Holistic Systems

I  am now in Ilongwe, the capital city of Malawi.

Due to a last minute route change we have 2 rest days to enjoy a campsite with hot showers and a swimming pool.  Awesome.

We have 2 more riding days before reaching the border with Botswana and we also sadly, have to say goodbye to some cool people who were “sectional” riders.

Day 76  – Chitimba to Mzuzu Lodge
137Km on good paved road. A long, tough but fun day. Started with a big climb of around 500 metres over about 10Km up and over the mountains surrounding Chitimba. The climb was followed by a spectacular high speed descent down the other side of the mountains into a river valley.

The river was very full and there was an impressive amount of water flowing. Cycling up through the valley was beautiful and seemed almost effortless. At the end of the valley, I stopped for 3 cokes at a shop that also sold excellent chips

At camp that evening there were a couple of surprises. One of the riders, Andrew had decided to leave the tour and get a job at a one of the local backpacker camps. Probably something to do with the overland truckloads of cute girls that stop there every few days.

The other suprise is that a bridge had been washed away a few days away and the road was now impassable. We would have to change our route which should have been along the shores of Lake Malawi stopping at convenient backpacker camps. Instead we had to take a much more boring but shorter route inland. The inland route would save a whole day of riding and would give us an extra rest day in Ilongwe. There weren’t many complaints from the riders.

Day 77 – Mzuzu Lodge to Luwawa School
I woke up late with a sore throat and not feeling too good. To avoid making things worse, I rode the truck all day to camp. It was pretty cool because I arrived in camp very early and after helping to set up camp I had a whole day of reading and sleeping.

Very quickly our campsite, which is on the school playing field is quickly surrounded by curious school children. The TDA have put up a rope barrier around the camp just to stop the kids running through. The kids are polite, well behaved and cause no problems apart from a bit of noise.

Over lunch, we had a talk from the headmaster of the school who told us about the many challenges the school faces. The school has 800 primary school pupils and only 8 teachers. They have very little money for teaching materials and the school relies on the hard work and dedication of the teachers to send 40 pupils each year to secondary school. For the rest of the  pupils that don’t make it to secondary school, that is sadly, the end of their education.

Day 78 – Luwawa to Kusungu Inn
Sore throat was slightly worse today and I still wasn’t feeling great so another day on the truck. We arrived at the Kusungu Lodge by 9:00am (we’re leaving camp around 6:30am these days).

I had a hot shower and then had a wander around the town and had a pizza at the “Heavens Mouth Restaurant”. The restaurant was run by a guy called Keith who used to live in Bournemouth before marrying a Malawian girl. It was interesting talking to Keith about the challenges of living in Malawi and especially in a small rural town.

Day 79 – Kusungu to Ilongwe
Still have a sore throat and it’s still getting worse Another day riding the truck. We now have two days off at Mbuyu Camp in Ilongwe. The campsite has a large swimming pool (with water), hot showers, a restaurant and a cool bar. Happy days !

This 5 day section has taken us from Iringa in Tanzania to Chitimba Beach in Malawi. Chitimba Beach is a cool backpackers campsite on a private beach on the south coast of Lake Malawi.

After a long time riding on unpaved roads, the return to high quality tarmac has come as a welcome relief. The riding days haven’t been too challenging and I’ve been getting to camp quite early in the afternoon which has given me plenty of time to rest and recuperate.

Despite the relatively high temperatures (30C) and humidity I’m finding that I need to drink much less liquid. My fluid intake is currently around 6 litres per day which is a significant drop from the 10-12 litres that I’ve been drinking through Sudan and Kenya.

It’s currently the rainy season in this part of Africa which means that there are thunderstorms and heavy rain showers every day. This means that my tent and sleeping mattress is often damp which gets tedious  quickly.

With only 45 days left on the tour I’m starting to push myself to maximise my fitness before we reach Capetown. My goal for the end of the next month will be to win a road stage. This will not be easy as a mountain bike is a huge disadvantage on the road compared to a lightweight cyclo-cross bike. I don’t really care about the winning but having something to aim for will help me get faster.

Sadly one of the riders, Werner was hit by a truck very soon after leaving camp one day and ended up with a very badly broken elbow. Werner suffered the very painful experience of receiving roadside first aid, followed by 100Km car journey to a poor hospital back in Iringa and eventually flying back to Germany for surgery to fix his arm. The TDA medics and staff were fantastic but it must have been a hugely painful ordeal for Werner getting back to Germany.

We have all been much more careful and alert on the roads as a result and hope Werner makes a full and speedy recovery.

Day 70 – Iringa to Forest Camp
Quite an easy day at 100Km on good pavement over rolling hills with short steep climbs followed by long gentle descents. In places it was possible to coast at 25 to 45 kph with zero effort for several kilometres.

It was raining heavily when I arrived at camp and everything including my tent, clothes, shoes and sleeping mattress was damp. We were camped along a fire break in the forest which threatened to turn into a river bed if the rain got any worse. Fortunately, the rain doesn’t usually last long but the humidity means that nothing dried overnight and I had to put on the same cold, wet shoes and gloves the next day.

There were lots of mosquitos around and in the 30 minutes around dusk I was eaten alive before being forced into my tent. My ankles were covered in bites and were already itching madly. I went to sleep in my damp, gritty tent on my damp, gritty mattress listening to scary jungle insect noises.

Day 71 – Forest Camp to Bush Camp
130Km on good paved roads with more rolling hills, steep climbs and gentle descents. There were hoards of dragonflies.

Werner was knocked off his bike this morning. The trucks here simply don’t care about cyclists. Sometimes they will honk their horn as they come up behind which basically means “get off the road now if you want to live”.

Day 72 – Bush Camp to Mbeya
95Km on good paved roads. Today was something of an experiment. The plan was to see how long I could keep up with Allan, the overall race leader to see what might be involved in winning a road stage. Allan is an extremely fit, fast rider with a lightweight cyclocross bike. On roads, the thicker tyres and lower gearing of a mountain bike is a very significant disadvantage.

There was a bit of a mix up with the race start time and the two other mountain bike riders went off a few minutes head start. This didn’t matter to the road bike riders because they knew they would catch the mountain bikes fairly quickly. I started with the road bike riders because I wanted to get an idea of how much faster they are and whether or not I could keep up.

As part of the experiment I went as fast as possible off the start line to see when the road bikes would catch me. I managed to stay ahead for the first 2 or 3 kilometres but I was having to pedal hard downhill just to stay in front whilst the road bike riders were coasting and resting. There was no way I could sustain that level of effort and soon the road bikes cruised past me easily. I kept pushing hard and fairly quickly caught and overtook Tim and later Bruce, the other mountain bikers. I was pleased because a couple of months ago I couldn’t keep up with these guys.

Up until lunch I ended up in a race with Bruce which motivated me to go faster than I otherwise would. By lunchtime at 60Km I was 15 minutes behind Allan and 5 minutes behind Malcom which I was most pleasing. The full race distance was 95Km but I took it easy in the afternoon as I knew what I needed to know. I’ll need to be about 20% faster than I am now to have a chance of winning a road stage and it will need to be a short race day. Not impossible, but obviously a challenge.

