Day 131
Sleeping location: Romadi Hotel, Aksum, Ethiopia
Distance (km today/total): 65 / 10235
Estimated climb (m today/total): 800 / 66300
Red balloons: 99
Distance (km today/total): 65 / 10235
Estimated climb (m today/total): 800 / 66300
Red balloons: 99
Day in three words: Hills are alive
The hotel breakfast was an omelette sandwich, which made a change from injera for once, but bizarrely didn’t include coffee. We left them setting up the ceremony and went out to buy some snacks, then came back to find that the ceremony was still in its early stages. At this point Samuel from yesterday showed up and made things happen, then we sat with him and had coffee. He told us a bit about his life, which was slightly garbled but sounded quite remarkable. His father was a Derg* soldier who he never met, which suggests he might have been the result of a rape. His early life wasn’t fun and he ran away from home when he was about 8, to Gondar, 300km away. Here he was homeless and hooked on weed and khat, before a Dutch nun found him and put him in an orphanage. Now she sponsors him and he has a job and a stable life. He seemed like a lovely man despite his crazy childhood.
We rode out of Shire, which seemed to be most notable for a nice old church and a giant statue of a man with a retro mobile phone. After this the cycling became really nice. As we’re high up it isn’t too hot and the landscape is all lush grass and trees, which is very well received after two months of desert and scrubland. We rode across a plain with hills to our left and views of the distant, huge, Simian Mountains to the right. After 20km we climbed up and over the hills, which gave us amazing views of the plateau dropping off into a rift and then rising into huge mountains. We stopped here for an avocado (they have avocados here!) sandwich break and enjoyed being able to sit in the sun without frying. The road then picked its way through beautiful rugged green hills, or maybe mountains as they rise well above 2000m. There was lots of climbing so I put on an energetic playlist and was rewarded with Inspector Norse on one climb and 99 Luftballoons on another, both of which caused me to aggressively funk my way up the hills.
This being Ethiopia there was a lot of livestock wandering about, often in strange configurations like two cows, three sheep and a dog. Many of the cows were seemingly being imprisoned in big circles of straw and presumably have to eat their way out before they can wander around with their dog friends again. We stopped for lunch at 2260m, which is the highest point of the trip so far. Whilst we were eating a sheep appeared and started eating the pea plants that Rebecca had bought from some kids (you can eat the peas, they are pretty tasty) and stashed on her bike. She had to run and rescue it, but later another sheep appeared and tried to eat the bit of the bike where the plant had been; thankfully the cafe lady was on hand to chase it away this time.
The last 20km into Aksum was mostly downhill but made less fun by a nagging headwind. We quickly found a reasonable hotel, although the hot water threatened to work but never actually did. We had dinner there as there was an English menu but it quickly turned into chaos. We received the wrong dish but didn't realise and started eating it. When we did realise Rebecca mentioned it to the waiter, who took this to mean we also wanted the correct dish, so we got this on top of our three existing main courses**. This was clearly way too much food so we said that we didn’t need it, but this was not an option and eventually we had to take the extra meal to our room, sandwiched between two plates, having paid for it after being guilt tripped by the smarmy waiter. The whole thing was like Fawlty Towers with an edge.
As an aside, we had been dreading Ethiopia due to the terrible stories of stone-throwing and kid aggro, but so far it has been a delight. There’s great scenery and cycling, people are mostly nice to us, and the mass of attention we always attract is almost entirely benign or friendly. Maybe it will get worse, but so far our fears are totally unjustified and we’re really enjoying ourselves.
*Marxist junta that ruled Ethiopia between 1974 and 1987
**We ordered a pile of spaghetti as a side, IT’S FINE we’re cycling loads and it’s really hilly
The hotel breakfast was an omelette sandwich, which made a change from injera for once, but bizarrely didn’t include coffee. We left them setting up the ceremony and went out to buy some snacks, then came back to find that the ceremony was still in its early stages. At this point Samuel from yesterday showed up and made things happen, then we sat with him and had coffee. He told us a bit about his life, which was slightly garbled but sounded quite remarkable. His father was a Derg* soldier who he never met, which suggests he might have been the result of a rape. His early life wasn’t fun and he ran away from home when he was about 8, to Gondar, 300km away. Here he was homeless and hooked on weed and khat, before a Dutch nun found him and put him in an orphanage. Now she sponsors him and he has a job and a stable life. He seemed like a lovely man despite his crazy childhood.
We rode out of Shire, which seemed to be most notable for a nice old church and a giant statue of a man with a retro mobile phone. After this the cycling became really nice. As we’re high up it isn’t too hot and the landscape is all lush grass and trees, which is very well received after two months of desert and scrubland. We rode across a plain with hills to our left and views of the distant, huge, Simian Mountains to the right. After 20km we climbed up and over the hills, which gave us amazing views of the plateau dropping off into a rift and then rising into huge mountains. We stopped here for an avocado (they have avocados here!) sandwich break and enjoyed being able to sit in the sun without frying. The road then picked its way through beautiful rugged green hills, or maybe mountains as they rise well above 2000m. There was lots of climbing so I put on an energetic playlist and was rewarded with Inspector Norse on one climb and 99 Luftballoons on another, both of which caused me to aggressively funk my way up the hills.
This being Ethiopia there was a lot of livestock wandering about, often in strange configurations like two cows, three sheep and a dog. Many of the cows were seemingly being imprisoned in big circles of straw and presumably have to eat their way out before they can wander around with their dog friends again. We stopped for lunch at 2260m, which is the highest point of the trip so far. Whilst we were eating a sheep appeared and started eating the pea plants that Rebecca had bought from some kids (you can eat the peas, they are pretty tasty) and stashed on her bike. She had to run and rescue it, but later another sheep appeared and tried to eat the bit of the bike where the plant had been; thankfully the cafe lady was on hand to chase it away this time.
The last 20km into Aksum was mostly downhill but made less fun by a nagging headwind. We quickly found a reasonable hotel, although the hot water threatened to work but never actually did. We had dinner there as there was an English menu but it quickly turned into chaos. We received the wrong dish but didn't realise and started eating it. When we did realise Rebecca mentioned it to the waiter, who took this to mean we also wanted the correct dish, so we got this on top of our three existing main courses**. This was clearly way too much food so we said that we didn’t need it, but this was not an option and eventually we had to take the extra meal to our room, sandwiched between two plates, having paid for it after being guilt tripped by the smarmy waiter. The whole thing was like Fawlty Towers with an edge.
As an aside, we had been dreading Ethiopia due to the terrible stories of stone-throwing and kid aggro, but so far it has been a delight. There’s great scenery and cycling, people are mostly nice to us, and the mass of attention we always attract is almost entirely benign or friendly. Maybe it will get worse, but so far our fears are totally unjustified and we’re really enjoying ourselves.
*Marxist junta that ruled Ethiopia between 1974 and 1987
**We ordered a pile of spaghetti as a side, IT’S FINE we’re cycling loads and it’s really hilly
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