Holistic Systems

I’m hearing reports that internet bandwidth is extremely slow throughout most of Africa, to the degree that it is difficult to upload images, let alone video. I’ll still be recording video throughout the trip but it may be (very) difficult to post it to the web.

In a few hours, we will be leaving Cairo and cycling 128Km south to our first evening camp. Breakfast will be at 5:30 folllowed by packing last minute items, and then we’ll be off.

The next 6 days will take us to Luxor which I think is 751Km away. This is broken down into following daily distances

1. 128K
2. 168k
3. 133k
4. 100k
5. 139k
6. 95k

Following a bit of discussion, I’ve decided to change my status to being a racer rather than an expedition rider. I’m still planning to take in all the sights along the route, but as a racer, the Tour d’Afrique will record my daily and total times for the trip. It will also be a bit of fun

We’ve finally made it to Luxor, a distance of 763 kilometres in 6 days. It has to be said that so far the trip has been harder than I thought it would be . I’m currently enjoying a much needed rest day whilst camping in the grounds of a hotel in Luxor.

The first couple of days were especially tough. Day 1 was 128km through Cairo and then out into the desert uphill and into a strong headwind. To matters worse, I was carrying a large and heavy rucksack full of some things I hadn’t been able to pack into my locker the night before.

Day 2 was easier in that the intial section was downhill and with a reasonable tailwind, however, at 168km it still took around 8 hours of pedaling to reach the camp.

On both these days I cycled into camp around sunset with enough time to set up my tent, get some food and fall into an exhausted sleep.

Fortunately, for remainder the trip we’ve had some excellent tailwinds which have really helped to cover the kilometres quickly. This means getting into camp in the early afternoon and having some time to rest and relax.

A typical cycling day involves getting up at around 5:40am to pack tent and camping gear, eat breakfast, fill water and energy drink bottles and generally prepare for a days cycling. On racing days, the race generally starts at 7am so getting ready in time can be a little hectic. Most riders are in bed well before 8pm.

So far, my total lack of training and preparation for the ride is showing in that I’m way off the pace of the race winners. I’m not really bothered but it will be interesting to see how much closer I can get to a competitive time as my fitness improves. Right now, I’m happy to be coping with the riding without any major problems.

Throughout the trip so far, we’ve been well looked after by police and soldiers. I don’t think we’re in any danger, but the Tour is quite high profile, I believe having appeared on Egyptian TV and I don’t think the authorities are taking any chances with our safety.

Day 1

Today started with an early rise and breakfast at 5:30. Everyone was very excited to finally be off. First we cycled 9km in a convoy from the hotel to the pyramids at Giza for the official start of Tour d’Afrique.

The pyramids looked stunning in the early morning sunlight. After some photographs and speaches were finally off on the first stage of our journey. The first part of the route took us past the pyramids and through Cairo with police escorts.

We cycled for approximately 25km along a busy motorway through the centre of Cairo before taking a turning off into the desert. Police were stationed at some intersections to control traffic.

Just to make the day more interesting, I was carrying an enormous 100 litre rucksack full of things that I hadn’t been able to fit into my locker during the previous nights packing.

The Tour provides a locker for each rider on one of their support vehicles however, I had overestimated how easily my stuff would pack inside. I decided to carry the extra stuff in a large rucksack and then re-organise it all to fit when we arrived at the first campsite.

The other riders seemed surprised when I turned up for the start of the ride with a massive rucksack – but hey, they don’t know me Some of the TDA staff wered concerned about me carrying such a large and heavy pack and offered to bend the rules and put the pack on one of the trucks for the day. I had already mentally committed myself to carrying the pack the entire distance and wasn’t going to give up at the first hurdle.

As the kilometres ticked by, the pack became heavier and heavier. I tried to adjust the straps and position of the pack but whatever I did it continued to become unbearably heavy and uncomfortable. By about 50km I had to ditch the extra 2kg of water I had added to the pack just for the challenge.

At this point, the pack was crushing. The headwind, the almost continual uphill and the pack combined to reduce my average speed to about 10k. I had no energy and was aiming for the lunch truck at 70km to get some food. By the time I reached the truck, I was extremely tired and having to stop approximately every 1km to rest. It is very dispriting

Finally, after 5 hours of carrying this 20-25kg pack for 75km I finally arrived at the lunch truck. At this point, it was silly to carry on as things were and gratefully accepted the offer of putting the pack on the truck.

After lunch I rode out with Paul and Edward (who was riding a full suspension recumbent) to complete the final 63km to the first camp. With only 3 hours of sunlight left we had to maintain quite a challenging pace (into a headwind) in order to get to camp before sunset and for me to maintain my EFI (Every F*cking Inch) status. I learnt the benefits of drafting as Paul rode in front and basically towed me for a large part of the way. Drafting makes a massive difference (about 30% easier) for riders following in the draft of another rider.

Despite riding absolutely on the limit of exhaustion for 3 hours, I wasn’t able to get to camp before sunset and had to pull over and get picked up by the truck once it got dark. It was a slight disappointment to have blown the EFI thing on the first day, but I was more disappointed about not managing to carry the pack the entire day.

I’m not sure where we camped, because it was dark when we arrived. I set my tent and when to bed at about 8pm and was asleep instantly.

Day 2

First race day. No pack, a great tailwind and a long downhill to start meant made day 2 and easier day.T the km’s ticked past quite quickly, which was great because there were 168km’s to cover today. My method of dealing with the distance is to aim for the lunch and refreshment stops. However you try and think about it, it’s pretty hard when you’ve been cycling for hours and hours to find that you’ve still got 60km to go.

We camped near the sea and next to some kind of walled compound. I was too tired to go for a swim but I did manage 49kph in a sprint to the finish. I was in bed and instantly asleep by 8pm.

Day 3

A really good tail wind made this a nice easy ride through the desert. I finished the ride at about 1pm and we camped behind a police station. I also started to realise how you have to feed yourself properly on rides of this distance. On the first few days, I thought it was all about endurance and fitness, but these factors are irrelevant if you’re not feeding yourself energy drinks and energy bars almost continually throughout the day. By the time you start to feel tired, you’ve left it too late

Day 4

A nice, easy, relatively short day of cycling through the desert with a good tailwind. We camped on the beach in the grounds of the Toubia hotel. I had my first shower in 4 days. I wasn’t expecting it to be as fantastic an experience as it was, but after days of “tent showers” ie washing in my tent with baby wipes a proper shower is a much underestimated comodity.

Day 5

One of the most fun cycling days so far. We needed to cross the mountains at Safaga in order to reach the Nile valley. The day started with a 40km gentle yet continous climb of 600 metres through a winding mountain pass. The climb itself wasn’t steep and maintaining a speed of about 20kph wasn’t too much of problem. I took the precaution of eating a couple of extra energy bars to make sure I didn’t run out of energy.

On reaching the top of the climb there was a flat plateau which continued for about 6km followed by yet another gentle climb of about 60 metres over about 5 kilometres. The always welcome sight of the lunch truck was just at the top of this final climb.

After lunch was the longest downhill I’ve ever ridden. Probably about 80km’s of gentle downhill through the other side of the mountains. Sometimes it was flat but mostly with quite a strong tailwind. Maintaining 40kph was pretty effortless which after a week of such hard cycling was really welcome and great fun.

We camped at a water pumping station in the desert.

Day 6

After a short 26k ride from camp we arrived in Qena. Turning left as directed by the police took us along the Nile and through town towards Luxor. This being a short cylcling day, the lunch truck was parked at around 42k.

After lunch we continued on towards Luxor. I was certainly feeling the cumulative effects of 6 days of cycling and looking forward to a rest day in Luxor. I know that many of the other riders were feeling the same way.

All along the road from Qena to Luxor groups of small children shouted excitedly to us from the side of the road or from the opposite side of the Nile. After a while, it became quite tiring waving and shouting “hello” back to them. As we got closer to Luxor, we passed through some areas where the crowds were larger and some weren’t entirely friendy.

Some of the older children threw stones, some tried to hit us with sticks. At one point, as I was stopped at the side of the road, a van of full of about 10 young men slowed down and appeared to be stopping. The men were shouting something at me. I had no idea what however they didn’t look friendly. Fortunately, they drove off. A few other groups of older children also appeared to weighing up their chances of getting me off my bike.

Whilst this section of the ride into Luxor was pretty exciting it, we certainly saw a different side of Egpyt, which had so far been notably very friendly. These events made me appreciate the presence of the Egyptian police and soldiers, even if only to prevent us from being bothered by curious Egyptians.

We arrived at Rezeiky Camp (a hotel) in Luxor just after lunch and had plenty of time to chill out, sort out our gear, get some food and beer and then have whole day of not cycling.

Day 7 (Day off in Luxor)

I decided not to take the optional day trip to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. I’m sure it would be a great trip but honestly I’ve had enough of being milked by the Egyptian tourist industry and I’m quite happy to relax in the camp. I also wanted to use the time to sort out some of my stuff and write this blog post.

Egyptians really are very friendly, very helpful people however it just gets very tiring and more than a little tedious when just walking down the street in tourist areas results in 20 or 30 or 40 conversations which all go the same way. I’ve (had to) become very hard hearted to the various pleas, deals, offers and downright scams that are continually pushed whenever walking through such places.

