Do you know Wayne Rooney

Thursday 5th December

My day started as last night ended. I bought a chocolate shortbread cake last night and it was that good I had to get one for breakfast. They also wrapped it up like a Xmas present which increased the appeal somewhat as it could be the only present I get this year. Today was my life maintenance day and I found and applied for my Kenyan visa with no issues at all. It takes two days to go through so I will pick it up on Monday hopefully.

After that I had the day to have a wander around and see what Addis Ababa had to offer. The answer to this is not that much other than the look of a giant building site. As I walked down Heile Gebreselassie street I had to laugh, the whole main road was dug up and filled with trucks, JCBs and pretty much every other construction vehicle you can think of. This is their equivalent to Oxford street or Hollywood boulevard and there were fancy hotels lining the bomb site. Despite it being a construction site there are no fences keeping people out though. Everybody is free to roam wherever they like, jumping over man holes, balancing along sewage pipes to get from one side of the road to the other and even timing your run so you don't get hit by a rotating digger, it was like an urban Crypton factor!

I was on the hunt for wifi which I thought should be quite easy seeing as I've stayed in some pretty grotty hotels and they've still had it and now being in the big city I should find it in most hotels. Negative soldier. I aimed high first and went straight for the Radisson Blu. They had it but I had to  be staying at the ridiculously overpriced hotel that overlooked all the beautiful roadworks in order to get it.

After a few more hotels failed me I eventually found a cafe that had it and so I checked in to say I was safe and prepared some coaching notes for a little presentation I will give to the STB coaches tomorrow. I arrived back to the office in time to wander down to the fields with Jonas and watch the U15s train.

As I sat and watched them train I got talking to a lad called G. (I can't pronounce his full name so he let me call him G) G changed my perception of most the Ethiopians I've met since I crossed the border from Sudan. For the last I don't know how many days I have been convinced that there are no intelligent Ethiopians. This is not just because the majority i have come into contact with lack any sort of education but its stupid little things like the questions they've asked me and the blank looks I've received from some very simple actions. I'm also very surprised at how poor some of their English is considering English is meant to be a legitimate second language and the majority of secondary school is taught in English so I would've thought the people educated at a university level that I have met could think of something more than "are you fine?" to say to me.

Anyway, G is 20 and wants to be a computer engineer. In order to study this at university he needs at least 300 out of 700 over 7 different subjects and is currently predicted 650. G was found by STB when he was 11 and since then has clearly done very well. He told me how he recognised that computers were the growing market in his developing country so if he wanted a good job he should be a computer engineer and he liked the thought of a challenging subject to exceed in. I liked G's style, he had the same views as me and he was also a pretty skilful footballer (a bit better than myself). I hope for Ethiopia's sake that there are more than one G in Addis Ababa because if there isn't, they will develop at a pretty slow rate!

It was the U15's first training session and it was coach Grimmy's job to pick out the stronger players. Back home this is quite easy as there are not many factors that affect a players performance other than the player himself. Here it was like mission impossible, there were so many things that changed the game and the way everyone had to play. Obviously you could tell the stronger lads and the ones with a good understanding of positioning etc. However, if the kid with one boot and one sock on had a matching pair of shoes instead, would he of scored that chance? Or, is that kid surprisingly fast and its just because he's wearing trousers and flip flops that he couldn't keep up with the play?

The coaches do say if they can play on their "pitch" with their footwear or lack of, then they can play anywhere and they're not wrong. I guess the conditions are the same for all the lads and its the ones that cope better get selected.

After football I went for food in quite a busy little cafe. If all the tables are taken that doesn't mean people don't enter the cafe, they just sit down at your table. In England this is almost unthinkable as we are a very antisocial country when it comes to talking to strangers. I'm cool with it though and a couple of lads came and sat next to me as I dug into a pizza. "Do you know Wayne Rooney?" I was asked the same question that I've been asked by almost every football/England loving Ethiopian. They love the English over here and they love Wayne Rooney the most. To save the painful conversation of explaining the difference between knowing someone and knowing of someone that I endured many times in America but with David Beckham or the Queen I said "yes" he's my neighbour.

I thought this may trigger an array of questions but I just got the thumbs up and was left to eat my pizza, he obviously didn't know what "neighbour" meant.

After dinner I walked back to the office. It was dark again but I felt perfectly safe and happily settled into my nurses room for another good nights sleep.

For the love of the game

Wednesday 4th December

The day started with a breakfast of garlic and some vegetable noodles on the side, luckily I like garlic and it may help keep the naughty kids away later.

