed at 3100 metres of altitude which is the highest I have been in Africa. From here it’s apparently pretty much downhill until the Mediterranean sea.
A typical lunch consisting of injera flat bread and eggs – usually with a fair amount of chili mixed in. They like their food spicy around here. Even so I find the Ethiopian food very delicious – probably the best in Africa.
It got pretty cold above 3000 m, down to about 10 degrees, and I was wearing all my clothes. If you come to Ethiopia and expect sweltering heat you might be in for a bit of a surprise. Much of the country is above 2000 m – don’t forget to bring your jacket!
I arrived in the exotic sounding town of Gebre Guracha just before sunset and a huge thunder storm. I’m glad I was not sleeping somewhere in my tent today. Instead, with the thunder storm passing over, I went down to the restaurant of my cheap hotel and watched a British football match together with the locals. The electricty came and went, but nothing wrong with the football atmosphere!
Tomorrow there will be even more climbing as I’m crossing the Blue Nile which runs through Ethiopia in a 1000 m deep valley.
