Day 220
Sleeping location: New Fort View, Fort Portal, Uganda
Distance (km today/total): 88 / 14064
Estimated climb (m today/total): 1400 / 108100
Maggie’s diet: 25kg
Distance (km today/total): 88 / 14064
Estimated climb (m today/total): 1400 / 108100
Maggie’s diet: 25kg
Day in three words: More rift adventures
Today we rode an out & back recommended by Sam from Kampala, and as it was just a day ride we went out with glorious light bikes, just as nature intended. Just before we left we had the entertaining sight of dozens of soldiers running/walking up the steep hill in full uniform, plus a man with a whistle and a stick supplying “encouragement”. The first 15km was gradual climb on smooth road through green farmland and villages. Towards the end of this Rebecca decided she wasn’t feeling it and said she’d turn back shortly, so I went off solo. Suddenly a sign warning of 10km of descent appeared, but no sign of any actual descent. This mystery was solved round the corner when I popped out into a huge deep green valley - another one of the rifts that cover this bit of Africa. The road wiggled down its flank and was very fun, with loads of wide sweeping bends and some fun overtaking of slow-moving vehicles.
At the bottom the road turned to undulating hills, but light zippy Maggie made short work of the 10km to the turnoff for the Old Congo Road. This cuts through some low mountains on the way to the DRC, but has now been superseded by a bigger tarmac road which instead loops around them. My plan was to climb to the highest point then turn back towards Fort Portal. This involved 4km of zigzagging up the green slopes, on a dirt road that wasn’t too steep but was quite rocky, but again the light nimble Maggie made things easy and we were up in no time. The view down the other side was great, down another deep green valley with a distant glimpse of plains and the river that marked the border with the DRC. It was also wonderfully peaceful apart from just wind and bird noises, so I sat and admired the view whilst munching on my various pocket snacks (sadly not including eggs).
I went to turn back around but only got 100m down the slope before seeing another cyclist...a petite blonde one...why, it was Rebecca! She had got a bit more into it and decided to push on and meet me. Joyfully reunited, we went down the other side a bit, but turned back when it became clear that the (beautiful) thick green foliage meant that there would be no viewpoint for us. So we went back up, then back down, which was tremendous fun. I chucked Maggie around a bit to test the new tyres out and had a whale of a time effectively mountain biking back down to the main road. Lots of (controlled) skidding about. More joys of a light bike. Then back on the undulating road (short work once more), a rolex and some drinks munched/quaffed in a village, and back to the big descent, which from our wrong way up was now a chunky 10km/500m climb. Thankfully it wasn’t too steep, plus the light bikes helped of course, and we went up at a decent pace. Some of the kids on the way up asked for money so I kept asking them to give me a pen, which, not being Ethiopian, they didn’t understand, but it shut them up. One trio of boys followed me for a while, asking for money but also apparently shouting my name over and over. When I caught up with Rebecca I mentioned this and she burst out laughing. Turns out that when she met the kids she had pointed at me further down the road and said “Kevin”, but it backfired as they started shouting it at her, then at me when I arrived, and presumably now at every mzungu that passes by them. Fame, of sorts.
On the way back to FP we diverted to some caves/waterfalls that sounded fun. We had to get a guide but he was a nice man named Robert, who was very enthusiastic in telling us repeatedly how the stalagmites looked like penises and the stalactites looked like breasts. To emphasise this he pointed out different varieties of breast (eg cow, dog, human, princess) along the way. The caves weren’t all that, other than one mildly impressive waterfall which I had a nice shower under, but afterwards we walked to some crater lakes* which were very beautiful. Annoyingly we could have walked/cycled to them for free though. Just before sunset we climbed a very steep hill and enjoyed some incredible views of the lakes backed up by the northern end of the Rwenzori mountain range.
We cycled back into town as dusk fell, enjoying a bonkers sunset which turned half the sky candyfloss pink, then after a quick shower went to the Dutchess one last time. I finally decided to try the crocodile rib starter, which was like a very fatty cross between chicken and fish. I’m not sure I’d recommend it, but the pizza was very good once again.