I had good vibes today, I was excited to get to Addis and even more excited to meet another organisation. The anticipation of meeting new people is addictive and I had waited a long time to meet these guys since I have planned and have been emailing "Sport the Bridge" for the last 8 months.

As always the terrain was up and down but it seemed I had more down slopes and the ups were not that steep, just drawn out. In both situations I had the chance to take in yet more of the ever changing landscape and marvel at Ethiopia's beauty. On top of all that, the kids came in quality not quantity today and every aspect of the day would be a reason to not want this ride to end.

I didn't stop once for the whole 55 miles, the excitement along with myself wanting to prolong the enjoyment meant I found myself at the top of a hill overlooking a hazy Addis Ababa skyline by half 1. I was chuffed to bits, I said to myself "I have just cycled out my front door in Bishopstoke all the way to Addis Ababa." I laughed, Addis Ababa has always been a city I've heard about on the news and only remembered because its pretty fun to say. Never did I think I would go there and moreover cycle there from home!

The ride into the city was fun and i entered the city not far from the Sport the Bridge offices. A lot of people had no idea where the offices were despite me being literally metres away. In the end I found one guy who introduced himself as "Bayhan, it means light in English" I replied, "Chris, like Christmas it means follower of Christ in English" so the follower of Christ followed the light's direction and I found the office with no problem at all.

The second I knocked on the door, 5 kids opened it up and they were all happy to see me. The guys knew I was coming and within minutes I was playing jokes and having fun. I met alot of people very quickly but the main guys were Jonas who was involved largely in the football/sport development, three volunteers from Switzerland called Anna, Madeleine and Lisa and another lady called Forgetta, surprisingly had no troubles remembering her name! Addisu who I had been in contact fr months had unfortunately left but his replacement Lilyana arrived later and I was treated immediately like one of the family. As soon as I had unpacked and locked up Nigel, I was in the staff cafeteria eating lunch.

Jonas gave me the run down of the great work that Sport the Bridge do and I will do a separate blog about that when I've had more time with the organisation. The Swiss volunteers were occupying the guest house but that didn't STB being more than hospitable and letting me stay in the nurses room on the sick bed. Thankfully I'm far from sick, I'm very happy and very well indeed and I felt as soon as I entered the STB complex that I was going to enjoy my time in Addis.

The U17's STB team had their first training session today so Jonas took me down to the fields to watch them train and introduce me to some of the coaches. While I'm here I will be doing a bit of coaching with kids and passing on my knowledge from Southampton FC and the clubs I have coached at from all over the world to the local coaches in Addis. I like to see how they work first though because I believe a good coach is always trying to develop and any coach can learn from any other.

The field was huge and there must've been around 6 different teams all training in different areas. In amongst that there were random groups of kids socialising or playing their own games and the odd wild horse as is a very common occurrence in my training sessions back in England... The term field is very loose as well. I did see some grass but the two main pitches can be more closely described as what you will find in a baseball diamond, just dirt really. The rest was all dried grass and rock hard mud which apparently turns to thick sludge during the rainy season.

I've been out of the football loop for what seems like a year but this afternoon I was back into the swing of things and everything i saw confirmed why I absolutely love football and for me, its much more than a sport. I looked around to see hundreds of lads dressed in all sorts of clothes, colours and footwear come from all sorts of areas, houses, slums, streets to enjoy the one thing that helps them forget about everything else and be part of something good.

The kids from STB have all been saved from the streets at varying ages. They've been given a year of full time assistance from STB and a further 4 years of follow up which I will go into more detail later. What I saw was a group of 24 young men that were well organised, athletic, happy and respectful. If it wasn't for STB and football could I say that? Thankfully that's not something I need to worry about.

As I looked around there was one team in a group running a marathon, one team that was lucky enough to have a ball between two so they had two groups, one group juggling and the other group working on fitness and other teams had small sides games going on. There was a lot to take in but it was a great experience. Comparing football back home to football here is pointless but some of the differences do open your eyes. England for instance - no shinpads, no play I'm afraid, all have kit, boots and trainers, water, juice, snacks, grass sometimes AstroTurf, goals, cones, balls, bibs, possibly ladders and other equipment, fenced fields, parents support, age groups, happy lads.

Africa - no shin pads, no boots, odd shoes, one shoe one sock, bare feet, trousers, no drink, no food, no grass, no goals, a few balls, a few cones, a few bibs, communal fields, caught the bus alone or walked to training, unsure of definite age, happy lads.

This is why I love football, anyone can play it and all you need is a ball. I don't know Amharic and most the lads didn't know English but we spoke the same language of football through actions and hand signals. STB are fantastic in providing enough bibs and cones and have some balls but can still do with more. They even provide snacks and water and a travel allowance for each player which I'm sure the other teams aren't able to do.