Soon I will start packing my stuff and preparing for 2 days of riding to the ferry at Aswan which will take us into Sudan. The ferry journey takes around 24 hours, most of which is waiting to get on and off the ferry. Apparently (and not surprisingly), internet connectivity is not great in Sudan, so I’m not sure when I will be able to post my next update.

I’m currently in Aswan preparing to board a ferry which will take us to Sudan. There is little to no internet in Sudan so it’s likely this will be my last post for a month or so.

The last couple of days have been pretty interesting. We’ve encountered horrible children in some of the villages we’ve passed through. We’ve all had stones thrown at us and a few of us have been spat on. Some of the nastier kids have hit us with sticks or tried to throw sticks into our wheels. This is in stark contrast to the adults and smaller children we’ve passed who are literally delighted to see us. It gets tiring after mile upon mile of waving and shouting back to the enthusiastic people we’ve passed who smile and wish us luck.

So far, I’ve taken very few photographs. Most of the scenery is stunning, but it would be quite hard for me to capture the splendor of it with a camera. There is also the need to press on with the cycling to cover the distance in a reasonable time, so as to get a decent rest in the afternoon. Will try and take (and post) more photographs of Sudan.

The roads have been very high quality so far, however that is expected to change when we enter Sudan, so I will be switching to some 2.1″ off road tyres. It will be interesting to see how the guys on road bikes and cyclo-cross bikes cope with the more challenging terrain.

You might find the Tour d’Afrique race results page interesting.

Actually, I’m not doing as badly as I thought . Maybe I can make up some time in the rough terrain of Sudan.

Egypt is a fantastic country with utterly wonderful people but I was really looking forward to a change of scene and discovering Sudan. I didn’t know much about the Sudan other than the people are very friendly, the roads are crap and it’s pretty hot. So far, Sudan has totally lived up to it’s reputation.

The people really are very friendly and just like Egypt, people we see on the road will give us thumbs up, wave, say hello or wish us luck. I’m not sure if they know what we’re doing or just that we’re doing something, and they’re all for it. The support we’ve had from the local people is really touching.

The best way to describe nothern Sudan is to look at the photo at the top of my blog. We’ve basically cycled through about 500km of desert roads and tracks that look just like that, basically it’s a very large expanse of nothing but very barren but beautiful desert.

We’ve passed through some interesting villages which are all spread out along the road. The houses all seem to be of mud brick construction and seem fairly spacious. I’ve only glimpsed inside some of the houses but they seem to be incredibly tastefully, if simply decorated. I certainly wouldn’t mind living in one of them (if it wasn’t for the utter remoteness of them).

The main challenges I’ve faced in Sudan so far have been the heat and the off road cycling distances. 120Km off road would be a very challenging distance for a ride in the UK, but in these temperatures and day after day, it’s really tough. A large part of the route so far has been off road and this is significantly more challenging both mentally and physically than riding on tarmac. The “roads” really are crap in nothern Sudan and barely qualify as roads as westerners would normally think of them.

We’ve been cycling through a major road construction project, which I guess will link the port of Wadi Halfa where we arrived in Sudan from Egypt with the capital, Khartoum. Generally, we’ve been cycling on the dirt / dust track used by road construction vehicles that runs either side of the main road under construction.  The road construction project has made navigation difficult for the Tour d’Afrique staff as the new road has altered some of the distances and land marks. The various trucks that are being used to shift construction materials also kick up huge amounts of dust which can reduce visibility to a few feet.

The road / track we’ve been taking follows the path of the Nile and as a result we’ve been absolutely beseiged by these little flies (I think they’re fruit flies). If you’re cycling at less than 10kph, the flies catch up with you and they get in your eyes, up your nose and in your ears. They’re truly horrible. Fortunately I’ve discovered that a “buff” (head scarf tube thing) plus sunglasses is a useful defense against them, otherwise I would have gone mad very quickly.

Sudan (or at least Dongola) also now seems to have good internet and mobile phone coverage.

Day 8 Luxor to Idfu
A nice easy 117Km into a slight headwind. The people are generally very friendly but it can get very tiring waving and shouting hello to hundreds (literally) of people as you ride along.

Adults and small children are always friendly and delighted to see us. Almost everybody waves to us or shouts “Welcome to Egypt”. I love these people . Sadly, some of the people aren’t so friendly. Essentially young boys from the age of about 10 to 18 can be quite aggressive, challenging and essentially stupid. We had stones thrown at us, a few people were spat on and there were several times when I felt midly menaced by groups of male teenagers. I guess it’s a testosterone thing ?

Whilst I always felt totally safe in Egypt, even in some of the very poor areas some of these incidents made me appreciative of the security and protection we’ve had provided by the Egpytian police and soliders. Really, just to prevent us from being annoyed by children, rather than protecting us from any serious danger.

When cycling through the towns, you do have to keep your wits about you. You can spot the potential troublemakers a way off. They’re hardly subtle about their intentions. One little bugger who must have been about 8 years old had a piece of rope with a large knot on one end and a large stick on the other which he tried to throw into my front wheel as I passed him and a large group of about 20 kids. He missed, but I skidded my bike to a stop and turned round and shouted at him. At the speed I was going, his stupidity could easily have badly injured me or my bike and ended the trip for me. The little bugger ran off but the rest of the kids were shouting at me and I was shouting at them. Pretty ridiculous really since I couldn’t understand them and they couldn’t understand me. I think they probably got the message that I was pretty angry.

We camped in a football stadium in Idfu. Supposedly, there were showers, but I wasn’t going to brave them. They were digustingly filthly. The worst so far. Egypt seems to have combined shower and toilet cublicles and these were very brown at the edges with miscellaneous dirt but also had identifiable “brown splatters” all over the walls and door which reached up to eye level. Who can tell how this happened ?

Day 9 – Idfu to Aswan

For some reason, I didn’t make any notes about this stage so I can’t go into too many details. The route was 118k following the Nile all day into Aswan. Aswan seemed like a pretty sophisticated city with lots of hotels and a very beautiful waterfront by the Nile. There were lots of multi-decked Nile cruise ships moored up, presumably waiting for the tourist season to get into full swing.

I remember missing the turning for camp, which was in the grounds of a currently empty boarding school  somewhere near the edge of the city. I ended up cycling up to the Aswan Dam before turning around and subsequently finding the camp. I cycled past some kind of university and was midly “menaced” by some of the male students.

I also remember going to MacDonalds in Aswan, which is right on the waterfront. I really like eating the local food and supporting the local business, however MacDonalds had free WIFI internet and absolutely fantastic pristine “proper” toilets 

Being an Egyptian tourist area, Aswan has the full suite of Egyptian tourist scammers. Apparently western tourism is significantly down this year and so what tourists there are get extra plagued by people trying to sell them boat rides, taxis or take them to their favoured restaurant.

Day 10 – Convoy ride to Sudan Ferry
The day started with a short 17km ride in convoy to the ferry. We passed over the Aswan Dam and then looped back across the Nile via another dam called “High Dam”. We soon arrived at the dock but had been warned that the trip to Sudan would involve a lot of waiting around whilst the ferry was loaded and unloaded. We were not disappointed.

We arrived at the ferry terminal around 11am, boarded around 1pm and eventually set sail around 6pm. There was also some kind of mix up with our ferry tickets. We were all supposed to have “first class” cabins but the mix up meant that not enough cabins were available and so some of us had to stay / sleep on deck. Initially this did not seem like a problem as there was plenty of space (if not much shade) on deck. However as more passengers boarded the deck filled up and things became very cramped. People began to argue over space but unlike in the UK, these arguments were entirely good natured in that there was never even a hint that they would escalate into violence. The locals were very willing to share their food with their neighbours, I think as a strategy for keeping things friendly in very cramped and difficult conditions. Utterly decent people, the Egyptians and Sudanese I’ve met so far. Much more friendly than people in the UK.

Our group got ourselves a space in some shade under a life boat, where I eventually spent the night trying to sleep on the steel deck of the boat. This was cold and uncomfortable but at least there were some impressive stars.

The only critiscm I would have of the locals is that most of them were shockingly carefree about disgarding their rubbish over the side of the boat into the lake. It clearly hadn’t remotely occurred to them that there is anything wrong with this. Actually, the same is true of many of the non tourist towns where the sides of the roads a covered with litter.

Day 11 – Arrival in Sudan
We eventually arrived in the mid afternoon. I was expecting it to be HOT but strangely it was actually quite chilly. I wrongly assumed this meant we would get a gentle introduction to riding in hotter temperatures.

It took ages to get off the ferry, as we first had to wait whilst some minor “big wig” and all his considereable luggage was unloaded onto pick up trucks. Clearly not everybody in Sudan is poor.

Eventually we got off the ferry and into the customs area where we had to complete 4 seperate forms with essentially the same information before being allowed into the small port town of Wadi Halfa.

From there, it was a short cycle ride through Wadi Halfa to the local football stadium where we were camped for the night. The TDA had arranged for someone to meet us there so that we could change some dollars into local currency – very convenient.

We also changed our bike tyres to something suitable for the “road” conditions in Sudan (we’re allowed to bring 2 additional sets of tyres on the support vehicles)

Later we went out for dinner at one of the 3 local restaurants. I don’t think there was particularly a menu as such, but the food was good and cheap – although I couldn’t quite face the goat, with the meat still attached to a piece of spine . I then surprised myself by enjoying a “shisha” pipe which the locals use to smoke a mixture of tobacco and fruit oils – in this case “grape”.