*Lakes which have filled in the craters caused by volcanic eruptions - we are right on a tectonic boundary here, hence all the rifts
Today we rode an out & back recommended by Sam from Kampala, and as it was just a day ride we went out with glorious light bikes, just as nature intended. Just before we left we had the entertaining sight of dozens of soldiers running/walking up the steep hill in full uniform, plus a man with a whistle and a stick supplying “encouragement”. The first 15km was gradual climb on smooth road through green farmland and villages. Towards the end of this Rebecca decided she wasn’t feeling it and said she’d turn back shortly, so I went off solo. Suddenly a sign warning of 10km of descent appeared, but no sign of any actual descent. This mystery was solved round the corner when I popped out into a huge deep green valley - another one of the rifts that cover this bit of Africa. The road wiggled down its flank and was very fun, with loads of wide sweeping bends and some fun overtaking of slow-moving vehicles.
At the bottom the road turned to undulating hills, but light zippy Maggie made short work of the 10km to the turnoff for the Old Congo Road. This cuts through some low mountains on the way to the DRC, but has now been superseded by a bigger tarmac road which instead loops around them. My plan was to climb to the highest point then turn back towards Fort Portal. This involved 4km of zigzagging up the green slopes, on a dirt road that wasn’t too steep but was quite rocky, but again the light nimble Maggie made things easy and we were up in no time. The view down the other side was great, down another deep green valley with a distant glimpse of plains and the river that marked the border with the DRC. It was also wonderfully peaceful apart from just wind and bird noises, so I sat and admired the view whilst munching on my various pocket snacks (sadly not including eggs).
I went to turn back around but only got 100m down the slope before seeing another cyclist...a petite blonde one...why, it was Rebecca! She had got a bit more into it and decided to push on and meet me. Joyfully reunited, we went down the other side a bit, but turned back when it became clear that the (beautiful) thick green foliage meant that there would be no viewpoint for us. So we went back up, then back down, which was tremendous fun. I chucked Maggie around a bit to test the new tyres out and had a whale of a time effectively mountain biking back down to the main road. Lots of (controlled) skidding about. More joys of a light bike. Then back on the undulating road (short work once more), a rolex and some drinks munched/quaffed in a village, and back to the big descent, which from our wrong way up was now a chunky 10km/500m climb. Thankfully it wasn’t too steep, plus the light bikes helped of course, and we went up at a decent pace. Some of the kids on the way up asked for money so I kept asking them to give me a pen, which, not being Ethiopian, they didn’t understand, but it shut them up. One trio of boys followed me for a while, asking for money but also apparently shouting my name over and over. When I caught up with Rebecca I mentioned this and she burst out laughing. Turns out that when she met the kids she had pointed at me further down the road and said “Kevin”, but it backfired as they started shouting it at her, then at me when I arrived, and presumably now at every mzungu that passes by them. Fame, of sorts.
On the way back to FP we diverted to some caves/waterfalls that sounded fun. We had to get a guide but he was a nice man named Robert, who was very enthusiastic in telling us repeatedly how the stalagmites looked like penises and the stalactites looked like breasts. To emphasise this he pointed out different varieties of breast (eg cow, dog, human, princess) along the way. The caves weren’t all that, other than one mildly impressive waterfall which I had a nice shower under, but afterwards we walked to some crater lakes* which were very beautiful. Annoyingly we could have walked/cycled to them for free though. Just before sunset we climbed a very steep hill and enjoyed some incredible views of the lakes backed up by the northern end of the Rwenzori mountain range.
We cycled back into town as dusk fell, enjoying a bonkers sunset which turned half the sky candyfloss pink, then after a quick shower went to the Dutchess one last time. I finally decided to try the crocodile rib starter, which was like a very fatty cross between chicken and fish. I’m not sure I’d recommend it, but the pizza was very good once again.
*Lakes which have filled in the craters caused by volcanic eruptions - we are right on a tectonic boundary here, hence all the rifts
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