After just watching the football tonight I can't wait to get coaching on Friday. I'm well aware that the lads will show me up as not only have I not played in months but I've never played on what may as well be corrugated steel. I've already got my excuses ready for when i shin a first touch from a dodgy bounce into row Z!

After football Jonas took me for a few beers and the conversation we had should've been recorded. Jonas studied psychology is in his thirties with a wife and 6 month old kid and has the life philosophies and ideas that will inspire the most depressed of people. We sat for hours inspired by each other I think, he told me I inspired him by being a doer an "action" man which is something that a man called Roderig told me I was all those days ago on the coast of Dover incidentally. To me, Jonas is like an Ethiopian Mr Miyagi and spoke of such amazing stories that I will definitely be taking and passing on.

It was the sort of conversation that left me feeling invincible and we should've charged the guys around us in ear shot because I'm sure people in other countries would've spent good good money to listen to Jonas. On the way back to the office I said goodbye to Jonas and grabbed some food. It was dark but I still felt perfectly safe. I bumped into Light and he told me the best restaurant to go to so i took him up on his recommendation. I couldn't believe that in a huge city like Addis Ababa i was already bumping into people on the streets that i knew. As always I kept my wits about me but Addis Ababa has instantly struck me as a safe place and I'm told by everyone it is. It is the years of media that has corrupted my brain along with many others that makes me initially think someone is up to no good when all they are saying is "hello." If its not that its me initially thinking that they're staring at me because they're eyeing if i have any valuables on me and where they are and not that they are just staring because I'm a strange looking white man who is filthy, hairy and its Ethiopian culture to stare anyway! (Also as I've mentioned previously, the fact that I might be packing nun chucks and they're actually pretty scared)

So anyway I walked alone confidently just the few hundred yards back to the office where the security guard let me in and I could get comfy in my little bed and feel perfectly safe.

A really great day and once again I am blessed with unbelievable hospitality, good people and another experience to remember. Tomorrow is what I call a "life maintenance" day. Apply for Kenyan visa, check in with the family, possibly find some more inner tubes and do a bit of sightseeing. Not a bad plan if you ask me.

Tyred out but still rolling

Tuesday 3rd December

I was woken up several times during the night and early hours of the morning. Ethiopian truckers have no respect for others using the hotel and so will happily blast their horns and talk as if they are standing next to a jet engine at stupid hours of the morning.

I got out of bed at 8 and went to the restaurant next door again for breakfast. Breakfast is no different to dinner I just add egg in the mornings. I was kicked out at 9, I don't know why, the customers they get are mainly truckers or tours and they don't get in until 5 and they only have one bed to make and a chair to reposition because they certainly don't fuss around with the shower!

Anyway, I slowly wheeled out of town my tired legs and unfortunately lasted 40 minutes until I had an issue. The rear tyre again! I didn't want to change it again but it looked pretty flat so I pumped it up again as best I could just to see how long it lasted. The morning began with a lot of tough climbs and as always, I just had to suck it up and get on with it.

The first memorable moment of the day which I will take as my Ethiopian Christmas memory for the 3rd December was of a girl saving her sister from crossing the road without looking which would've ended up in me knocking her into Kenya. Thankfully for both parties, her very vigilant older sister who could've been no older than 10, grabbed her shirt and stopped her before Nigel could knock her flying!

Not much happened today. The climbs were tough but followed by an enjoyable downslope, the villages were quiet and in between villages there were hardly any kids. This gave me a very rare but much appreciated chance to take in and really enjoy the  simply magnificent landscape that Ethiopia possesses, the country is simply stunning. It was a shame I had the slow puncture in the back of my mind but it held out until 30 minutes before I stopped for the day so I pumped him up a second time and surprisingly arrived at my destination at the very early time of half 2! 

I couldn't believe it when I saw a bank with the name of my destination "muketuri" on the sign. The town wasn't even a one horse town, it was a one donkey town and I chose the second of the two hotels purely because I accidentally flew past the first. I was properly in the sticks with this place and I have broken my record of hotel prices as my room was a massive 30birr, that's just 1 very fine English pound!!! I didn't care what it was like as I'm in Addis tomorrow but it was ok and surprisingly large as I could fix Nigel inside it with no problems at all!

I went to stock up on meat and was guided by a man to the best restaurant in town. The meat was cooked well but no different to anywhere else, fried with green chillies then put on some injera. I had a sauce with it that if you got just a tiny bit, tasted like horse radish. If you got more than a tiny bit then imagine your horse was a stallion and the radish was a fiery pit of molten lava. (I could feel my lips blistering!)