Day 12 – Wadi Halfa to desert camp

Our first days riding in Sudan, today would be 115Km through the desert. The first 70Km were high quality tarmac (or pavement in TDA speak) with occaissional patches of no tarmac. Strangely, the Sudanese seem to build their roads in a patchwork fashion rather than starting a one end and building the road to the other. Go figure !

The fat knobbly tyres I now had on my bike significantly reduced my top speed and increased the amount of effort required to cover the distance. As the sun got higher in the sky, the temperature continued to increased until it became like cycling in an oven. Once the paved road gave way to off road track, forward progress slowed to a crawl. The dirt tracks are a combination of sand, corrugations, gravel and very occaissionally hard packed dirt. The packed dirt is almost as easy to ride on as tarmac but the corrugations, caused by oscillations in the suspension of vehicles are a killer. The bumps seem to be at the optimal frenquency to perectly jarr your joints and internal organs. Truly horrible to ride on. The sand requires more energy and concentration to cycling through, but at least it isn’t bumpy (mostly).

With the temperature approaching 38C, I was crawling along and eventually got caught up by “the sweep”.  The sweep is a TDA staff rider who rides behind everybody else and carries a mobile phone incase of problems. We rode along for a bit and also stopped for a much needed cold “orangeade” from a local shop.

Another problem with the heat (apart from the fact that it’s hot) is that there is no shade, so there is very little escape from the sun – you just have to keep on keeping on. I was very relieved when we cycled into camp. I had drunk 8 litres of fluid today.

Day 13 – Desert camp to desert camp
Today was a 112Km day with the first 60K being off road and a race section. I was very quicky at the back of the racing pack and then just as quickly they were out of site. As the sun got higher and the temperature rose, my pace got slower and slower. I am having real problems dealing with the heat.

I passed through some villages and spoke to some of the locals. Some of the kids will flag you down. The  adults are all very friendly but the kids just seem to want sweets or pens or maybe to ride my bike. (Sorry, but no chance). At one point a group of kids tried to sell (or maybe give) me a puppy – I don’t think they’re very clued up on the practicalities of cycling across Africa.

Lots of the men are called Mohamed !

We are really out in the middle of nowhere, but the people here are not backward at all. For example, they know what my solar panel is and what it is for, which surprised me.

Getting to the lunch truck at 60K was bloody hard. I was crawling along in the heat and whenever I stopped to rest or find shade I was beseiged by the horrible little flies that try to crawl up your nose and in your ears. Arrrggghh. When I reached the lunch truck, it was pretty comical as everyone there was swatting themselves as fast as they could.  I pulled my buff completely over my head to protect myself and fed egg sandwhiches in through a tiny gap.

At this point, I absolutely exhausted by the temperature, road conditions and flies and wasn’t sure I could make the remaining 52Km to the final camp. Persuaded by the fact that apparently the remainder of the route was good quality tarmac, I set off. When the lunch truck caught me up 15Km down the road, I was very, very tempted to flag it down and take the truck the rest of the way to camp. I was exhausted. Unfortunately, my conscience wouldn’t let me quit.

I survived the rest of the afternoon my mentally dividing the last 40km into 5k sections and completing each 5k (and half of 5k) as a seperate challenge. Eventually after about 3 or so hours of exhausted cycling, I arrived in camp quite late.

We camped by the Nile, where it was possible to swim and wash, however I was simply too tired to bother. The fly problem at camp was also worse than at lunch and everybody was sat around with their heads covered in scarves and sunglasses or whatever they could find.

Day 14 – Desert camp to desert camp
As expected, today was phenomenally tough. 108Km completely off road. I was going OK until the sun gets up, but as the temperature rose I lost all energy and my pace slowed to a crawl.

The bugs, which had blissfully disappeared at sunset were back in force at sunrise and throughout the ride if your speed dropped below 10kph they would attack. If you stopped, you were beseiged by the the little f*ckers .

The trail was tough riding with short steep uphills and equally short steep downhills covered with boulders. There was the usual corrugations and sand and with the temperature, my progress was extremely slow.

By 40Km’s I had decided that I wasn’t going to complete the ride today but would try and make it to the lunch truck. At times I would get off and walk through exhaustion and frustration. The demoralising effect of the  heat, the road corrugations and the f*cking flies meant that I had just had enough.

I made it to the lunch truck and got my bike loaded onto it’s bike carrier straight away just incase my mis-guided conscience tried to get me back on the bike for the afternoon. My EFI status is now well and truly blown but I honestly didn’t care. Talking to the other riders, the afternoon riding was extremely hard and I had already gone past my limit.

Spending the afternoon on the truck was a very humbling experience as I hate giving up and whilst there were quite a few other people on the truck with me, many people made the entire distance. Credit to them because it was a bloody hard days cycling after many other hard days. Having some time on the truck to rest and think improved my morale and I’ve stopped thinking about whether I should catch the next flight out of this from Khartoum.

To all those people who said I was mad to do this trip, now I know what you were talking about.

Day 15 – Desert camp to Dongola

Awoke to a very strong tail wind, no flies and only 87Km to ride to Dongola and whole rest day with no cycling. Life is good.

The ride started with what was supposed to be an “open convoy” across the desert to prevent people from getting lost in the dozen or so criss crossing paths to the main highway. This didn’t really work out as nobody followed the very simple instructions we were given about making sure you could see the rider in front and behind, but we all made it across anyway.

I found that my legs were pretty strong, for the first time on the trip, probably as a result of getting a rest on the truck and what with the strong tail wind I was flying along. At one point I reached 51kph on the flat on   hard packed dirt.

We quickly reached the lunch truck for an early lunch. After lunch I pressed on for the final 45km to the ferry which would take us across the Nile to our campsite at Dongola. I found myself near the front of the pack and I went all out to be one of the first to arrive at camp. A new experience for me . Today wasn’t a race day but I suspect that if it was, the other racers would have been trying that much harder and would have blasted past me, however, really I’m competing against myself and today was my strongest ride so far.

We are currently camped out in Dongola zoo which is very nice but no longer has any animals. I am taking it easy although I do need to go and buy some food, do some laundry, buy a mobile SIM card,  update my blog and also change my tyres back to road tyres for the next 4 days road riding into Khartoum.

We’re going to be averaging about 145Km per day for the next 4 days which considering the temperature will be fairly challenging, but at least there won’t be any corrugations and hopefully no flies.

After 8 hard riding days and 1 rest day in Khartoum we’ve cycled across Sudan and across the border into Ethiopia.

The main challenge has been the temperature which has regularly reached 38C in the shade and 47C in the sun. The heat wouldn’t be such a problem in itself but combined with having to cycle 140+km most days and sometimes with headwinds it’s been a very challenging time. I’ve had serious difficulty with the heat for most of the time in Sudan although I am beginning to adjust by drinking water almost continuously and taking cold Coke stops whenever they are available.

I’m currently drinking about 10 litres per day. Apparently, the human body can only absorb about 1 litre per hour and I’m definitely losing more than 1 litre per hour in sweat. It’s worse in the afternoons which are much hotter than the mornings. In the afternoon, it doesn’t matter how much you drink, it never seems like enough. Since you can’t keep up  with the water loss whilst cycling you have to start drinking early in the morning before riding and keep drinking into the evening to maintain a healthy level of water in your body.

Apparently, it’s going to keep on getting hotter and the conditions tougher !!

In many ways, I am really sorry to be leaving Sudan. My idea of Sudan before I got there was that it would be a somewhat dangerous and hostile country, an opinion that I suspect most westerners would share. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Sudanese are truly excellent and friendly people.

I have lost count of the number of people that have waved to me, wished me luck and shouted greetings from the side of the road or from cars. We’ve been able to leave our bags, bikes and other valuables lying around with no fear that anyone will steal them. On a few occaissions, I’ve gone into restaurants and found them short of chairs and a local has either fetched me a chair or given up their own chair for me !

Neither is Sudan a backward country. Some of the rural areas are a bit basic and some areas look probably the same as they did 2000 years ago. Khartoum is a beautiful city (or least parts of it are) and there are some truly stunning buildings that wouldn’t look out of place in Los Angeles or the City of London. The people seem happy and prosperous.

There is an awful lot of construction going on in Khartoum. Sudan is clearly and upwardly mobile country. Last year, there was no internet in Sudan, this year internet cafes are everywhere.

Day 16 – Rest day in Dongola
It was pretty weird staying in Dongola. It seemed fairly clear that the locals hadn’t seen many (if any) white people before and word quickly got around about where we were staying. I was certainly aware of many curious eyes watching me wherever I went. Considering that we were camped in Dongola’s zoo it was aslo pretty funny to have the locals peering in at us through the entrance gates to the zoo.

At some point during the day I decided to take a few photos of the local market. I had my camera out for about 30 seconds and had taken 2 photos when a man appeared in front of me and said “Police ! No photos”. He seemed pretty aggitated and grabbed my arm and dragged me across to one of the uniformed AK-47 carrying policemen.

You need a government permit to take photos in Sudan and whilst I had applied for one, I hadn’t picked it up from our government tourism representative (a Mr Abdul Baggy). The man produced his wallet and flipped out some kind of ID which presumably identified him as an undercover policeman, but which in reality was far too worn with age to be legible.