We camped in the grounds of hotel in Mbeya, which meant that I could have a relatively rare shower. The water was cold, but the shower was nice nonetheless.

Day 73 – Mbeya to Bush Camp
120Km on good paved roads. We crossed the border into Malawi in the last 20 kilometres of todays ride.
For a bit of variety in the racing we had a “Chase the Rabbit” race today. Two riders (Simon E. and Frank) were nominated as “the rabbits” and given a 15 minute headstart. The race is over when the first racer catches (ie overtakes) both rabbits. To make it interesting, each racer owes each rabbit a beer if the rabbits don’t get caught by the lunch truck at 55Km.

Frank and Simon E are two of the faster riders on the tour (although they are not racing) and the catching the rabbit was essentially impossible or at best a herculean task. “Unfortunately”, I didn’t make it to the start line in time and so didn’t take part. Allan ripped off the start line and pushed very, very hard. He caught Frank and was about 1 minute behind Simon E. at the finish. A truly impressive effort from Allan which saved us all one beer.

The route started with a 500 metre climb over 18Km followed by 1700 metres descent over the next 77Km. As I started on the descent it became very misty and soon started to rain. I cycled through banana and tea plantations and also through a busy town which seemed to be the centre of the local banana industry. There were bananas everywhere.

As we approach the Malawi border the view from the top of the hills over Lake Malawi was stunning. Especially pleasant as I descended the 1000 metres to the valley floor.

Crossing the border into Malawi was very straightforward. Fill in a few forms on each side of the border and through you go. No need to pay for a visa. At the border we were hassled by black market money changers as usual, one of the other riders Peter made me laugh by telling the money changers that he was going to use his Tanzanian shillings as wallpaper.

As with every border we’ve crossed there has been a subtle but definate difference in the people. Malawi is a very poor country and whilst the Malawians are very friendly and polite, many of them also ask for money. Amusingly, their favourite mis-learned phrase is “give me my money”.

It’s 20Km from the border to our camp near some rice paddy fields. Lots of locals surround our camp to watch our every move (or lack of them) with fascination. Last year items were stolen from riders at this campsite and we’ve been warned to be careful.

The TDA have hired 2 or 3 local men to guard our camp overnight and at points we can hear them arguing with and ejecting various locals that visit our camp. The guards are pretty throrough, but in the morning a few items have disappeared from people who left things like shoes just outside their tents.

In the evening, I had a very interesting chat with a sectional rider called Ted who is a director of a Canadian company called Africycle. Africycle runs a bike shop in Canada but also collects second hand bikes to re-furbish and sell in Africa. The advantage of second hand bikes is that they are generally much higher quality for the price than the Chinese or Indian imports that are generally available. A bicycle in Africa is an expensive purchase comparable to a car relative to the average income so it is important that they are made to last.

Africycle trains and employs locals workers to refurbish the bikes which saves on costs and also provides employment and training for the locals. Africycle is a fully commerical organisation that is doing good work in Africa also on a for-profit basis. It’s an inspirational business model.

Day 74 – Bush Camp to Chitimba Beach
120Km good paved roads,  most of which was up a long gentle incline. I was feeling strong and powering along at 35kph+ for the first 30Km. We stopped at a supermarket to buy some supplies for our rest day at Chitimba beach. Many things were super-expensive such as a box of Coco Pops which was about $US 10.

All the riders generally agreed that the day was long and tough, probably because of the incline and I was very glad to reach Chitimba.

Day 75 – Rest Day at Chitimba Beach
I woke up with a hangover after about 3 hours sleep. Had breakfast organised and cooked by 3 of the other riders (Sonia, Viv and Isabelle) and spent the rest of the day doing the usual laundry, internet and chores.

Many of the locals hung around outside the walls of the camp and tried to attract our attention so that they can sell us things. They knew most of our names as we had talked to some of them on the way into camp the previous day. They would catch someones attention and then ask to speak to a particular person.  We ignored them but they were pretty persistent.

The three days off in Arusha were great. The Masai Camp Hotel was a cool place to hang out and as it had food, beer and internet there was minimal need to leave “the compound”. Three days of slightly excessive drinking probably wasn’t the best way to recover from 6000 Km’s of cycling but when you’re camped in the grounds of the coolest bar in Arusha, what can you do ?

The 7 days from Arusha have all been off road through some of the remotest and least travelled parts of Tanzania. It’s currently the rainy season and whilst we’ve dodged the worst of the rain, the humidity has been a challenge. During the day the humidity makes it seem much hotter and during the night everything is still hot, humid and damp. We’ve had some good thunderstorms which have found the leaks in my tent.

Our route has taken us through remote farmland and jungle, up some steep climbs with excellent downhills. I won a stage in this section and did well in a 40Km time trial. This section has probably been the best off road cycling of the tour so far but everyone, myself included, has had enough of being bumped around and hammered all day. It will be a reflief to go back to tarmac.

Day 59 to 61 – Rest Days in Arusha
Three days of drinking beer, eating pizza and cheese burgers and not cycling. A very much needed and appreciated rest. It was a real shame to have to get on a bike and leave Arusha.

Day 62 – Arusha to Bush Camp
I woke up feeling slightly ill this morning and almost decided not to ride. The ride was 105Km on paved road with a slight tailwind. I’m glad I did cycle as it was a nice easy day and riding through Arusha during the morning rush hour was great fun. We camped in the middle of nowhere with a superb view over a lake and the Ungoragora crater.

Day 63 – Bush Camp to Bereko School
117Km off road on a very bumpy surface with the dreaded corrugations. I came across a large troop of baboons near the road. As I approached them, they moved off the road into the undergrowth only to reappear as soon as I’ve passed.

I struggled in the morning with no energy, stomach cramps and generally not feeling well so I got on the truck at the lunch stop. By the time I got to camp in the truck I was starting to develop “proper” diarrhoea and so I started a course of Ciprofloxacin. I don’t like taking antibiotics but its the lesser of two evils when the alternative is finding and digging your own jungle toilet every half hour.

One of the trucks broke down today. It had apparently been loosing power and was eventually unable to get up a hill. For the first time on the tour so far, we had to consider how we would cope if one of the trucks carrying our tents and equipment wasn’t able to make it to camp. By ditching a trailer carrying 1000 litres of water the truck drivers managed to get to camp.

When we arrived at the Bereko School camp there were around 200 locals around the campsite watching intently as we put up our tents, drank tea and ate our dinner. Just like being back in Ethiopia.

Day 64 – Bereko School to Bush Camp
105Km off road. The Ciprofloxacin has done it’s job pretty quicky and I’m feeling much better although I don’t have much energy for cycling.
There was rain overnight and this seems to have woken up the local ant colonies. There are ants everywhere. They come in three sizes and they bite which is really annoying.

For the first time on the trip, it’s very misty in the morning and our tents are soaking wet from the mist. Once the sun gets up, the mist quickly disappears. It’s very hot and humid and the sun is strong.

There seem to be a lot of children around and a few ask for money but they’re very polite and there is certainly no stone throwing. A few children even call me “sir” which is quite sweet.