I sat and watched some TV in the bar with the locals and helped them with what seems to be Ethiopia's biggest burning question. I've been asked this question twice in my time here so not that often but my response has been waited upon by many with intense anticipation..."Is wrestling real?" Both times I've been asked the whole bar has stopped watching WWE and waited for my response. I could've said anything and they would've taken the foreigner's opinion as gospel! I said 80% fake which still keeps them guessing as to what bits are real, I could've been outrageous and said it was all fake or all real but I feared that would spark outrage in the bar.

Answering that question proved too much to handle and I had to go back to my room for a nap. A couple of power cuts later and some more food and I was ready for bed. It's been getting really cold at night so i will definitely be cocooning myself under the blankets away from the cold and the annoying little mosquitos!

Gorging my emotions

Monday 2nd December

I asked a seemingly knowledgeable man what i was up against today. He said I had 20km down then 20km back up the Abay Gorge so a decent breakfast was in order. I wasn't going to kill myself like the Blue Nile Gorge and go without a previous dinner and breakfast so the two dinners last night would surely help aswell.

The second I was out of Dejen I was into the descent. The view was absolutely spectacular but there was no way I could enjoy it. Full concentration and focus was necessary to manoeuvre down the road without smashing into a pothole. The road was in a bad way and it seemed gravity and lorries had combined to create moguls in the tarmac the entire way down. The only smoothish section of the road was the part that people were walking up.

Every 100metres there were groups of elderly women carrying back breaking amounts of wood on their shoulders. The road was so steep in some sections it must've taken them at least 6 hours from bottom to top to walk up. The smell of burning gearbox filled the air and it was a struggle for the lorries, let alone the locals. I could feel my brake pads melting as I tried to keep Nigel from running away from me off the edge of the cliff.

As I got closer to the bridge at the basin of the gorge I flew past a group of surprised monkeys that scattered off the edge of the cliff. I couldn't believe it, I have cycled to a place where monkeys live! I've cycled to my local zoo loads of times but this was something else. It was like pedalling through Longleat but I had no protection of a car! I was pretty pleased they were scared of me as I wouldn't really know what to do if they fancied a ride on Nigel.

When I got to the bridge at the bottom I thought it would be a good idea to give my tyres an extra pump up for the long  climb I had ahead of me. Stupidly I lazily kept the bags on the bike and payed the price when the valve on the rear tube decided to split under the weight. As the sound of air came rushing out the two policemen standing next to me learnt some new English words. Annoyed with myself I got straight into changing the tyre and it was 25 minutes from the sound of a split tube, to waving the policemen goodbye, this wasn't too bad but meant I would definitely end up cycling through the midday heat.

The road was steep yes but not impossible and I managed to stick to a rhythm that worked well. As time went on myself and Nigel began to creek and click but the focus was on never stopping, never daydreaming and bit by bit I would get to the top. Sweat began dripping and my breathing got increasingly heavier but my legs were still in good form, those two dinners and breakfast were really paying off. Around half way up I dragged myself past an elderly couple walking down. The man stood there and gesticulated he wanted food, talk about timing I thought, I was far from in the situation to be stopping and giving out gifts! This annoyed me at first but I had no energy to summon anything other than a frown in his direction.

As I continued up the gorge I thought to myself about "cheek" and what people in Ethiopia find acceptable or what they do to get my attention. They have no tact as they wouldn't know how to have tact. That man must've really been desperate as he wouldn't of asked in the first place. It didn't matter to him whether he saw me walking past on a flat runway or struggling up a cliff, he was in need. I hate it when the adults beg as you think to yourself that they should know better but they need it just as much if not more to be able to keep going in life!

This stayed in mind as the climb got increasingly harder. The road zig zagged constantly and I just focused on completing a zig then completing the zag and continued to do that until the road stopped zigging and zagging. A few corners later I came across a mother and three children. All four of them had water containers either on their back or shoulders and each container differed in size compared to the size of the child. 

I was struggling, I didn't need to stop and i knew i was going to make it to the top but there was no two ways about it, this gorge was tough. We make jokes about the people of Africa walking miles and miles each day to get water when really they should just move house! Now here's a situation that I found myself in, under the searing midday heat and panting my way up a gorge with 2 litres of water strapped to the back of a heavy bike. The difference being, I know that I'm only going to have to do this once which is the main factor in helping me actually do it. That mother and her 3 kids will probably make that walk 4 maybe 5 times a week, possibly everyday and there isn't any choice for them.