The undercover policeman was still pretty aggitated and wanted my passport, which I didn’t have. Things were looking pretty hairy. He also seemed to want my camera which I wasn’t going to give him. He didn’t really speak good english so I just started talking at him explaining how he would have to talk to the government tourism representative back at our camp and how I had permission from the Sudanese government. Fortunately, I think he decided I wasn’t worth the trouble and let me go with a stern warning – “no photo”.

I didn’t risk taking any more photos in Dongola after that.

Day 17 – Dongola to Desert Camp
142Km on good paved road through flat desert with a gentle tailwind. Not too challenging, apart from the heat. We camped by a canal and a few people went for a swim, but I wasn’t going to risk it – water in Africa can contain all sorts of nastiness. I don’t remember too many details about the days ride but I do remember arriving in camp and being absolutely desperate to go sleep.

At this point I was pretty tired and bored of cycling through the desert. I was starting to have thoughts of “why am I doing this?”

Day 18 – Desert Camp to Desert Camp
148Km on good paved roads with almost no wind. It was very, very hot. It was really good to stop for coffee at a road side shop at around 30Km. I’ve started to get daunted by the distances and breaking the day with coffee stops really helps. It’s not so much the distance, as the pedalling time it takes to cover the distance. To ride a 148Km can take 5 hours or less if you have good tailwind. It can take 9 hours or more with a headwind. By the time you’ve put your tent up, had something to eat and attended the regular evening “rider meeting” there isn’t usually much time before going to sleep. It really helps to be in bed by 8pm to get up at 6am as we all seem to need extra sleep.

Got chased by a dog today which I really thought was going to take a bite at me. I tried to outrun it but it just snarled more and chased faster. I shouted at it and it stopped chasing. Lucky for the dog because it was about to get a face full of cycling shoe. A number of riders had a similar problem with the same dog.

I’m begining to develop a deep and profound love for Orangeade…

Day 19 – Desert Camp to Desert Camp
157Km paved with good roads. I started today very tired from the previous few days and it just got worse throughout the day. The first 80Km to the lunch truck wasn’t too bad, but the last 77Km after lunch was a real mental challenge.

Cycling 157Km is quite a distance to cycle but for a fit cyclist it’s really not a problem. However throw in temperatures of 38C in the shade and do that day after day and it starts to get really difficult. The novelty of cycling every day has now well and truly worn off. Exhaustion and dehydration are now a big part of my life.

I am also currently experiencing “accelerated digestion” and had to make a couple of emergency toilet stops on todays ride. This means finding some cover, digging a hole in the sand with a rock and doing what you’ve got to do. Carrying loperium hydrochloride (Immodium) and toilet paper in my rucksack has certainly paid dividends. Quite a few of riders are sick with some kind of stomach bug.

Came across a group of stone throwing children today. They seemed friendly enough I cycled up to them waving and saying hello, then all of a sudden they made a dash to pick up some stones. One of the stones was a size that would be big enough to kill you if it hit you on the head. I shouted at them and made it pretty clear that if they threw those stones, they wouldn’t like me when I was angry. Why the entire population is soo friendly, but a few are so stupid and horrible is a mystery.

Day 20 – Desert Camp to Khartoum
Woke up not  too happy today. Missing Clare and fed up with cycling not to mention the prospect of another 100+ days of the same. I’ve entertained thoughts of giving the whole thing up and leaving the tour in Khartoum – even if that means just leaving my stuff and getting on a plane.  A number of other riders I’ve spoken to have all admitted they thought of leaving in Khartoum. Fortunately nobody did, as we’ve had some great times since but it gives an indication of how tough the tour is. Apparently, it’s officially the 2nd hardest bike race in the world…

Today would involve a short 105Km ride into Khartoum however there would be a 20Km time trial at the  start of the day. I really wasn’t into racing in the time trial but I gave it a go. The first 10Km were to be a warm up and we would stop at the 10Km point and then each rider would start in 30 second intervals.

Due to my position as the slowest racer, I would be the first racer to start. I was still suffering with “digestive difficulties” and also had really tired legs. The person behind me overtook after 1.5Km followed by a steady stream of other racers. My overall time was 42 minutes compared to 29 minutes for the winner. All things considered I was pretty happy with that. My top speed with 34Kph but for most of the 20Km  I was struggling to maintain 26Kph.

At the end of the time trial there was a further 36Km to cycle to the lunch truck. One of the other riders had a lucky escape when she was hit by a truck that came to close to her. It took some skin off her elbow and gave her a nasty bruise. A few millimetres closer and things could have been very much worse. The trucks rocket past on this road but normally they’re very considerate and leave plenty of space. I can only imagine the driver didn’t see her. A sobering thought.

After lunch we formed into a convoy to be given a police escort through Khartoum to our campsite at the “National Camping Residence”. This would be a 45Km ride in absolute blistering heat. The extreme heat made this one of the most difficult “stages” of the tour so far and I didn’t thinking I was going to make it. I was very relieved to arrive at the camp and the tour director (Randy) had arranged for some cold drinks to be delivered to our camp – awesome !

It took me a while to recover from the heat, have a shower and generally get my stuff sorted out. I went for a walk and discovered an amazing market with hundreds of people sitting on the roads and pavements selling assortments of fruit and vegetables.

Day 21 – Rest day in Khartoum
The TDA refer to non-cycling days as “rest days”. This is something of a misnomer as there are still things to do and not much time to actually rest. Today I have to hand wash my laundry from the last few cycling days, re-grease the bearings on the front wheel of my bike and then go out and find some food.

If you like falafel, food isn’t too hard to find from the various street sellers. I also visited Khartoums “western” shopping mall,  the “Afro” mall.

The mall was complete rip off and whilst I did have a very expensive, but nice strawberry milkshake, I would much rather give my money to the market traders. Getting a cab ride back from the mall to the campsite was pretty tricky as none of the drivers seemed to have heard of the “National Camping Residence”, neither did they speak any English. In the end, I ended up navigating a tuk-tuk driver back to the camp using “the force” and hand gestures.

I also had a couple of delicious drinks. One was a mixed fruit milkshake, which seemed to a mix of blended fruit, milk and coconut – delicious. The other was “Chai Levon”, which is tea made with boiling milk and sugar – superb.

I had been borrowing some locker space from Scott, one of the sectional riders who was leaving the tour in Khartoum. This meant that I had ditch some less essential stuff in order to get all my stuff into my locker. I decided to loose some clothes and other things that I couldn’t see myself loosing. One of the TDA crew suggested that I offer the clothes to some of the locals who are also staying in the campsite.

I picked a random group of men who were hanging around and walked up to them with my bundle of clothes. I don’t speak Arabic and these guys don’t speak much English. At first they thought I was looking for the laundry and one guy offered to take me there. I persisted with showing them the clothes and one guy who spoke better English asked me what I wanted for them. I tried to explain that I didn’t want anything for the clothes as I couldn’t take them with me and they could have them if they wanted.

At some point the penny dropped that I was offering them free clothes and there was a flurry of hands and all the clothes found new owners. Most of these guys were already well dressed (they were actually trainee police officers staying at the campsite during their training) but were clearly very grateful for some free clothes. I was happy too because I got to help them out. It would be difficult to overstate how friendly Sudanese people are.

In the evening I could hear some singing, clapping and drums coming from the other side of the camp. On taking a look, the trainee policemen appeared to be gathered in a circle doing the kind of “tribal dancing” that you would expect in Africa. One of the guys spoke excellent English and explained that actually it was a game which involved dancing (and stamping) in time with the drum beat. When you miss the beat, you’re out of the game. There seemed to be a number of variations of the game.

I would have loved to take a better look round Khartoum but there wasn’t really time to go much further  than the immediate area around the campsite. From a distance the city centre seemed to have some large and futuristic sky scrapers.

Day 22 – Khartoum to Nile camp
I started the day feeling pretty good, having had a good rest day. In the morning rush, I jogged across camp and it felt like I was wearing some kind of powered exo-skeleton. It felt like I needed to be careful not to accidently jump over small buildings . 7 hours of cycling per day for 3 weeks evidently gets you fit.

The next few days cover some long distances. Today is 142Km’s on paved roads but was pretty tough. The first 75Km to lunch was a mix of tailwinds and crosswinds. The crosswinds were pretty tough and at times made it difficult to stay on the road. Traffic on the road was pretty heavy and busses and trucks rocketed past literally creating shockwaves that were both scary and irritating.

Cruised the rest of the distance to camp and arrived feeling like I could do another 142Km. I seem to be getting stronger and better at dealing with the heat.

The campsite was easily the most beautiful campsite of the trip so far. In some woods right next to the Nile. I ditched my stuff and walked straight down to the Nile for a swim which was truly awesome. I swam about 50 metres across to the other side while swallows whizzed about overhead. There were some tricky currents at points but the water was cool and hugely refreshing.
 
Life is good. The evening meal is one of the best so far. The beauty of the campsite has given us all a real boost. A real turn around from the last few days when I had thoughts of leaving the tour in Khartoum.

Day 23 – Nile Camp to Alfons Camp
A really tough day. 142Km on paved roads, but the last 100Km were into some strong headwinds. This makes a massive difference to your speed and how much energy is required to cover the distance.