The route consists of long climbs followed by awesome long downhills. The downhills are very steep, very fast, very long and covered in rocks, boulders and gulleys. Some of the downhills are so long and so hard that I need to stop and rest halfway down.

At high speed (50Kph+) over a bumpy surface, the amount of visual information that needs to be processed to pick a safe line and stay upright is literally overwhelming and I find that my brain actually can’t keep up. At times, I’m just holding on to the bike and hoping for the best. Sometimes, the uphill sections feel like a rest from the downhills.

On the downhill sections a bicycle is faster than the trucks and buses which occassionally use the road. On one downhill I get stuck behind a truck and get chatting to the construction workers standing in the back of the truck. They’re amazed that we’re travelling from Cairo to Capetown by bicycle.

At 9.5 hours, it’s another long days ride in the hot sun. We camp in a field near a village. There are hundreds of irritating flies and it’s just not possible to fight them off. I can’t tolerate them being on my face but just have to get used to them being everywhere else. Overnight, there is a fairly big thunderstorm and I find out that my tent leaks, great news.

Day 65 – Bush Camp to Dodoma
105Km off road. After yesterdays rain storm, the roads were somewhat muddy with large deep puddles all over the track. I resisted the temptation to splash through the puddles as I didn’t want to get my shoes wet. If this was a ride back in the UK I wouldn’t have ridden through every puddle but here there is no warm shower at the end of the ride and no radiator to dry to my shoes. Putting on yesterdays wet shoes would be very, very tedious so must be sensisble.

Dodoma is offically the capital of Tanzania but apparently, in practice the real seat of power is Dar es Salam. 5Km outside of Dodoma we’re still travelling on dirt roads. Not long after we reached tarmac a guy on a motorbike almost knocked me off my bike whilst waving and grinning at me. A couple of hundred metres later we saw the same guy lying on the ground next to his motorbike and surrounded by a crowd of people. I suspect he was (very) drunk.

In the last few kilometres before camp I was cyling with Lloyd when we’re hit by a heavy rain storm. We took shelter under a tree. The rain only lasted 10 minutes but very quickly the large storm gutters by the side of the road were running with rain water. I suspect Tanzania doesn’t suffer from a water shortage.

Our campsite was in the grounds of the Veta Hotel, which was very nice. Unfortunately, during the day the dinner truck broke it’s suspension and doesn’t make it to camp in time for the kitchen staff to prepare dinner. The TDA arranged for the hotel to provide us with a buffet dinner but yet again we are reminded how much we rely on the trucks and how inconvenient it is when they don’t make it to camp with our stuff.

The buffet dinner was interesting because we were all concerned that the hotel staff won’t realise just how much we eat. The TDA staff help in the kitchen advising the hotel chef that 2Kg of rice won’t be enough, more like 14Kg. Dinner was served quite late and there was a good natured tension in the dinning room with 70 very hungry cyclists wondering if we would get enough to eat. There was enough food for everyone otherwise we would have all taken taxis to local restaurants to get more food. When you’re cycling all day, you get very hungry. Fortunately, the TDA staff make sure that we’re well looked after. Thanks guys !

The TDA truck staff work all night to fix the broken suspension in time to be back on the road the next morning. A much appreciated effort. Thanks guys !

With all the rain and humidity my tent is getting muddy and starting to smell very musty. We have another month of humidity and rain and the thought spending another month or so in similar conditions does not appeal.

Day 66 – Dodoma to Bush Camp
92Km off road. Supposed to be a nice easy day. The route started with a gentle climb out of Dodoma followed by gentle downhills. During the day we passed the half way point in terms of distance at 5900Km. The exact halfway point was hard to determine as bicycle odometers aren’t that accurate but we stopped for a photograph at our best guess. The afternoon was harder than expected with high temperatures and long sections of corrugations and the entire ride takes 6.5 hours. Not so easy.

Day 67 – Bush Camp to Bush Camp
99Km off road. Today, I won my first race stage. This means I get a coveted TDA stage winners plate and get to let everybody know that I’m not as slow a rider as they think.
The race was from camp to a dam, 47Km away. I wasn’t planning on racing but a few minutes before the start of the race I was reminded me that the race would start in 4 minutes time. I haven’t been taking the race seriously and I’m hardly every ready in time for the race start, but today I thought “hey, I could make that”. I made it to the start line about 30 seconds before the start of the race.

I still wasn’t planning on racing as I was expecting to lose anyway. However, for some reason I pulled away quickly from the start. Within a few kilometres the rest of the racers were nowhere to be seen. I still expected them to catch me at some point but for the early part of the race I was travelling pretty quicky. A steady 30 – 35Kph on the flat off road is pretty quick. As the race progressed I started to get tired and slowed significantly. On some of the hills, my speed reduced to 11Kph and I knew the other racers would be gaining on me.

As I got closer to the finish line I began to hope that I had enough of a lead to take first place. I occaissionally checked behind me but there was no-one in sight. I finished the 47Km in 2 hours, approximately an hour ahead of the second place rider.

It later transpired that 3 of the other racers had taken nasty falls. Two of the riders escaped with minor injuries but one rider, Paul, broke his arm and slightly severed an artery in his fall. The TDA medics were brilliant but ultimately Paul needed to get to a hospital ASAP. The worst thing to hear from the medic when you’re 120Km from the nearest hospital is “can you pass me a tournique”.

Fortunately Paul made it to hospital, had surgery on his arm to stop the bleeding but had to be flown to hospital Nairobi for more surgery to fix a complex fracture. Sadly, Paul can no longer ride his bike and is returning home after Nairobi. Apparently Paul will be back next year to finish the tour but will be missed by everyone this year. Paul’s experience was a reminder to all of us that cycling can be a dangerous business, but at least he is OK.

The dinner truck suspension broke again today, resulting in the dinner truck not arriving in camp until quite late at night. Again, the TDA staff pulled out all the stops to send the other truck back to get the kitchen equipment, prepare our dinner and russle up some spare bowls and cutlery to feed us.

Again, the truck staff worked late into the night to replace the broken suspension component by the roadside so that the truck would be ready to go by morning. At one point we had a bit of a scare when the truck almost rolled off it’s jack with people were working underneath. Scary stuff, but a sterling effort by all concerned. Thanks again, TDA staff.

Day 68 – Bush Camp to Iringa
76Km off road. The day started with a 40Km time trial to lunch. I wasn’t planning to take the time trial seriously but quickly got into the rhythm. The first 12Km were along a fairly steep track winding up through the hills. The rest of the route was also mainly uphill and we climed over 1300 metres during the course of the day. I managed a very respectable 2 hours for the 40Km. I’m not yet sure where this puts me in the “rankings” but probably somewhere near the top.
The final 20Km into Iringa were back onto paved roads and by this time I was very tired and pleased to be back on smooth roads and heading into a rest day.

Day 69 – Rest day in Iringa
We’re staying at the Baptist Conference Centre in Iringa which has a nice shady campsite a few Km’s from the town. We discovered an excellent cafe called “Hasty Tasty” that serves good, inexpensive food, great strawberry milkshakes and great coffee. I spent quite a bit of time at Hasty Tasty

I have now been cycling for 8 weeks and have reached the half way point in the trip. I currently have 3  days off from cycling and am taking it easy at the Masai Camp Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania.