The kids asked for pens as i wheeled past them and this stayed in mind along with the old man. The second I cycled past the family one of my two Christmas songs came on. Since the start of my ride, almost everyday I have had to skip the song until Christmas time. It being the 2nd December I thought it was fair enough I kept it playing. It was one of my favourites, little drummer boy. I listened to the lyrics and they struck a chord with me and I felt my emotions building.

As this happened, I spotted a boy ahead of me standing on the edge of the cliff just looking out towards the gorge. He turned and watched me pedal up towards him but unlike every other kid I have come across in Ethiopia, didn't say a thing. As my Christmas song finished I stopped the bike alongside the boy and flicked my head back in acknowledgement of his presence. In that moment of silence between songs he walked over the road towards me. I turned and got the 2 litres of water from under my Bungy chords and gave it to him, still he said nothing, he just put an open hand up and I turned silently and continued up the cliff. The second I pushed on the pedals the next song began and it took just seconds after that for me to open up in floods of tears.

I really can't tell you why I released so much emotion, was it the previous thoughts that I was keeping in mind? Was it the fact that without a word spoken, a connection and understanding was made? Was it the timing between song and situation? Or was it just a release of days and days building up and the realisation that I was going to finally break down the barrier the gorge has been posing. 

I don't know what it was but it was a moment I will never forget. A situation that I felt was beauty personified and my Christmases and more specifically 2nd of Decembers will never be the same again after Ethiopia. Not for anything that I did may I add, it was the boy, the way he looked at me and the way it was a moment in life of pure silence and the action was a natural thing to do, with both parties having a seamless understanding despite the obvious barriers.

The whole situation clearly (the blog should give it away) resonated through my body and I probably would've blubbered my way all the way to the top of the gorge. I didn't though as I heard frantic beeping coming from behind me. I turned around to find a familiar beaming smile bombing his was up the road. Edwin had stayed in the hotel an extra night and left early this morning and caught me up. We both acted like we had been friends for years and hadn't seen each other in ages! We had a quick chat and I was pleased he hadn't been eaten by hyenas. Edwin's plans were to head straight to Addis so I got his email and will give him a shout when I get there in a couple of days.

Blubbing soon changed to beaming and I continued what was still another 8 miles up to the top of the gorge. My man this morning was spot on! I hit 12.5 miles to the gorge bridge and then hit 25.2 miles as I punched the air with a huge sense of achievement when the road flattened into a plateau. This was greeted by a few beeps of support from some locals driving past which I very gratefully accepted. 

The next village of Gohatsion was just a short cycle away and I stopped to grab some food. Whatever happened next, today and the gorge climb will be remembered forever. 

I had just 40km left and a guide who was eating food on the table next to me said it was all flat to Gebre Gurach. I was so happy and really looking forward to finding a nice place to stay. I acquired a cycling buddy for about 10km. I don't know if he thought I couldn't see him but he cheekily slipstreamed behind me from one village to the other. I caught his shadow out of the corner of my eye and for a good half an hour or so he was very content on letting me do all the work whilst he hid behind me.

He eventually got alongside me and we had a quick chat, he was a teacher and was cycling home from work. As I happily chatted away i noticed my rear tyre getting pretty flat. I had a puncture but I was only a couple of miles from my destination so gave him a quick pump up and nursed Nigel back. The tyre got flat a lot quicker and I ended up walking the final mile to my hotel.

I looked like the Pied Piper as I arrived into the town with a line of five or six kids following behind me. I stopped at the Africa Hotel where a room and a shower was 70 birr. I should've just got a room for 60 as the shower didn't work. I grabbed a coffee and some food from the restaurant next door where they were roasting the coffee beans outside. It was amazing and I'm sure i won't be able to recreate the same coffee when I get back home so I'm making the most of it now.

After dinner I went back to the room to fix Nigel. The second time I've had to change the tyre in a day! I had to do it by headlight as the room light was horrible and dim but I changed the tube no problems. I'm using old tubes now which isn't ideal, I will see if I can get some strong ones in Addis.

A very very special day. I was so proud to cycle the gorge with no help or pushing, happy to see Edwin again and got an extra experience that I will never forget. In a life and country of relentless noise and craziness I think it was the 10 seconds of pure silence and the action and reaction that got me so emotional in the end. 

It really was a beautiful day.

Up and down like a "you-you"

Sunday 1st December

Over breakfast I saw Edwin emerge from the toilet. He was feeling a lot better than last night which was good so we planned to maybe meet at the same village at the end of the day.