Completing the distance today was a real challenge. I ran out of water a few K’s before the lunch stop and then again about 10Km before the final camp. When you are drinking and sweating so continuously, water is like fuel. By the time I arrived at camp I was seriously dehydrated. Another 10Km would have caused me serious difficulty.

Over the course of the day, the landscape has been slowly changing from arrid farmland to grassland then  finally to what you would expect Africa to look like – arid grassland with thorn trees. One of the riders even spotted a troop of baboons. This is “the real Africa”.

Alfonse camp is named in memory of a TDA rider who sadly died at the campsite in 2005. We heard some stories about Alfonse, who was 65 and a Swedish business man, who sounded like an excellent a very well liked person. Alfonse went for a nap in the morning and didn’t wake up. It sounds like he will be sorely missed.

In the evening after a rest and lots of fluids I start to feel super-strong again. Despite the difficulty of the day, I enjoyed it and I’m still feeling positive.

Day 24 – Alfonse Camp to Desert Camp
146Km into a side/headwind made this a really hard today. I had some maize based semolina for breakfast and I think this really threw my energy levels out. I struggled all morning to lunch with low blood sugar and the shakes. I had no energy for pedalling.

At lunch I was pretty daunted by the remaining distance into a headwind but was feeling positive about the challenge. I crawled along at between 10-20Kph. At this speed the K’s tick past really slowly. At the 121Km mark a right turn converted the strong side/headwind into a strong tailwind. Having battled the wind for so long, the tailwind was a complete joy. I went from crawling along in exhaustion to a sprint up to 46Kph. We all love tailwinds

Despite the distance and difficulty of today, I’m remaining positive. Many of the other riders seem to be surprised that I’ve enjoyed the last few days.

Day 25 – Desert Camp  to Ethiopian Border
Today is our last day in Sudan. I’m keen to get into the challenge of Ethiopia but will miss the Sudanese people who are very friendly. Sudan is so different from how people in the west perceive it.

Today is 152Km’s on good roads with (fortunately) a reasonable tailwind. The first 75Km to lunch aren’t too hard but the final 77Km after lunch get pretty difficult with the just the cumulative of the distance and some high temperatures.

As we get closer to the border with Ethiopia, a few people in the villages have AK-47′s. This isn’t really intimidating as the Sudanese are such friendly, decent people. I also saw a few jeeps with heavy machine guns mounted on the back. At points there were more soldiers stationed a key points along the road also with heavy machine guns.

At one point a few Km’s from the border a soldier with an AK-47 comes running out of the bush towards me shouting “halt, halt”. He didn’t seem too friendly. I considered my options but I was tired and going up hill. Escape wasn’t a possibilty. I stopped and gave him my best “Salam Alekum” (peace upon you) and friendly wave. He walked up to me still seeming not that friendly – not pointing his gun at me, but not pointing it away from me either. It was pretty tense moment. AK-47′s definitely get your attention.

We shook hands and explained to him that I was from England, was cycling from Cairo to Capetown. Slowly he seemed to become more friendly and was very impressed that I was cycling such a huge diffenence. In hindsight, I don’t think I was in any danger, he just wanted to know why all these strange cyclists were travelling along his section of road.

The border crossing wasn’t much further down the road. I had to wait 2.5 hours outside the immigration building, which was basically a mud hut next to what appeared to be a rubbish dump. Whilst we waited, we could buy cold beers from an enterprising Ethiopian. Most of us got pretty tiddly as a matter of principle after a couple of weeks in alcohol free Sudan.

The border crossing was pretty dirty. There was rubbish everywhere which included human feaces. We had to camp  here overnight. There were people were everywhere.There was also a brothel, where it was possible to get a shower. We camped on a bit of empty ground near to the border – there is a definitely a smell of human waste and toilet paper on the ground nearby. We had been warned in advance that this campsite was pretty awful but there was simply nowhere else where it was practical to camp.

A few of the guys wandered into town for a drink, but I was just too tired. One of the riders almost got into trouble when he went to the “wrong” bar and when paying his bill was told that he had also “bought a round” for everyone in the bar. It was pretty clear he wasn’t out of the bar without paying. As expected, you’ve got to be careful in Ethiopia. Fortunately, with the exchange rate the cost of his round of beers only came to $20 America dollars.

Tomorrow we set off across Ethiopia towards another much needed rest day in a town called Gondar. The next 2 days are expected to be the most challenging days of riding on the tour.

It’s taken two days of very tough riding to get from the border to the town of Gondar.

From what I’d been told of Ethiopia, I was expecting a continual supply of stone throwing children and aggressive adults. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that people are on the whole just as friendly as the Sudanese.

So far, I’ve had a couple of stones thrown at me but these were half-hearted attempts by very small children that didn’t really come close. Many of the other riders have reported being attacked with stones and sticks by older children in what appear to be coordinated ambushes !

Apparently the attacks are worse for riders at the back of the group as the children have been alerted to the presence of “ferengi” (foreigners) by the first groups of riders and have time to plan their attacks on the later arrivals.

As one of the slower riders I can expect to get the full experience over the next few days.

I was also expecting that the country was so crowded that there would be people everywhere. Whenever the trucks stop anywhere near a town they are surrounded by curious children but out in the countryside there is plenty of empty space where you can stop without being bothered.

The Ethiopian landscape is stunning. We cycled through the Simian Mountains which are how I imagined Africa would look. Dramatic mountainous terrain sparsely covered with trees and mud hut villages.

Currently, I’m typing this on a much needed rest day at the Goha hotel in Gondar, Ethiopia. The last 6 days of riding have been extremely challenging and I’m currently experiencing a kind of “deep exhaustion” that I suspect is a symptom of “over training”.

Having done relatively little cycling over the last few years, the tour is in effect the most extreme fitness training program that it would be possible to devise. Imagine doing 6 or 7 spinning classes per day, 6 days per week for a month and that’s pretty close to what I’m doing. I must be getting fitter but I’m also getting more exhausted and the net effect is that I’m getting slower. Getting slower is a vicious circle because you then spend more time riding in the heat and less time recovering and re-hydrating in the evening.

I’ve got on the truck at lunch on both the last two riding days as I’ve just been so tired. The terrain has been so challenging combined with mounting tiredness from previous days. I’m not remotely disappointed with this as there are limits to what you can demand from your body. Maybe I could have dug deeper and done more but this would only have postponed some inevitable consequences.

It would be interesting to weigh myself as several people have commented that not suprisingly, I’ve lost weight.

This morning, I was almost too tired to walk and have spent the day resting, eating and taking care of the minimum amount of chores (laundry, bike maintenance and tyre changing). I’m feeling positive and starting to feel a bit less tired. Gondar seems like an interesting town with a brewery and a castle but I’m staying in the grounds of the hotel because I just need some rest and a break from being the centre of attention. Fortunately, the next couple of riding days aren’t looking too challenging (114Km and 60Km) before another rest day in Bahir Dar.

Day 26 – Ethiopian Border to Desert Camp
This was yet another really tough day and one of the toughest on the tour. 98Km of really terrible roads which were so rutted and covered with boulders that they were barely ride-able. In these kinds of conditions it’s sometimes easier to ride quickly as you can tend to “float” over the top of the bumps better. I have no strength to go fast and crawl along experiencing the full effect of the poor conditions

We passed through some Ethiopian villages. The houses are all essentially made from sticks with straw roofs. People here seem to be living as they have done for hundreds of years. The villagers are pretty excited to see us and it’s hard to try and wave and say hello to everyone. I don’t think many of the other TDA riders are that careful to try and say hello as it is pretty hard work. I wonder if this is the source of some of the stone throwing and aggressiveness that has been reported in previous years. Looking at our arrival from the perspective of the villagers, it is pretty rude to cycle through their village and not even say hello.

The route is rolling hills, with some fairly steep climbs and stunning scenery. I passed one village that had what appeared to be some kind of ore smelting facility immediately next to it. The factory was belching out smoke which covered the village. Pretty unpleasant for the villagers.

As in Sudan, there seems to be a very active road building program in Ethiopia. I can see it’s a possibility that next years Tour d’Afrique could be all on road with no or minimal off road sections. This is probably a good year to see Africa before the entire continent is completely modernised.

By about the 50Km mark I’m starting to get really tired and find that all strength has gone in my legs. When I get to the lunch truck I decide to call it a day and load my bike onto the truck. The alternative would be slog it out and arrive in camp late (if at all) yet again, even more exhausted.

Day 27 – Desert Camp to Gondor
This is probably the most challenging day on the tour and probably one of the most fun and challenging bicycle rides of my life. 107Km mostly on utterly terrible roads. I only made to the 52Km point before calling it day and getting on one of the support vehicles.

The road surface was loose gravel, boulders and rutts and was continually either climbing or descending as it twisted it’s way around and over the Simian mountains. The climbing was technically quite challenging and required using the lowest possible gear. The descents were steep and required total concentration to avoid hitting a boulder or a rutt and being thrown of the bike at speed. Genuinely dangerous stuff.

At around the 20Km mark was a long climb with a 1 in 10 gradient that went on for 10Km. Yes, this means that in 10 kilometres we climbed vertically 1 kilometre !! The longest climb I’ve ever done. Each time I thought I’d reached the top I turned a corner to reveal yet more hill to climb.

Eventually, I reached the top with amazing views over the surrounding area. I think at this point my absolute altitude is about 2600 metres. There was then a series of descents. The first passed through a busy village with people stepping out into the road without looking, a donkey drawn cart pulling out directly in front of me even though he had seen me. With so much going on, it’s hard to take it all in what with the need to keep making forward progress.