The first few weeks of the tour were a shock. Life changed from a comfortable, sedentary existence to one of extreme discomfort and exhaustion. I was waking up at 5:30am, rushing to pack my kit into my locker, grab a quick breakfast and then on the bike for about 8 hours. At the end of a days riding I was exhausted and had maybe a couple of hours to rest and eat before going to sleep at 8pm. 

After 3 weeks, the novelty of cycling and camping had very much worn off . We were in Sudan where the temperatures were extreme and I was struggling to complete each days cycling. I began to dread the sound of other people packing up their tents indicating the start of the cycling day. The prospect of another 100 more days was difficult to contemplate.

I kept positive and I kept cycling, but I couldn’t say that I was enjoying myself.

Ethiopia was a massive challenge. At 30C, the lower temperatures provided a welcome break from the  crushing heat of Sudan. The altitude and hills made for great downhills but also many punishing days riding. The children added to the challenge. Wherever we stopped a large crowd of Ethiopians would gather to watch our every move.
 
Over the course of the trip, my packing and daily routine have improved. I’ve ditched stuff that I could do without and most importantly I’ve rediscovered SUGAR. I’m consuming huge quantities of sugar each day. Three or four cokes or fantas, at least 6 large mugs of sugary tea and sandwhiches dripping with peanut butter and jam.

Something has changed. I’m actually enjoying myself. The daily routines and ablutions are no longer a problem. I find the time to enjoy a relatively leisurely breakfast. The cycling is still painfully challenging though apparently the worst is over.

The challenge for me now is to start getting faster. I did zero training prior to the tour and haven’t really ridden a bicycle that much in the last few years. I’ve paid for this with pain, exhaustion and long days in the hot sun.

One of my original goals for the trip was to finish the tour in the best shape of my life. The next 2 months will be a good opportunity to push myself as a hard as possible. No pain, no gain etc. The biggest difficulty is motivation. Cycling faster involves significant pain and mental discipline and I’m just not sure that I can be bothered

I’m hoping that 3 days of rest in Arusha will give me sufficient chance to recover so that I can start getting faster and stronger in the second half of the tour. Apparently the riding is generally easier in the second half although there are still some challenging days and the tour passes through some excellent places such as Victoria Falls and the Elephant Highway.

I have mixed feelings about being at the halfway point. I’m finding the cycling extremely tough so to have only 8 weeks and just 6000Km remaining is less daunting. Every day of the tour is a uniquely amazing experience which will be very much missed when it is over.  Overall, I’m still expecting to be relieved when I get to Capetown and return to clean clothes, a proper bed and not burning 7000 calories a day on a bicycle.

Isiolo was the start of a return to civilisation after weeks of bush toilets, no showers and tough conditions.  Our campsite in Isiolo had showers, proper toilets and a well stocked bar with cold beer. Luxury. Of course, the showers were wired wrongly and gave a nasty electric shock when touched however these were our first hot showers in 2 months.

Our next campsite at the Sportsmans Arms in Nanyuki was nicer still with a swimming pool, more cold beer and excellent toilets where surprisingly, almost everything worked. Using the toilets at the Sportsmans was a surreal experience after 2 months of very basic facilities. The toilets were spotlessly clean in a nice tiled room with mirrors and sinks. The taps worked! The toilets themselves were clean, had unbroken seats and a working flush. There was a lock on the door which worked and somewhere to hang your coat. There was even toilet paper ! Nirvana.

We crossed the equator immediately after our campsite in Nanyuki. Strangely, we were 2Km from the equator but due to our altitude it’s actually one of the coldest days and nights on the tour so far.

We stayed at yet another great campsite next to a river in Sagana with a swimming pool and bar. There was an optional trip to go white water rafting which I wasn’t able to do as I had some special guests meet me at the campsite in Sagana.

A few days before leaving the UK I received an email from Alison at AVIF, one of the charities that I’m supporting, to say that some of the money donated had been used to secure school places for two boys, Pius and Norbert. Alison kindly made arrangements with the Tour d’Afrique head office for Pius, Norbert and their guardian Edward to meet me in Sagana. Pius and Norbert are really bright, good kids and it is a real boost to know that their school fees for this year have been paid as a result of this trip. A boarding school education costs approximately US$220 per year in Kenya but sadly, many children don’t get an education because they simply don’t have the money.

We had a rest day a few kilometres outside of Nairobi at a campsite / bar called the “The Rubber Arm”. The Rubber Arm had a good restaurant, internet access and a supply of cold beer and soft drinks which were paid for on an honesty system. Just take what you want, add a tick next to your name and pay your bill at the end. This made for a really relaxing time. I’m kind of sad that I didn’t venture into Nairobi but after 13 days of hard cycling with only one other day off I just wanted to relax and not do much.

Following the rest day in Nairobi, with a couple more days of surprisingly hard cycling we have crossed the border into Tanzania and now have 3 full rest days in the town of Arusha. Many of the riders have opted to go on Safaris but I have decided that I’d rather have 3 days of taking it easy. Kenya seemed to go very quickly which is a shame as it is a beautiful country with very friendly people. Some day, I will be back.

We were all very sad to have to say goodbye to a large number of people at the end of this section. A few sectional riders (Jim, Carlos and Victor) left in Nairobi. We also got a replacement truck crew and it was very sad saying goodbye to Vimpy, Yantse, Runel and George who are all awesome people. Sadly, Randy our tour director was also replaced in Nairobi. They will be missed.

Day 53 – Isiolo to Nanyuki
At 71Km on paved roads, this was supposed to be a nice easy day after tough road from Moyale. In the morning we climbed 1000 metres as we skirted Mount Kenya.

The whole landscape was on an uphill slope which resulted in a very odd and quite frustrating optical illusion. The road appeared to be on a significant downward slope compared to the rest of the landscape. The effect was totally convincing and at first nobody suspected that we were actually cycling uphill. Pedalling seemed so much harder than it should be so that we all stopped to check our brakes and tires were working properly.

After the extreme exertion of the road from Moyale I was seriously tired and was walking my bike up many of the hills. In the afternoon we had a gentle downhill for 31Km with a tailwind. I managed the 31Km whilst hardly having to pedal. This was an excellent reward after the efforts of the previous 7 days.

We camped at the Sportsmans Arms in Nanyuki and I have my first hot shower in 2 months!

Day 54 – Nanyuki to Sagana
107Km on good paved roads with steep rolling hills. I’m very, very tired and have no strength in my legs so it’s more walking up hills. In one town I stop to buy a coke and chat to Jane, Gladys and Prescilla who are very curious about the Tour d’Afrique. I think many people in Africa would love to travel but the money and opportunities simply aren’t the same as they are for westerners. Gladys really wants to cycle the Tour d’Afrique – I hope she achieves her goal.

I arrive at the campsite in Sagana at about the same time as Edward, Pius and Norbert. Talking to Edward, it’s pretty clear that he is doing a lot of very unselfish charitable work in making sure that orphans and widows are looked after in his province.