Getting to Dejen which was my proposed village seemed almost impossible looking at Edwin's much more accurate and in depth map of the terrain. He was going to wait to call his parents at 2pm which gave me time to get some decent miles in. The plan was to stop at either one of two villages and go to the best looking Hotel. Edwin took a picture of me and would then follow me on a man hunt to find a filthy castaway on a bike. Fool proof plan obviously!

As its the 1st December and I would normally open a door on my advent calendar I am making an African version of the first memorable incident of the day. Today I opened my first door to a man really encouraging me and clapping as I motored up a hill. 

I felt really strong today (possibly the thought of meeting a familiar face at the end of the day) but not only that, the amount of pesky kids or how i like to put it, kinderruptions was drastically lower and as always the older generation were in fine form with smiles and thumbs up. As I sang Robbie Williams' "strong" two old blokes who struggled to walk down the hill with their sticks all of a sudden burst into dance and started jigging around and waving their sticks in the air. Just as this happened a local younger man cracked out a traditional Ethiopian dance which is where you pop your shoulders back and forth really quickly. It kind of looks like a chicken impression mixed with someone putting an ice cube down your back but its great to watch and not easy to do. (I tried it and almost slipped a disc!)

Today the wildlife was in full form and more specifically birdlife. Unfortunately i couldn't tell you what on earth all of them were but the most impressive ones looked like a cross between a pterodactyl and a vulture. There were hawks a plenty circling dangerously close to my head and electric blue birds along with every other colour you can think of but I am yet to find zazu, I'm keeping my eyes peeled for him though. (Lion king reference again for you there)

I found myself in a town called Debre Markos just as the college kicked out. It was great to see so many people coming out of education but the stampede was a bit mental as I tried to manoeuvre through the hundreds. I stopped for lunch on the roadside so I could jump out in front of Edwin if I saw him riding past. I've been eating a lot of the same foods recently, its nice food but I fancied a change. Instead of my usual "curry," I chose the perfect food for a man sporting a bit of gruff around the mouth, soup! And not only that it was meat soup that had the cooked sheep leg still in it.

It is tradition in Ethiopia to only eat with your right hand as your left hand is for other purposes...and it's also frowned upon to lick your fingers. Well let's just say I have no issues with people frowning at me and so i proceeded to get both hands stuck in, face dripping with oily mutton soup and as the colonel would say, the whole lot was "finger licking good" and they didn't provide napkins so what else was I going to do!

After a decent meal and rest it was time to get back on the road where I would cycle towards an unknown town that myself and Edwin had agreed on but he was more likely going to catch me up en route anyway. It took a while to shake off the "lunchtime legs" but when I did I found myself making excellent progress and the more preferred 120km marker of Dejen was becoming more possible.

I left so late this morning and had an extra long lunch I didn't think there was any way I could squeeze the miles in but the road was being kind to me. I arrived at the original "unknown" village at around 4pm and I was surprised Edwin hadn't caught me up. The terrain changed so much and I even cycled through a forest which I thought Edwin may've stopped at as he has a hammock and said he would look out for trees if he couldn't find me. As I cycled through the unknown village it became apparent that there was no hotel and I really didn't fancy camping. I had a tricky decision to make, do I carry on and push for Dejen which would be a fight against daylight, do I chance it with some locals in this village or do I just keep going till sunset and end up camping in the centre of Hyena land and hope maybe Edwin catches me up and we can at least camp together. Not one option was a guarantee or really desirable as I was initially set on a nice hotel and a beer with Edwin. As always though, plans change and the movie that is my life took an interesting turn.

I decided to fight against daylight. If the road stayed good then I had worked out, with the help of getting an average of multiple distances that I received from the locals, that I would arrive in Dejen at around half 6, just before sunset. I got my head down and turned my music up. As the sun set behind me and my shadow grew longer in front of me, I felt stronger and had somehow summoned a ton of energy so late in the day.

I motored to the top of the hill only to look down and find road works for as far as the eye could see. I couldn't believe it, Ethiopian roads have been perfect up until now and just when I need them to stay perfect I am faced with not tiny bits of gravel but huge coarse foundations that was like cycling on giant marbles. My bike is not cut out for this terrain and it wasn't as if there was a solid layer of tarmac underneath that the lorries constantly going past had revealed. The rocks were 2-3 feet deep in some areas and absolutely impossible to ride.

I was gutted and angry. There was no way around it and I had to push Nigel for 5km along the equally as bumpy muddy path along the roadside. This drastically affected the likelihood of arriving in Dejen before nightfall and I really did not want to be cycling with the lights on as the Hyenas are up and hunting as soon as the sun goes.