Eventually, there was a final descent on smooth paved road that descended at least 500 to 750 meters in somewhere around 10Km. Top speed was 65Kph, my fastest on the tour so far and pretty hairy without anything protecting your skin should you fall off.

The view was stunning as I could see for miles as I descended into beautiful green fields. I wish I had my video camera mounted on my helmet :/

I was expecting to find the lunch truck at the bottom of the hill, but it wasn’t there. That was either the most amazing downhill ever, or the worst detour ever.

There was no way I was going to re-climb the hill to find out, so I carried on in the same direction and hoped for the best. Eventually I came across one of the TDA support vehicles that had some lunch for me. I was the last rider as many other riders had dropped out behind me. It was now 3pm and with 53Km to go there was no way that I was going to finish the ride before dark, so I loaded my bike on the support vehicle again.

I’m very glad that I’d did because the remaining terrain was pretty tough and took 1.5 hours in a vehicle. The very last section up to the hotel included another massive uphill section up to our hotel from which you can see for miles.

Massive respect to those riders that did manage to complete 1 or both of the last two days. An extreme test of fitness and mental resolve. Even more respect to Allan Benn who is, I think, currently leading the race who completed the entire distance in 4 hours 29 minutes !! Unimaginable…

After a couple of days of not-too-challenging riding, we have another rest day in the very pleasant town of Bahir Dar. We’re staying at the Dib Anbessa hotel overlooking Lake Tana.

The two short cycling days (119Km and 60Km) followed by another rest day have really come at a good time. I’m so tired, even the 60Km day was a challenge.

The last couple of days have had their own challenges in the form of the local children. Most of the children will wave and say hello as you pass however they will also run across the fields when they see you coming shouting “you, you, you, money, money, money” and various variations on that theme. The “money, money, money” thing has been a constant from children throughout the trip, but it’s far more prevelant in Ethiopia. Even many of the adults will have their hands out for money as you pass.

The constant begging is getting a bit tedious but the real challenge has been serious violence from some of the local children. These kids are really horrible little monsters and the attacks have been both highly stupid and dangerous. Fortunately, so far we’ve only experienced minor injuries but there is easily potential for something more serious.

The worst attack I’ve experienced so far was some little bugger trying to whip me with a bullwhip. I suspect this kid knew how to use his whip and just wanted to scare me. As I stopped to shout at him I saw a rock flying at me through the corner of my eye and ducked to narrowly avoid being hit on the head. I was then surrounded by about 8 kids throwing stones at me and had to get out of there pretty quickly.

The stones they throw are not tiny (say around the size of golf ball) and have the potential to cause serious damage. Fortunately, cycle helmets provide some protection for your head – if one of these rocks were to hit your unprotected skull the results would be a fractured skull at best with easily the potential for death or brain damage. One of the riders was hit on the helmet just above his face with a rock thrown from a sling shot. These kids are either too stupid, too ignorant or just too mean to appreciate the consequences of their actions.

We’re under instructions not to retaliate against the children and advice from the TDA is to just ignore them as they want the attention. I think many of the riders (including me) would very happily give these kids a serious slap, but in practice it’s impossible to catch them. As soon as you stop, they run off across the fields and it would be difficult to catch them without leaving your bike. They also have the advantage of numbers and “long range” weapons. It’s a battlefield out there and we are essentially unarmed.

The best defence is to stay alert. Whenever I’m approaching a group of children I give them a friendly wave and greeting (“salamno” – Amharic for hello / peace), they always wave back but I’m checking the non-waving hand for stones. If they’re holding a stone, pointing at them and saying “don’t you dare throw that at me” will generally put them off. They don’t understand the words, but they do understand the tone of voice.

Many “problem” children will give away their intentions well in advance. Three or four of them spreading out across the road dancing or waving sticks is generally a sign of potential trouble. Infact, children carrying sticks should be assumed dangerous. Some will wave and day hello quite happily and then try and shove the stick into your spokes as you pass. I had one group of about 6 kids try to use their sticks as “lances” and shove them into my face forcing me too swerve into the other lane.

Another attack which I’ve experienced a couple of times is a few kids with a blanket which they try to use  to block the road. They then try to throw it at you like a net as you swerve to avoid them.

Many of the riders have been hit by stones which come out of nowhere and they don’t even see the children responsible.

All of these attacks occur in the rural areas. In the towns and villages people are mostly very friendly although I have had the very occaissional dirty look from a few people.

Day 28 – Gondar to Farm Camp
119Km on good paved roads through stunning mountainous scenery. The ride started with 20Km of downhill riding from the Goha hotel in Gondar.

Every time it looked like the downhill was coming to and end we would turn a corner or crest a slight hill to reveal yet more downhill. How far down can you go ? Of course, the trouble with going downhill, is that at some point, you know you will have to “pay the piper” with a climb.

Today’s ride had a couple of good climbs followed by some more awesome downhill sections on the twisty mountain roads. The first climb started at just past the 50Km mark and was 300 metres over approximately 4Km. The following downhill through the mountains was probably about 5Km long with speeds of upto 60Kph on the straights and heavy breaking for the hairpin turns. With the stunning views this was probably one of the best sections of the tour so far.

In the afternoon there was another climb of 400 metres with an even more excellent downhill section to follow. I out-braked and overtook a large articulated oil tanker on one of the hairpins – marvellous !

We stopped for a “coke stop” at about 100Km in Addis Amen where I had an Orangeade (my favourite) and also an excellent fruit juice drink made from “layers” of fruit pulp (papaya, avocado and something else). Strangely, the cafe we stopped at was absolutely overrun with bees. They didn’t sting anybody, but they were all over everything. The locals ignored them but at one point I looked over and saw about 50 to 100 bees swarming over a coffee cup. My instinct was just to run away.

The final 20K of todays ride was was into a fairly strong tailwind and it was this section where the worst of the attacks from children occurred. When I arrived in camp there were a couple of soldiers to chase the locals away from our camp.

The locals seem to find us fascinating. About 50 or so hang around near our camp all afternoon and watch us put up our tents, drink tea and eventually (presumably the highlight) eat our dinner.

In the morning, at (or before) first light, the locals are back, wrapped in blankets to protect themselves from the cold to watch us have breakfast and pack up our stuff.

Day 29 – Farm Camp to Bahir Dar
Despite attempts to keep the local children out of the camp they are expert at waiting until no-one is looking and drifting through the camp. I saw one child do exactly this and in one fluid motion stoop down and pick up an empty plastic water bottle, hide it under his blanket and keep on drifting. Since the water bottle was effectively litter, I let him get on with it.

Half the reason the kids hang around is to see what litter we leave behind, so they can claim it. I’ve seen many empty plastic mineral water bottles for sale in village markets so what we consider to be rubbish still has a value.

When the TDA staff “dump” our bin liner of accumulated refuse from the night before, there is a mad scramble by the locals to rifle through it and take anything of value. In one town, I was drinking a bottle of beer and as I took the last swig from the bottle I was asked by a local if he could have the bottle.

In many camps in Ethiopia, the TDA staff dig pit latrines for us rather than have us dig our own “cat hole” toilets. This is because the locals will follow us when we go to the toilet, watch us do our business and then  investigate the contents of our holes. This is not only embarressing for us but has the potential to spread potentially fatal diseases (ie dioreah) to the locals with the very real possibilty of causing their deaths – since they don’t have access to proper medicines.

Randy, the Tour Director had a lucky escape today. Just before I left the camp that morning he noticed that his camera had gone missing. There were probably 50 to 100 local children milling around the outskirts of the camp and one of them had clearly sneakily taken it. Moving quickly, the TDA staff and Windy, our  local Ethiopian guide got the kids to remove their blankets to see what their were hiding. Numerous empty coke and water bottles fell to the floor but no camera. One smaller group were shuffling off into the distance and Windy chased after them and returned with the stolen camera. Respect to Windy because it seemed like the camera was gone for good.
 
The children mostly look cute and innocent, but clearly you have to watch them and your stuff very carefully.

Todays route is a nice short 60Km ride over rolling hills. Today our total climbing is 500 metres with a total descent of 500 metres. Our absolute altitude at Farm Camp is approximately 1900 metres which means it’s somewhat chilly in the mornings and evenings.

There seem to be a lot of children shouting “money, money, money” today and it starts to get more than a little tedious. With one group of 3 children I decide to stop and try and explain to them that I have been asked for money about 500 times already today (not much of an exaggeration) and that if I gave all or any  of them some money that pretty soon I would have none left.

When I stopped, they ran away, clearly expecting violence (children and animals seem to get treated pretty brutally in Ethiopia) but I beckoned them back saying “salam, salam”. Cautiously they returned and I shook their hands whilst they kept a safe distance. I tried patiently to explain about the hundreds of requests for money I’ve had that day (and every day) and when I’d finished they had evidently not understood a word I’d said. Their ringleader patiently explained that he wanted 1 Birr (Ethiopian currency) for him and one each for his friends. Sigh. I waved them goodbye and carried on my journey. At least they were friendly and didn’t throw any stones.

