19/02/11, stage 20, Bush Camp to Al Qadarif

Had a good sleep last night and the gut stayed relatively quiet! When I got out of my tent Jen checked on me and asked whether it was sensible to ride, but after I explained that I felt fine she was oke with me riding. So I rode!

I wanted to take it really easy though. Today was only day 3 of our 6 day stretch into Gondar Ethiopia, temperatures are still in the high 30’s, amd the last two days of this stretch include climbing into the Ethiopian highlands. So i need to save some strenght and easy does that.

So I decided to ride with Vik to pace myself. And Vik has a little bluetooth speaker on the bike, so we played music all day while we saw the landscape slowly change. The day before khartoum we rode through the desert. Yesterday we rode through barren grasslands. And today we saw those grasslands slowly change into something that looks like the Savanah. And there was lots to see! When we stopped to see a herd of camels mended by a little boy and his bog brother we stopped to take some picture! The little boy did not like us stopping and came running and yelling like an old angry men. I thought that being friendly and showing a smile would de-escalate all this but I was wrong. Instead of that I got whipped with the whip normally used to whip the camels, which – for those who wonder – I did not particularly enjoy

Fortunately there was no damage done. Next time I’ll just run…

Nevertheless I had a great day today with Vik and we made it slowly into camp. The gut continuously felt like something still had to come out, but other than that it didn’t protest. Hopefully I’ll be completely over it tomorrow! It was good to be on the bike today!

During the rider meeting we were informed that there is some unrest in the north of Ethiopia, and that we will probably be bussed into Gondar. I have no idea what is going on exactly but again I trust TDA to make the right decissions to keep us save. However I can’t deny that I’m a bit disappointed that we will not be climbing the highlands by ourselves. I hate climbing, but simultaneously love it! Climbing is always very rewarding… Anywayzzz it is the way it is and it is the way it is meant to be….