The road eventually turned back to tarmac and I absolutely went for it with all I had. The kids could've said, thrown or done whatever they liked I had one focus and that was to push Nigel to the absolute limits. I converted the frustration and anger of the roadworks into pure adrenaline and with a quick question to a local man on a bike I was given hope, 10km to Dejen and its downhill! Woohoo! I let out a massive cheer. I had about half an hour of sunlight left, the sun had gone but the sky was still a beautiful orange.

My hope and enthusiasm was dashed and crushed into pieces as I reached the crest of the next hill. Again, I looked down to find the remaining 10km of "road" a track of dust and rubble. I couldn't peddle it, it was far to dangerous and as the speeding lorries had carved one lane in the road there was no way I was going to submerge myself in the dust just to get a half decent surface that would probably result in either breaking Nigel or breaking me.

From being up the majority of the day to down to up and then a massive down again, my emotions were like the terrain and I just couldn't believe how far the road works went on for, this beat Turkey! I lifted Nigel over a reservation of rock to get on the unfinished tarmac side of the road but it meant I had a few extra metres of cycling before both lanes turned good again. I eventually arrived in Dejen in darkness but at least I was in the town. I just needed to find a decent hotel.

I stopped at the first hotel/motel and asked one of the truckers the price. 120 he said, it was more than I'm used to but the place looked pretty decent. I approached the manager and she said it wasn't 120 and that it was 180 for me. Despite it being late and dark, that annoyed me and I'm a man of principles so i left her and prayed there was another hotel down the road. My rubbish phone map did say there was but as I continued to cycle and frantically look both sides of the main road I wasn't prepared to bet Nigel on it. As it happened my map was spot on and Alem hotel shone out like a shining star in front of me. The room was 100 and there was a decent looking restaurant that was showing Chelsea-Saints just kicking off.

I've always wondered why they put just one chair in motel rooms with no desk. It's normally used as a clothes horse but I used mine to slump exhaustedly into and take in another mental day but a good day in the end. The hotel manager and her friend sat with me as I watched the football, had a beer and easily munched my way through two Spaghetti Bolognese's. 

I was knackered in the end so couldn't manage the whole Saints game but at least I was safe and not battling the Hyenas in my tent in some random field which looked dangerously likely during the last hour of the day.

I've set myself up nicely to tackle the Abay Gorge tomorrow. I've been building myself up for this day for at least a week now so let's hope all goes well.

Cycling friends!!!!

Saturday 30th November

I had to make a pitch black dash to the toilet last night. I didn't need to see where the hole was as the smell of pure ammonia just got stronger the closer I got and when my eyes started to burn i knew i was probably in the right position.

The sleep itself was amazing and I am yet to have a bad nights sleep in Ethiopia. For £1.75 you would at least expect a withered bed or a stained mattrice, I had a blanket cover with tassels!

I had breakfast at the hotel bar and was adamant I didn't want injera for breakfast so I asked for bread with my tibs. (Yes I had sheep for breakfast but its no different to having a sausage sandwich!) what did I get? Tibs, injera and bread! What can i say, they just love the massive flat, rubbery crumpet out here!

A good feed was probably what I needed anyway as I was expecting a few more hills than yesterday but what I got instead was a very pleasant surprise. I started the day coasting downhill and this was pretty much the theme for the whole day! I couldn't believe it, another cruisey day, I was happy but the constant downhill only added to the daunting uphill that I'm yet to experience. As I did yesterday, I made the most of every second and the Fonze came out again. There was also more singing to be had and I even had a local boy dancing to my atrocious singing as I cycled through his village.

At one village one boy on a bike was eyeing up a bit of a race. As he cycled up alongside me I had a quick chat with him as I noticed he had a chemistry book strapped to his rear rack. We coasted alongside each other for a good mile or so and as conversation dried up I didn't know what else to talk about and he wasn't exactly blessed with verbal diarrhoea. What's best for awkward silences when you're cycling alongside an 18 yr old chemistry student? a good old sing song obviously! I popped the earphones in and proceeded to belt out the whole of Take That's "Never Forget." A great song with great lyrics and as we were only a metre or so away from each other it was hard to avoid eye contact. I couldn't really tell whether he was smiling or grimacing but I was enjoying myself at least and my high spirits were carrying on seamlessly from yesterday.

Just 5 minutes after possibly the only time any man other than Gary Barlow has sung "never forget" to an Ethiopian, a man on a motorbike pulled up beside me. "Well I don't normally do requests but as I'm in a good mood, what song do you want?" I didn't say that but I was more than ready for round two. Instead he just said "hello" and he was more than happy to pootle along by my side at a whopping 15mph as we wheeled through quite a busy village.