Edward tells me for example that when a womans husband dies, her neighbours will sometimes take this as an opportunity to steal her things whilst there is no man around to protect her. In response to this, Kenyan’s have a concept of “widow inheritance” where a woman is automatically “inherited” to another man from the family. The widow will sometimes reject this inheritance but in this case she is seen as not deserving of any support by her fellow Kenyans. This is where Edward tries to step in and has helped many widows by setting them up with businesses or by building them new houses.

Pius and Norbert are both clearly very bright kids. Pius wants to be an engineer and Norbert wants to become an English language lecturer. Both are very well mannered. Norbert is in his final year of school so the donations from this trip have paid for this last year of school before university. Pius is a little younger and has a few more years of school to go. Norbert needs some more money to pay arrears on his school fees from the previous year otherwise the school will not issue his qualifications. Both kids could do with new shoes.

For Pius and Norbert to miss out on the opportunity of an education for the sake of US$220 per year would be a terrible waste of potential so I am going see what I can do to help when I get back to the UK. Tragically, many Kenyan children do miss out because of lack of money.

Day 55 – Sagana to Nairobi
107Km on good paved roads with rolling hills. I’m increasingly exhausted from the previous 2 weeks of cycling and seriously looking forward to a rest day in Nairobi.

For the last 35Km of the ride we form into a convoy for the ride through Nairobi to our campsite. Nairobi is really interesting because it is the most westernised city we have passed through. Billboards advertising  home broadband seem to be all over the place. Nairobi seems like a beautiful, prosperous city.
Our campsite is actually at the head office of “Indaba”, who are the company that supply and run the trucks used by the Tour d’Afrique. There is good food, internet, cold beer and a pool table. A hundred yards down the road is a petrol station that has a kind of “mini-mall” attached where you can buy pizzas, burgers, ice cream, biscuits and toilet paper. Awesome. Truly a return to civilisation.

Day 56 – Rest day at Indaba Camp, Nairobi
Did very little but eat food, drink coffee, update my blog and a little bit of bike maintenance. Spot on.

Day 57 – Nairobi to Tanzanian Border
Today was a very tough 165Km ride over mostly paved roads and steep rolling hills. We camped about 2Km from border in yet another very nice campsite with working toilets, showers and a bar. I get to camp quite late and very tired after 9.5 hours of cycling. We may not have corrugations to deal with but the temperature, rolling hills and distance still provide a major challenge.

Day 58 -  Tanzanian Border to Arusha
After a short 2Km cycle ride to the border, we say goodbye to Randy and the Kenyan cyclists that have been cycling with us since Nairobi. Crossing the border is painless and simple and involves getting an exit visa stamp on the Kenyan side followed by paying US$50 for a Tanzanian entry visa on the other side. The process doesn’t take very long and we’re quickly on our way to Arusha and 3 whole rest days, 117Km away.

I am even more tired today, I’ve started to develop a cough and am generally feeling run down. The 3 days off at Arusha have come at the perfect time as I really need to rest and recover from the last 2 months. I think pretty much everyone else feels the same way.

We’re all expecting todays 117Km to be pretty easy on the paved roads but it turns out to be much more difficult. The road surface itself is very worn and bumpy in places which makes the going a bit tougher. A few kilometres before lunch I run out of water and am seriously tired. I decide to get on the lunch truck rather than ride in the afternoon. I want to avoid the possibilty of running my body down even further and  letting my cough develop into something more serious when I should be enjoying some time off.

Our campsite in Arusha is at a very cool bar / campsite (www.masaicamp.com) with a restaurant and cold beer (quickly almost taken for granted). Everyone is in good spirits with 3 days off whether they are staying in Arusha or going on a Safari. We have an excellent evening in the bar with some entertainment from some Acrobats.

On the first day in Kenya, I surprised myself and everybody else by finishing second in the race. This was 70Km over very challenging off road conditions which I completed in 2 hours 57 minutes.

The road from Moyale to Isiolo must be the worst road in the entire world, at least for a bicycle. Laughably called the “Trans Easy Africa Highway, the surface consists of sand, rocks, gravel and corrugations. We were warned when we entered Kenya that the road was bad, but didn’t imagine that it anything could be as terrible and challenging as this turned out to be.

Corrugations are absolutely the worst possible surface for cycling. Formed by vehicles bouncing as they pass along the road, corrugations are unbelievably jarring on the body. If you can ride quickly enough then corrugations can just be a series of violent bumps  but you are quickly over them. Ride slower and you feel every bump and your entire body is shaken so violently that it hurts your bones, muscles and internal organs. Many times it doesn’t matter what you do, you just get pounded until you can come to a stop. They are indescribably horrible !

By the end of the second day, I’d had enough of the pain and vowed not to cycle any further on such a terrible surface. After a few cups of tea and a good nights sleep I felt better and decided to let the road get the better of me. Cycling the road became a personal mission and almost spiritual journey as I experienced and overcame the extremely challenging conditions. The maximum temperature regularly reached around 48C in the sun during the afternoons and the sun reflecting off the white road surface was a surreal experience.

The afternoons were the biggest challenge as cycling in this temperature is incredible and combined with  the corrugations makes a highly surreal experience. Many people would struggle to cycle 1Km on the road let alone 5Km. Cycling 500Km on this road has been one of the toughest mental and physical challenges of my life.

Day 46 – Moyale to Sololo Camp
80Km off road. The first 10Km is a steep downhill to the official start line for todays race. I pass many Kenyan school children, a few of which are kind enough to throw stones at me as I pass. I stop and shout at them and they run away. The stone throwing was a big disappointment as we’d been told that the Kenyan children were much better behaved – however, it appears that these kids go to the same school with Ethiopian children so we put this down to a “border town thing” and hope that it doesn’t persist.

Today is the day that I manage second place in the race ! The race is 70Km over sand, rocks, corrugations and generally really bad conditions.

Normally, I don’t take the racing that seriously as I am way off the pace of the other racers and quite often don’t even make it to the start line on time for official start. I was expecting to start off gently, let everybody pass me and then complete the race at my own pace.

For some reason, today I pulled away from the other racers right from the start. When no-one came past me, I first thought I must have taken a wrong turn. I had to stop for a herd of goats that were crossing the road and at this point a few riders came past me so I knew I was on the right course.

Of the riders that came past, only one was officially in the race, so I was currently in second place. I continued at what felt like a comfortable pace still expecting the other racers to overtake. I was flying past the non-race riders who had started early to minimise their time in the hot sun.

I continued and when I eventually risked a look back, I had left everyone way behind. I started to think that maybe I had a chance of making it to the lunch stop at 35Km whilst still in second place. This wouldn’t count for anything in the official race but would have been massive personal achievement for me.

By about 30Km I was really starting to struggle and one of the other racers (Brian) came flying past me. Brian is racing in the “masters” category (ie over 50) so whilst I didn’t like being overtaken I was still in second place in my category.