When we finally arrived in Bahir Dar, finding the hotel where we were due to be camping was pretty difficult.  There was another bicycle race (not the Tour d’Afrique) in town and the road I was supposed to head down was closed for the race. The route of the race, which appeared to be some kind of time trial between two roundabouts was lined with hundreds of spectators. Luckily, I recognised Windy and he pointed me in the direction of the hotel.

My initial intention was to camp in my tent for the entire tour, much as my intention was to cycle the entire distance for EFI. Plans change After a month of camping (and not sleeping much for the last week) I decided to book a room in the hotel. Most of the other riders have done this at some point to get a break from the camping. I’m so glad I did. To have my own toilet and shower (even though the hot water doesn’t work) and to sleep in a comfortable bed has been a big morale booster.

Day 30 – Rest day in Bahir Dar
I definitely have plans to do as little as possible today.  I’m still extremely tired and I’ve also had a niggling sore throat for over a week now. The “full breakfast” at the hotel consisted 2 eggs and a slice of toast, so I ordered 3 breakfasts . I’m not sure what the staff thought of that ! I’m taking extra multi-vitamin supplements but I suspect my body is still getting run down. I’ve gone down 2 (nearly 3!) belt notches on my jeans and a number of people have commented that I’ve lost weight.

We have some challenging riding days coming up. Tomorrow will be 161Km followed the next day by the infamous “Blue Nile Gorge Time Trial”. The time trial day will be 53Km of riding followed by a 15Km / 1350 metre descent into Blue Nile Gorge. The time trial section of the day starts on the 22Km 1500 metre climb out of the gorge. The temperature at the bottom of the gorge will be about 40C and about 30C at the top due to the difference in altitude.

After that is a couple more days of riding into Addis Abbaba and another rest day.

The last few days have been very difficult. I seem to be getting weaker and slower as the trip progresses rather than faster and stronger as I had expected. Some online research in Bahir Dar confirmed what I already suspected, I am being affected by something called “over training syndrome”. This is basically when your body doesn’t have enough resting time or food to repair the muscle damage done by exercising and so you get weaker, rather than stronger as the exercise continues.

I have most of the symtoms, as described on Wikipedia. A sore throat, difficulty sleeping, sore legs and of course “reduced physical performance”. Rest is the best treatment for over training syndrome and if you’re not careful you can end up needing months of rest to get over it. I’ve considered supplementing my diet with extra protein, but apparently there is already plenty of protein in the meals provided by the TDA.

Essentially, I did no training for this event and haven’t done a great deal of cycling anyway in the last few years. Now I am most definately paying the price .

I have already lost a lot of weight, maybe around 10 kilos. Whilst I still have some spare fat to loose, at this rate I will have used up all my fat reserves within 2 or 3 weeks. At that point, I guess the real the trouble will start …

My plan (hope) is to arrive in Capetown supremely fit rather than a physical wreck so clearly something must be done. I’ve talked to a few of the other riders and staff and it seems like part of the problem is that I’m not getting enough calories. We’re burning something like 8000 calories per day and it’s very difficult to eat that many calories in a typical cycling day. I need to make the best possible use of the “rest days” by eating as much food as possible .

To help with my overall health, I’ve also gone down with a stomach bug. Fortunately, the main effects only lasted for about 12 hours although it left me pretty weak and feeling rubbish for about 48 hours. I spent two days riding the truck.

I suspect the altitude has also been a problem. Most of this section has been above 2000 metres with the highest point being 3200 metres.

The highlight of this section of the trip has probably been the 15Km, 1350 metre descent into the Blue Nile Gorge. The biggest challenge, the 20Km, 1850 metre ascent up the other side of the Blue Nile Gorge. All the days of riding have been hard with rolling hills, steep climbs and awesome downhills.

I’ve been getting increasingly sick of the Ethiopian kids. I’ve heard “you, you give me money” at least 500 – 1000 times per day since the Ethiopian border and it’s started to hurt my ears. When kids ask for money, I’ve taken to saying, “no, you give me money”. When they’re just shouting and screaming “money, money, money” I’ve started immitating them in my best whiney voice. It sometimes confuses them or sometimes they seem to get the point I’m making. Either way it generally shuts them up or at the very least helps me deal with their constant bleating.

Anyone who thinks I’m being unkind should try cycling across Ethiopia! The tourists that bring pens, pencils, sweets or money to hand out to the kids have created a culture of expectation that has turned most of these kids into annoying brats that expect handouts from white people and sometimes resort to spiteful violence when they don’t get what they want.

At one point, in a cafe in Bahir Dar, I was paying my bill and a guy sitting at a table near the till asked me two buy him two “coka’s”. At first I didn’t understand what he was saying and when I did understand it still didn’t make any sense. I asked him, “so, you want me to buy you two cokes?”. “Yes”, he beamed clearly pleased that he had made himself understood.  ”Er, no. Why would I want to do that ?” I replied. He continued chatting to me as if nothing bizarre had just happened.

We’ve been advised by the TDA that if we want to give out such things, the best thing to do is give them to the local priest or the headmaster of a school. That way these resources find their way to the people that need them most. Our tour director witnessed a van full of Polish tourists pull up into a village and give out 1 Birr to each child. These tourists are helping to create a culture of dependance and expectation of help from foreigners rather than encouraging the people to help themselves.

I should point out that the almost all of the adults and many of the children are lovely, friendly people. If I’ve stopped by the side of the road, usually someone will stop and ask if I need help. Sometimes, especially in rural areas, they will just stop and watch intently whatever it is that I’m doing.
 
Day 31 – Bahir Dar to Farm Camp
161Km on good paved roads. Rolling hills with an overall gentle climb for the first 80Km to lunch. After lunch it’s still rolling hills but with a steeper underlying climb. The total net elevation gain for today is 1000 metres so considering some of the awesome downhills the total climbing must have been much higher than this. There are very few flat stretches of road, it’s either uphill or downhill and the downhills don’t really compensate for the effort of the uphills.

There have been quite a few attacks from children today although fortunately they all missed. At one point I turned my head in time to see a stone whizz past a few inches to the right of my face. I stopped to chase these particular kids but they were very quick to disappear into some woods. On the last downhill section of the day (where I hit a top speed of 77kph) some stupid little sod threw a fist sized boulder at me because I didn’t immediately stop at his request for “money, money, money”. It fell way short, but it’s the thought that counts.

At another point, a guy that was riding a little way behind me was hit very hard on the arm by a kid with a stick. All Ethiopian men (and many children) seem to carry stout sticks which are used for all sorts of purposes such as controlling (ie hitting) donkeys and balancing heavy loads on their shoulders. This particular kid swung the stick into Eric’s arm and chest like a baseball bat with sufficient force to shatter the stick. Fortunately, Eric got away with a bruise but two inches higher and he would most probably have had a broken jaw. Some Ethiopian men chased after this particular kid. Strangely, I’m pretty sure I passed this same kid a few minutes earlier, waved and said hello and he was perfectly friendly. He didn’t even ask for money. This is Ethiopia !

A few miles further on I came across a lot (maybe 10) children of various ages blocking the road. Several  had sticks and one had the stick raised like a sword preparing to hit me as I passed. I slowed down, pointed at him and told him “you do that and you will absolutely get your arse kicked”. The words were for my benefit but the tone of voice gets the message across and he runs off. A few of his friends are now closing in and they get my best “don’t even think about it” look as I cycle past.

With all this talk of violent kids it’s worth reminding you that almost all of the adults are extremely friendly. (The worst I’ve had from adults is the very occaissional sour look). On several occaissions I’ve been stopped by the side of the road and drivers have stopped to see if I need help. There have also been many “thumbs up” and waves from drivers and their passengers. One guy standing at the side of the road said to me “please to ride fast to be with your friends soonest”.

I passed through one particularly friendly village around 105Km south of Bahir Dar (actually, most of the towns and villages are pretty friendly). In this village I asked at a local shop if they had any Pepsi. They didn’t, but a woman who was standing nearby sent one of the children off to fetch one. It took about 20 minutes for the kid to come back with an Orangeade (perfect) by which time I was surrounded by a group of about 30 kids. The kids in towns are friendly and I chatted to them about the usual stuff, where I’m going, where I come from etc. They hadn’t really heard of England, but predictably they had heard of  Manchester United and Arsenal. I told them I lived near Manchester. As always, the kids are supremely curious about everything we do. Thirty pairs of eyes watched intently as I drank my Orangeade.

Quite often, a local on bicycle will pull up along side to talk to you or maybe just to “race” you . Today one particular guy cycles up and asks the usual “where are you go” type questions. He followed along with me for a while, which always makes me uncomfortable as many of them have a very under developed sense of self-preservation and are more than capable of swerving randomly into your bike.

After a while he indicated that he would like my cycle helmet. No chance. He continued to follow along and asked if he could have my sunglasses. Er, still no. After a few more K’s he asked if I wanted to swap bikes -  his was “very fast”. Tempting, but ultimately, no. After about 5Km’s he told me that he had to stop now, so could I just give him some money ? He seemed somewhat surprised and disappointed that I declined. It’s tragic, but many of these people seem to think that all white people just have money, pens and shirts to hand out.

Earlier in the day I cycled for a while with a guy who was very friendly, explained that he works for China. When we arrived at the stick building where I guess he worked he waved and wished me good luck. He didn’t ask me for anything.