On the uphill he sped off but then waited for me at the top. Edwin is from Holland and he's touring around Africa for a year. It took all of 5 minutes before we shared our poo statuses and he had a "burning belly" so was keen to stop at the next village and I hadn't stopped yet so we agreed to go for a drink.

We stopped for a drink and it was great to have another person to chat to, especially on my lunch break! Edwin camped with the Hyenas last night and was having a bit of a tough time in Ethiopia as somebody stole his pocket knife this morning as he was surrounded by kids when he woke up. Even though I've done the same I think he made a bit of an error by angrily telling them to go away before his knife got stolen. As I suspected, fighting the kids with fire only gets you burnt and I recommended he should do the hotel thing in Ethiopia and he agreed when I told him about the price of a room.

After a drink he felt  better so we decided to find somewhere to eat. Edwin wanted a burger which I thought was mission impossible. He tried to point to a picture on a sign which made me laugh and I explained to him what I had learnt in Slovenia when I asked a man what the picture of food on the menu was, "that's a picture, McDonald's advertises burgers but they don't look the same do they" he said.

We rode further down the road trying different restaurants on the way, all of which pointed us in different directions. As I pulled away slowly behind Edwin a dirty old homeless looking man kindly spat in my face. I thought it was disgusting as it is but it was never going to faze my sky high spirits. I was having a good day and the man had no front teeth so I will take it he was just trying to say "I love you" and couldn't really control his gums.

We found a top hotel with a quality menu and amazingly they gave us a choice of hamburger, cheeseburger or special burger. I asked what was in the special burger as if it meant dipping it in rice pudding then I was going to opt for the regular cheese option instead. The special ingredient was a fried egg so we both ordered one of them and as Edwin rang his parents I chilled out and basked in the fact that I was having an excellent day and I only had about 20 miles left.

I didn't think Edwin would be keen on stopping with me as 20 miles is still a big difference in time for a bike compared to a motorbike but I was happy for the lunchtime company nevertheless. The burger was beautiful, thick, homemade and came with chips and for under £2 I would go as far as saying it was the best value for money burger I have ever eaten. Edwin said he wasn't keen on a long ride just incase things took a turn for the worse so agreed to ride along with me. So we left the hotel and I had a motorised support vehicle which looked exactly like it does on the Tour de France. This only attracted yet more attention from the locals but I did manage to engage the slipstream a few times which was fun.

On the uphills Edwin would hoon it to the top and stop for a cigarette whilst i slowly dragged myself up to meet him. It was very much a tortoise and hare situation for at least 10 miles of hilly road but Edwin didn't mind. On one of the hills I could see the bike and the helmet resting on top with a few kids standing around the bike but no Edwin. A bit worried I tried to up the pace slightly but it didn't take long for me to clock the situation when I spotted Edwin's sunny side just a few metres from the roadside. It seemed Edwin was experiencing the same monsters I've been friends with a few times and I really shouldn't laugh but the paper trail of clothing left thrown across the ground displayed the urgency of Edwin's operation and we both let out a little chuckle. The kids happily stood by and watched the whole thing, they just waited for us to finish talking so they could squeeze in the odd "money, money" 

I tried "Tao" out today and it worked a treat, the kid was shocked into silence and I could continue riding on my rainbow with no begging to affect me. Asking the kids for money and pens before they could also worked similarly well but they were more confused into silence.

We arrived in Demebecha at around 4pm and I found a decent hotel for 80birr (£2.60) I was buzzing, 2 St George's down and I could put my feet up for the night. Unfortunately Edwin wasn't feeling the same and he went for a shower but then hibernated away in his room and didn't answer my knocks so I guessed he just needed to sleep things off. I got talking to a few locals and a lady named Jade from Chicago who was working for the Peace corps here. She's been here 13 months and has another year left but obviously knew the language and alot of the locals very well so we had a great chat about the local culture.

I told her I was getting fed up of injera and she told me alot of good foods to choose and offered to take me out for dinner. I gave Edwin one final knock but he must've been dead to the world so myself and Jade walked down to another hotel where they had the closest you can find to BBQ'd Lamb. It still came with Injera but the meat was cooked differently and in a much better way. We sat and had a great chat about lots of different things and Jade has given me some extra Amharic sayings and food tips for future use. 

Time was rolling on and it was getting past my regular bedtime of half 8 so we decided to call it a night. Jade went back to her mud hut which all the peace corps people have to live in and I was happy with my newly decorated hotel room which smelt of wood as the bed must've been brand new. 

Another quality day with quality people. I hope to see Edwin tomorrow before I embark on my 2 day climb towards Addis and hopefully the poor bloke doesn't have to ensure for too long what I now take for granted!