At about 34Km I noticed another masters racer, Paul, about to overtake me. With only 1Km to go before lunch, I just couldn’t let him overtake. I dug deep and made a painful sprint over the corrugations to leave Paul behind. Paul later said that he had been slowly catching me up for kilometres only for me to shoot off like a rocket at the last minute. He was somewhat demoralised

When I arrived at the lunch stop I started to think that maybe I had sufficient lead over the other racers that I could make it to the finish line ahead of them. The prospect of another 35Km was hugely daunting as I had already pushed myself beyond my limits. The prospect of getting “a podium place” was too tempting so I had to at least try.

I had a quick lunch of 1 litre of energy drink gulped down and I quickly refilled both my water bottles with energy drink to get me through the second half. As I left lunch the rider behind me was just arriving. I probably had a 10 minute lead.

I was much slower in the second half and the pain in my wrists was excruciating from the hammering dished out by the bumps and corrugations. The heat from the sun was intense and I expected to be overtaken any moment. At many points I just wanted to stop, lie down and go to sleep. I rode on. 15Km into the second half, Brian who had taken longer for lunch breezed past me followed not long after by Paul. Both these riders are in the masters category so I was still in second place for the mens section.

At the tops of hills, I checked behind me and could see no-one else behind me for kilometres. I started to think I was actually going to make it. I had to remind myself that it was far from over yet and I had to keep pushing all the way to the finish line. The discomfort was immense.

My strategy of skipping lunch relied on using some extra energy bars to provide the necessary fuel. I was eating these whole so that I could “refuel” without slowing down. Unfortunately, I had over-estimated the number of bars remaining and now I had run out. I would have to rely on energy drink instead which doesn’t seem to work anything like as well. In a race like this, once your body runs out fuel, that’s it. You can try to tough it out, but without fuel your legs simply run out of steam.

I passed Brian who unfortunately was having to fix a puncture a few Km’s from the finish line and would otherwise have won his section that day. He was on top form and was flying.

Pleasantly, I had miscalculated how far it was to the end of the race and spotted the finish line 5Km earlier than expected. It was such a relief that the pain and discomfort were over and that I had actually done it. Achieving second place was secondary to the sense of achievement for having pushed myself 110% for so long. My time: 2 hours 57 minutes to cover 70Km over some seriously bad conditions. One of the more satisfying achievements in my life.

I think I surprised a lot of people that day and gained respect for doing well on one of the hardest race stages of the tour. Normally I’m absolutely last in every race and since I also leave camp last in the morning I’m often the last rider into camp in the evening. I’m not really sure what motivated me to really push that hard to “win” but I know that I wouldn’t want to put myself through that kind of pain every day.

At camp that evening, I could hear hyenas hooting around the camp site. At one point, I’m pretty certain there was something snuffling outside my tent. Apparently, we’re pretty safe inside my tent but to be on the safe side I moved the middle of the tent and slept with a knife in my hand.

Day 47 – Sololo Camp to Lava Rock Camp
85Km over the worst possible road conditions. Despite yesterdays success, I knew I wasn’t going to be racing hard as I was exhausted and just didn’t want to deal with the pain. Just before the race start, I discovered I had a puncture and so missed the start anyway.

The ride was over rocks, rubble, sand and corrugations and combinations of these. The first half before lunch was bad, the second half was even worse. The last 15Km were even worse still. There were boulders, sand and corrugations all over the road and it was impossible to find a smooth line.

If there is strength in your legs to go fast enough and strength in your arms to take the pounding you can ride over the top of the bumps. This avoids the worst of the discomfort and you spend less time on the road and in the sun. I was exhausted and had no strength at all so I felt every last bump. In the terrific heat this was an incredibly unpleasant and frustrating experience.

In addition to the road conditions and heat there were also camel flies which land on you as soon as you stop moving. They are large, horrible looking orange flies and it’s frustrating trying to get rid of them. They impossible to kill as they effortlessly avoid your swatting and instantly land on you in a different place. Fortunately they don’t seem to bite but the only solution is to keep moving.

I’m both sorry and amused to report that I had a minor tantrum. I threw my bike on the ground and shouted at the road in frustration. This really didn’t a great deal and the only option was to get back on the bike and keep cycling. I had several other episodes of pointless shouting during the course of the afternoon.

I vowed there was no way I was going to continue cycling another day in these conditions. There was no fun, satisfaction or challenge riding in these conditions. It was simply unpleasant and frustrating and I didn’t need to be doing it. Whatever it took, I would not cycle any further in these conditions. By the time I arrived in camp I had suffered from a total sense of humour loss after 8 hours of serious punishment.

Sharing the experience with the other riders quickly helped me to regain my sense of humour, but I still wasn’t going to ride that road. The rider meeting that evening made it clear that the road conditions would  be the same or worse for another 4 riding days. Somehow I found myself thinking that the prospect of riding another 4 days like this was a preposterous idea but that I had no choice but to rise to the challenge.

As we were sitting drinking tea and laughing about the day, we noticed that there seemed to be dark clouds forming in the distance. We are in the middle of a desert where apparently it only rains twice a year, so we didn’t take the prospect of rain too seriously.

Within 20 minutes, the wind started to pick up and we noticed a few drops of rain. Those people that had pitched their tents went off to put on their flysheets just in case. Within a few minutes everything had changed.  Rain was absolutely pouring down, wind was threatening to blow peoples tents away, everything was muddy.

Some of the guys removed their T-shirts and were taking advantage of the rain to have impromptu showers. Literally, people were washing their hair in the rain. I filled my mug with rain water running off one of the truck canopies. It was surprisingly cool and delicious.

People who had arrived early in camp had taken advantage and pitched their tents in the best sandy spots which were free from rocks (this is Lava Rock Camp remember). In hindsight, it was obvious that these nice sandy spots were actually depressions where the sand collects along with the water when it rains. Many peoples tents were flooded within a few minutes. The rain and wind along with thunder and lightning continued for several hours. We were all cold and wet and didn’t think it was funny anymore.

Fortunately, one of the benefits of being late into camp was that I hadn’t pitched my tent and when the rain started I threw my bags into one of the support trucks. When the rain eventually stopped, I was able to pick a dry spot, clear it of rocks and go to sleep warm and dry. I felt a bit guilty because I think many people had an uncomfortable night in wet tents.

Throughout all of this chaos, the TDA kitchen staff  were absolutely fantastic and still managed to prepare an awesome hot meal for 70 hungry people despite what was going on around them. Hats off to those guys (and girls).

The rain was a good warning to us all not to get complacent. We had gotten so used to good weather that it came as a shock to suddenly get hit by such a severe storm. We will all be much more careful how we pitch our tents in future.

Day 48 – Lava Rock Camp to Marsabit
I found myself surprised to be riding today. Yesterday I had vowed there was no way I was going to ride that road again but here I am getting my bike ready to deal with the road again. My feelings have changed and I’ve decided that I’m not going to be beaten by a road. 4 more days in these conditions is utterly daunting, but no matter what it takes, I must cycle the entire distance.

Todays ride is an unthinkable 97Km of the worst possible conditions. Last nights rain storm has left the road covered with muddy puddles but essentially it’s the same utterly terrible surface as yesterday. Today my goal isn’t just to complete the ride, but do so in good humour and with no tantrums!

