The past five days where among the most interesting of the Tour upon till now. Leaving Bahir Dar we constantly drove at altitudes of 1700-2500m, constantly climbing or descending. The Ethiopian Rift Mountains are beautiful, the scenic panorama's that you get to see after each and every turn, are breathtaking. Sitting on a bike is the perfect position for taking in all these impressions.
Because of the altitude, the temperatures are very agreeable. Sunday and Monday we reached altitudes of above 3000m, this is the highest point of the entire Tour. Riding at such an altitude is harder than at sea level. You're sooner short of breath, but upon till now I have managed. I'll have a tremendous condition when I get back at sea-level!!
The climax of the week was the stage on Saturday when we crossed the Blue Nile gorge: first a descent of 1400m, then we cross the Blue Nile, and than back up again, the same 1400m, over a distance of 22 km. Though but fun!
Actually there is only one negative aspect about Ethiopia so far: there are a lot of children in this country, so almost every km there is group of them awaiting you to yell things at you (Hey you, where are you go), or to ask for a pen or for money (hey you, I want my money). There is nothing wrong with this, but the moment the kids start throwing rocks at you, or try to poke a stick between your spokes, things get less pleasant. Undoubtedly these rascals can't oversee the possible outcome of their actions, but for us it is an absolute pain in the ass! You constantly have to be on the alert.
I have finalized my plans for the two weeks off, due to the Kenyan situation: On march 3 I'll be flying to Zanzibar, stay there a couple of days, after which i'll get a boat to Dar Es Salam, have a look around there, and move up to Arusha for a visit to the Ngorongoro-crater. On march 16 the Tour continues from Arusha, February 29 is the last cycling day in Ethiopia. It will be strange: two weeks without a day of biking!