As I was nearing the end of the days ride and approaching the last village of the day, I came across a large  group of about 50 – 75 adults marching along the road into the village. They had a flag and more than a  few of them had some noticeably shiny AK-47′s. They were chanting something as they marched. It really didn’t look good. I gave them my best and most hopefull “salam” and friendly wave. I got 50 – 75 friendly waves back! Phew. As I passed through the village, I noticed that the villagers could see and hear the group and didn’t appear concerned. Who knows what was going on ?

We camped that night at a farm. It was a long days cycling for me at 9.5 hours. I was one of the last riders to arrive and there was already a perimeter cord up around the camp to keep the 100 or so potentially sticky fingered local children from wandering through the camp.

Some of the kids have brought bottles of Pepsi and beer in the hope of selling them to us. I didn’t really want a fizzy drink but I bought one anyway as I admired their enterprising spirit. The kids will be there until nightfall and back again wrapped in blankets at first light.

Day 32 – Farm Camp to Forest Camp
Started today very tired. 119Km of steep rolling hills. We’ve been warned that the distance today is less than yesterday for a reason ! The route starts with an excellent 30Km descent with a few short climbs through villages. The next 35Km consists of big, steep climbs with smaller descents up to lunch. The total climb so far today has probably been about 1000 metres. By 40Km’s I’m totally exhausted and I’m walking up hills and generally struggling.

Pleasantly, there seem to be some really nice kids today. Much less begging and only one stone thrown. We walked and cycled for a few Km’s with one group that were on their way to school. They walk 6Km each way to school every day in bare feet !

At about 1:30 myself and Edward are picked up by the lunch truck that has come back to look for us. Normally, we would have been caught by “the sweep” but the person riding sweep didn’t spot us as we were having coffee in one of the villages.

I rode the truck to camp in the afternoon as I was exhausted and wanted to recoup some energy for the Blue Nile Gorge the next day.

In the evening I had a chat with Allan and Graham about the fact that I’m getting weaker. It transpires that even the fittest racers are having problems with getting weaker. It’s encouraging to know that it’s not just me having problems. Based on their advice, I force myself to have 3 mugs of soup (which is isotonic to replace lost salts and fluids) supplemented with a tin of tuna, 3 mugs of tea and as much dinner as I can reasonably eat. I start to feel quite positive and energetic about the next days riding.

Tonight we are camped in a forest which makes it difficult to pitch our tents close together and secure the perimeter with a cord. Children from the local village are watching us and wandering about the camp. Every now and then I can hear what sound like excited squeals from the children and they all run off to some other part of the forest. What could be so much more exciting than us I wonder? After a few cycles of this, I spot one of our Ethiopian “advisors” chasing the kids through the forest with a stick. He definitely looks like he means business and will have no problem giving the kids a severe incentive not to come back. However within 30 minutes or so the kids will indeed be back and the advisor will go to work again. Tough kids.

By the time I was ready to put my tent up it is already dark. Personally, when I get to camp my priority is soup, tea, relaxtion, dinner and then tent so it is usually dark when I do the tent thing. I set my tent up, put my bags inside and then it’s time to go to the toilet. I collect one of the shovels from the truck and wander off into the now very dark woods to find somewhere suitable to dig my hole. Last night, one of the South African staff heard hyenas during the night so I am alert to the possibilities. The last thing I want is to get attacked by hyenas with my shorts around my knees. I keep the shovel close to hand just in case.

When I get back to my tent I open my bag to get my mattress and sleeping bag and there is a small lizard inside staring back at me. It looks like some kind of Gecko. I eventually fish it out of my bag and evict it from the tent. Clearly, it has found my bag and crawled in through a slightly open zip as my bag was lying around whilst I drank tea and “made merry”. If a lizard could crawl in, anything could haved crawled in – and by anything, I mean SPIDERS. A search of my bag reveals no further wildlife but clearly I will have to be more careful in future. Apparently, there are no dangerous spiders in the countries we pass through, but there are some big, furry, harmless ones. For me, there is a very real danger that I will simply die of fright if I find one of these things in my tent.

Day 33 – Blue Nile Gorge
When I was safely back in the UK the infamous Blue Nile Gorge seemed like the highlight of the tour. I thought I would be super fit by the time I reached and wondered how quickly I would rip through the “time trial” part of the day. Now that I’m here “on the ground”, I realise the scale of the challenge.

Despite yesterdays positive feelings I woke up feeling not very energetic. The day starts with steep climbs and some good downhills which are a challenge in themselves and I struggle to make it the 50Km to the lunch truck and the start of the descent into the gorge. I am determined that whatever it takes I am going to complete “the gorge” and not get on the truck.

The Blue Nile Gorge consists of a 15Km, 1350 metre steep descent into the gorge followed by a 20Km, 1850 metre ascent up and out the other side. The ascent is a time time which starts just after you cross a bridge over the Nile at bottom.

The descent is awesome with breath taking views, hard breaking into bumpy corners and very rapid acceleration up to about 60kph out the corners.

I did have one set of kids try to poke a stick into my wheels at 50kph and unusually one adult picked up a stone and pretended to throw it at me. I went back to shout at this idiot, telling him how stupid he was and threatening to call the police. What a waste of breath. I wish I’d thought to pick up a stone and pretend throwing it at him so that he could see what it felt like. Anyway, I was determined not to let idiots spoil the fun, but you have to watch out for them.

At a guess, it took about 20 minutes of awesome high speed descent to get to the bottom of the gorge. It was very noticeably hotter at the much lower altitude. Unfortunately, now it was time to “pay the piper” and cycle up the other side.

I was tired almost immediately and stopped frequently. My first rest stop was after about 1.5Km and I had several more before I got to the 5Km point. Both my energy and ethusiasm for cycling were at a serious low. I decided that rather than keep stopping I was better off walking as at least that meant I was making progress up the hill.

At one point I was passed by the lunch truck and whilst it was tempting to jump onboard giving up was not an option.

There were more than a few kids shouting for pens, money and shirts. I wasn’t in the mood for them. All the kids get the benefit of the doubt with a friendly wave and a “salam”. Any persistent or particularly shrill ones get short shrift. “No pens, go away”. Hey it works, they leave me alone.

I walked most of the next 5Km to a coke stop at the halfway / 10Km point. I felt much better after a couple of cokes and cycled the most of the next 10Km to the top. There were quite a few places where the hill was so steep that it was actually quicker and more efficient to get off and walk. At points, the edge of the road, which had no barrier was very close to the edge of the gorge. As you might imagine there were stunning views on the way up. At times, some locals walked with me and gave me encouragement. Eventually, I made it to the top which was an unbelieveable relief. My time for the climb was 4 hours 15 minutes.

We camped that night at a “CPAR” facility a few hundred metres from the top of the gorge. CPAR stands for Candian Physicans for Aid and Relief which is an organisation started by Henry Gold, who also founded the Tour d’Afrique. CPAR is now a fully ”indiginised” NGO which means that it is fully staffed and run by Ethiopians but just keeps the original Canadian name. They desperately need more funding to continue they’re on going projects, so if you have money you might like to donate, please check the CPAR website.

Day 34 – CPAR to CPAR
Woke up today feeling really hacked off with cycling. The prospect of yet another day in the saddle was enough to bring me almost to tears. The prospect of yet another 86 days seems like the worst possible torture. I opted for a “duvet day” on the truck.

This is kind of a shame as today the tour reached it’s highest point at 3200 metres. I would have liked to have cycled to it, but today I just needed to rest.

By the time the truck arrived at the next camp, I was thinking I could really do with the toilet. Within 45 minutes I had serious diorreah and nausea and was feeling like death. I have finally caught the stomach bug that has been working it’s way through the tour group. I struggled to put my tent up, crawled into bed and kind of slept until the next day.

Apparently there were some stunning views of the gorge within easy walking distance of the camp but there was just no way I was moving.

Day 35 – CPAR to Addis Ababa
Woke up very weak this morning but at least I was feeling better than yesterday. I had a terrible night’s “sleep”. Getting it together to pack my kit and tent was very difficult. Clearly no cycling today. I slept for most of the journey on the truck. We waited outside of Addis Ababa for all of the riders to show up so that we could all travel through Addis to our campsite at the Guennet Hotel.

I was still feeling pretty rubbish so I put up my tent and had a snooze. Around 5pm I started to feel better and within an hour was feeling pretty much fine. My outlook on the whole tour has changed and I’m feeling positive again. Eating food seems to make me feel slightly ill, which is a bit of a problem as tomorrows rest day is my opportunity to stock up on calories for the next few riding days.

Day 36 – Rest Day in Addis Ababa
No plans for today beyond eating as many calories as possible, doing some laundry and trying to get internet access to send a few emails and update my blog.

Eating enough food is going to be a real challenge. It’s ironic that back in the UK eating too much food is the problem. Here, where food is seriously cheap and I need to eat as much as I can, I don’t feel hungry. I wouldn’t mind finding some strawberry ice cream though . I’ve noticed that I’ve gone down 4 belt notches !

STOP PRESS: I found some strawberry ice cream and after talking to a few people I’m probably going to be taking it easier on the next stage of the tour by riding the truck more. We’ll see how it goes, but the next 3 weeks are supposed to be the hardest section by a big margin. I’m already suffering a potentially serious health problem (over training syndrome) so I’m going to have to be realistic about what I can do without making that worse. As one of the riders said, “I’m prepared to challenge myself, but I’m not going to suffer”. Good advice, I’m probably going to take it…