The first 55Km’s to lunch took 5 hours with the full effect of sand, corrugations, heat, camel flies etc. Whilst the riding was totally unpleasant, I kept my sense of humour and managed to remain in good spirits. The temperature was ridiculous and took every ounce of self discipline not to get on the truck at lunchtime. The idea of riding another 42Km including a 1000 metre climb up the side of a volcano was impossibly daunting but I had no real choice but to try.

I was absolutely exhausted and almost overcome by the heat. The kilometers ticked by very, very slowly and I was beginning to think I wouldn’t make it to camp in time and would be picked up by the truck. About half way through the afternoon, I noticed rain clouds forming on the horizon again. Pretty quickly the clouds condensed into darker clouds and I could see sandstorms being blown towards me from the horizon.

It seemed likely that I was about to get hit by a similar storm to yesterday. I stopped to take some photographs and make sure that all the items in my rucksack were safely stored in waterproof bags. In the couple of minutes it took to stow my camera, the storm arrived. A first some sand, then a few spots of rain, then the skies opened and the rain turned on like a tap.

The rain poured down harder and harder and was being driven sideways by the wind. It was difficult to see and pretty much impossible to ride. I got off my bike and walked, but the wind was trying to lift my bike and blow it sideways ! There was thunder and lightning and the road had turned into a river. The storm was awesome but I was disappointed that it didn’t get even worse ! Hopefully there will be better storms as we travel south.

The storm lasted maybe 15 minutes and everything was soaked. I still had 25Km and a 1000 metre climb to go. The temperature had dropped about 20 degrees and even though I was very tired, cycling was much easier in the reduced temperature. It shows how much trouble the heat has been causing me.

The climb up the volcano was a gentle climb from about 10Km from the volcano, followed by some short steep climb as I got nearer to the top. It was nothing like as bad as I had thought it would be and in the cooler temperatures really wasn’t a problem.

My average speed for the day was 7.4Kph and I arrived at camp in Marsabit just after dark at 7pm, after 11.5 hours in the saddle.

Our campsite was an absolutely stunning Kenyan Wildlife Service facility. We were camped in amongst trees with a troop of around 100 baboons wandering around the camp and climbing in the trees. Probably my favourite campsite of the tour so far. It was really amazing to be so close to so many baboons. They kept their distance from us humans but did steal food when they saw an opportunity.

An ingenious and resourceful person had rigged up a hot water heating system using an oil barrel and an open fire so there was  hot water (the first in a very long time) for a “bucket shower”.  As tomorrow is a rest day, the TDA don’t provide any food for us. I had a hot bucket shower but was too tired to travel the 2Km into Marsabit for some food. I went to bed without any dinner

Day 49 – Rest Day in Marsabit
Predictably, I woke up very hungry. I needed to get my laundry done early so that it could dry whilst I head into town. I needed to exchange some dollars for local currency and then buy FOOD.

It’s a 3Km walk to the local bank and by the time I got there I was seriously weak from riding the day before and a lack of food. There is a short queue at the bank but it goes incredibly slowly. It takes 45 minutes to serve 5 people and I started to loose the will to live. Whilst I’m in the queue I realise that  don’t have my passport on me and there is a possibilty I won’t be able to change money. The prospect of having to return to camp before getting any food is not amusing.

Fortunately I did manage to change some dollars into Kenyan shillings and went off in search of food. After waiting for nearly two hours at a local restaurant I managed to get some spaghetti bolognaise and drink a lot of coffee. I also buy some chocolate and biscuits at the local market and then get more food and coffee from a local chip shop. It’s a struggle to eat yet more food, but I need the calories to compensate for missing last nights dinner.

The last couple of days have seen very heavy rain around about 3pm. I need to get back to the campsite to make sure I’m back in time to take down my laundry just incase. Having no dry clothes and packing wet laundry into my already muddy locker would not be a fun experience.

The TDA staff have organised a “Braii” for this evening. I’m not sure how this is different from a barbeque as it’s basically the same thing. You bring some food, cook it on a fire and eat it. I did spend some time looking for beef burgers in the local market but eventuallly gave up and bought the biscuits and chocolate instead. Who cares, it’s all calories.

Day 50 – Marsabit to Lashimi
Today was a hugely tough day. 87Km over the same terrible road surface and temperatures. The first half was a short climb out of Marsabit followed by some awesome downhill sections. I was feeling pretty strong and was just powering over rocky obstacles.

In the afternoon I was going much slower due to the heat and eventually arrived in Lashimi quite late after 9 hours of cycling.

We were camped in the grounds of Lashimi Secondary School and in the evening a few of us visited the school to meet the Principle and the students. The evening was a little surreal. We had a brief chat with the Principle and then Randy gave a short presentation to the students about our journey. Randy (our tour director) is a very accomplished drummer started playing some African rythyms on his drum. The students loved this and soon lots of people were dancing all over the place.

I stayed around after the dancing to talk to the students. They had plenty of questions about life in the UK and seemed particularly interested in the UK polictial system and what our main industries were. Some of the students didn’t realise that the UK is not a part of the USA    !

Some of the students have my email address and I’m hoping a few of then get in touch or read on my blog about our journey across Africa.

Day 51 – Lashimi to Bush Camp
Yet another hugely tough day. Another 87Km over truly awful conditions. It’s difficult to describe the pain and difficulty of cycling on this road. The heat is utterly surreal and the sunlight reflected from the white roads makes everything super-bright. It would difficult to design a tougher cycling challenge.

There also seem to be a new species of camel fly. They are yellow, slightly smaller and even more annoying and difficult to swat.

I plod along all day. I have no interest in going quickly and I just want to endure the conditions and complete todays ride. Kilometre after endless kilometre of corrugations, heat and discomfort.

I arrive at camp very late after 11 hours of cycling. Everyone is having dinner when I arrive. I get a round of applause and many encouraging comments for completing the ride. It’s an interesting sport when you can get congratulated for coming last by huge margin.

Day 52 – Bush Camp to Isiolo
The final day of pain. Another 87Km of riding but at some point before Isiolo we will finally hit tarmac and say goodbye to the corrugations. The first 60Km are the same terrible conditions as the previous days, an unbelievably slog against the sand, rocks and dreaded corrugations.

At 60Km we reached the current limit of a road construction project. This means we can cycle on the prepared road bed which is fairly smooth and a pure joy after days of corrugations and gravel.

After finding the new road, there was still 20Km to go and the temperature was still in the high 40′s but  the after many hours of pain and discomfort it’s essentially all over and I’ve beaten the challenge of the so-called “Trans East Africa Highway”.

The last few days in Ethiopia were easier as the reduced population density near the border meant less children and fewer attacks. Ethiopia is a very beautiful country, but we were all very relieved to be leaving to get away from the children.

In the days before Arba Minch the people including the children all seemed to be carrying machetes. It’s one thing to be worried about a kid throwing a stone at you, still another when the same kids have machettes. All things considered, this was an unwelcome development. Fortunately, it seemed that the kids with machetes were all friendly and responsible. Most people carried their machetes by the blades rather than the handles, maybe as a way of appearing non-threatening. Nonetheless, we all watched the machetes very, very carefully.

As we left Arba Minch we came across people who were clearly of a different race to other Ethiopians. The new people were dressed in “traditional” clothing and seemed to have a more primitive lifestyle. Most of these people carried spears but they were all very friendly.

We had 3 days of cycling to reach the border and cross into Kenya.

Day 42 – Arba Minch to Trail Camp
100Km consisting of some paved and some unpaved roads. The day started with a fairly long steep downhill out of Arba Minch.

Mostly the adults (and young adults) have been friendly but there was one man blocking the road at the top of the hill just outside of Arba Minch. I was travelling at about 50Kph and he was deliberately standing in my way. I moved to the side to go past him and as I did he feigned jumping in my way. What an idiot, at the speed I was travelling there was potential for a very serious accident.

After a long ride on the road, we turned onto a gravel track just past the town of Sodo. The track was an awesome downhill route through the hills. I hit 56Kph over loose gravel, boulders and ruts. Genuinely dangerous stuff, one slip could have very painful consequences. Near the top of the track I hit a rock at high speed and got my second puncture of the trip. Once fixed I was flying down the track again.

The track was very steep, rutted and covered with loose rubble and 10 feet to the left, there was a drop of about 150 feet. At one point I realised I was going too fast for the conditions and applied the brake.  The back wheel of my bike was sliding left and right and there was the very real possibility of going over the edge.  I just about kept control of the bike and got my speed down enough to take the next corner. Soon I was flying down the trail again as fast as I could. Hairy stuff, but I thought this was the most fun section of the tour so far.

We camped for the night next to the trail. The temperature at 3pm was 38C in the shade and 46C in the sun. Fairly typical.

Day 43 -  Trail Camp to Yabello
98Km off road including a 1000 metre elevation gain. The first half of the day was excellent fun with another long off road downhill followed by some short climbs with more high speed downhills. Managed to hit 46Kph today and also picked up 2 more punctures.

We were cycling through the Yabello National Park and there are noticeably fewer people and those that are here seem to be off a different race to the rest of the Ethiopians. They have much darker skin and dress differently. One woman shouted something at me, which sounded more like a dog barking than a person speaking. These people seem more primitive, but appearances could be deceptive as they certainly understand that they can get money from “ferengi” (foreigners) for having their photo taken.

I got a puncture just outside of one of the few villages and was very quickly surrounded by inquisitive children. This would be a problem as Ethiopians don’t seem to respect personal boundaries and would quicky be pulling and poking at my bike and all my belongings if I wasn’t careful.

Worse still, potentially they have very sticky fingers and it would be difficult to keep track of all my stuff when crowded with people. I went with a zero tolerance approach, making them stand back and clearing a space of several feet around me and my bike. This worked pretty well but over the course of fixing my puncture the crowd got closer and closer and were soon squeezing the tyres and generally sticking their noses in. They are nice kids and they’re very interested when I show them puncture and the thorn that I pull out of the tyre.

It’s a tough day riding in the heat and by lunchtime, I am exhausted and the road surface had deteriorated to the point where it was simply painfull and frustrating to ride. The first 50Km had taken 5 hours so I opt to ride in the truck in the afternoon in order to conserve my energy in anticipation of even worse days to come. Plenty of other riders decided to take the truck that afternoon, so it’s a bit of a squeeze but we’re all in good spirits as we realise we have skipped an afternoon of serious punishment. Respect to all the riders that did complete the entire day and even more respect to those riders that are still “EFI”.

The camp that night at the Yabello Motel comes as a pleasant surprise. So far we have only been staying at hotels on rest days and on cycling days generally it’s camping in the bush. The Yabello Motel has showers, a cheap and plentiful supply of cold cokes, good beer and toilets that are merely revolting. It makes a great change from the routine and a good time is had by all.

The food provided by the TDA is generally excellent but today is one of the many days when the chef really excels and produces some truly stunning food. There’s nothing quite like a hard days cycling, followed by cold beer and an awesome meal (thanks to James and rest of the kitchen staff).

Yesterday, I noticed that one of the minor cuts on my legs was looking a bit inflamed. Today, flies wouldn’t leave it alone and I had to cover the cut with some tape to keep them off. I’d been applying antibiotic ointment to the area but it had gone a disturbingly deep red colour. I got some good advice from one of the TDA medics and clean the cut with a scrubbing brush and some disinfectant, and then covered it with a proper sterile dressing.

Day 44 – Yabello to Grotto Camp
128Km of paved road. In many places the road surface is seriously worn out with potholes and surface defects which make riding pretty uncomfortable.

One village I passed through seemed to have a lot more people on the streets than usual. Later I found out that a major fist fight had taken place between two large groups of men. One of the other riders had been in the village just before the fight started and had been told to “go now”.

Near a different town, there was also an incident near the bottom of hill where a young woman swung a fist at me as I passed. I’m certain this wasn’t a serious attempt to hit me as she missed by miles, but these kind of incidents all contribute to the overall strain of cycling in Ethiopia. You have to be 100% alert all of the time.

Another trend that I’ve noticed is people begging for water rather than money. It seems really selfish to say “no” when I’m carrying 4 litres of water but I need all that water to get to the next refreshment stop. It sounds harsh, but if these people have been careless enough to be out in this environment without enough water, that is their problem. After weeks of constant begging I suspect that it is just more convenient for them to ask for water from me than go to wherever they would normally get it from. I’m asked for water about 5 times today.

We camp for the night near the “Singing Wells”. These are deep wells so called because the people sing as they pass buckets of water up a series of ladders to the surface where they fill troughs of water for themselves and their animals. Life is hard in this part of the world. With much relief, tonight is our last night in Ethiopia.

Day 45 – Grotto Camp to Moyale on the Kenyan Border
82Km of very badly paved road which looks like it was built by dropping lumps of tarmac from an aeroplane. By the lunch stop at 50Km, the bumps and hills have taken their toll and I’m pretty tired.

A few hundred yards before the lunch stop there is a man with an AK47 begging for money. He is holding the rifle by the stock in a non-threatening way, however for the obvious reason his request is a  more pursuasive than the average beggar. Nonetheless, he gets nothing from me as I cycle past. I wonder how the riders behind me will fare with this guy, but when they arrive at lunch they don’t report any problems.

Crossing the border was pretty straightforward. Go to one building to get an exit visa stamped in your passport, then cross the street and get the Ethiopian Customs to record your visa number. Then cross a bridge into Kenya and visit the Kenyan Immigration Office and pay $50US to get a Kenyan entry visa in your passport. This was all pretty straightforward with the TDA having given us a briefing and a map but without their help I suspect it would have taken ages to work out where to go.

We camp for the night at a Kenyan Wildlife Service facility in Moyale. There are showers and one proper toilet although there is no toilet seat and the lock on the toilet door has doesn’t work. With 70 people needing to use the toilet, it’s a tricky business holding the door shut whilst balancing over the toilet seat. The toilet also contains a large cockroach that runs extremely quickly when disturbed and I have to kill a spider that tries to run up  my leg.