I woke up really really demotivated. I had some barriers in my head that took alot to break down and if it wasn't for my free breakfast buffet I could've easily rolled over and slept it off. Instead, I dragged myself to the hotel restaurant and stocked up on egg and bread and by stocked I mean 3 platefuls of scrambled egg and 12 buns. I was the only one there and the staff didn't seem to mind me doing shuttle runs between tables so i got stuck in. In the end I think I have opened their eyes with regards to the capacity of a human's stomach but in all honestly I only stopped eating because they ran out of scrambled egg, I could've happily carried on.
Despite knowing that as soon as I get on the road ill be in a better mood it is still very hard to make that extra effort to leave your room. I had the thought of tough terrain and torment in my head, that's enough to make anyone want another day in bed! In reality it took me 2 minutes to turn my frown upside down and as I weaved in and out of the morning traffic I liberated myself from Bahir Dar via a gap in the standstill traffic. There was a slight collision which wouldn't of affected the flow of cars that much but the 30 people debating who's fault it was caused a four lane road block.
Myself, Nigel and Beirdre squeezed down the side and were let loose into the beautiful Ethiopian countryside. As time went by it became more and more apparent that the uphills I was dreading the most would not play any part in today. I figured this out when I got to the top of a hill and established that the landscape was just gentle rolling hills for as far as the eye could see. The road was quiet and the kids were few and far between. I was beaming and soaking in the alone time I was offered, I even stopped a few times to take pictures instead of focussing on the next stop. The older farmers were delighted to see me and some wanted to get into my pictures. I was not going to just power through today, I was going to savour every second.
I felt strong and in the zone as my music played its part in creating an upbeat and sunny theme tune to my life for the day. Kids were not just sung to today but given animal impressions and one group of teenagers even got the Fonze! Don't ask me where he came from, I just spotted the lads in the distance and as I flew past them, both thumbs were up and a no handed "Ayyyyyyy" jumped out of my mouth.
The state of the villages got stronger today as well. Buildings looked stronger and different materials were used suggesting to me that there was a bit more import/export distribution occurring between other villages. People looked sharper and better educated and there was a bit of variation in the things shouted at me. Amazingly as I pedalled up a hill through a village I had a "bravo, you very strong man!" Not only was he expressing himself to me in not just English but he was complementing me, top marks for you sir, I will invite you to my house for tea.
I decided to stop briefly for some biscuits and a bottle of water because I could feel myself lagging a little but had no idea that I had cycled a full 50 miles and found myself just over an hour away from my bed for the night! Today had flown by and I was looking forward to putting some effort to finding a cheap hotel instead of just exhaustedly agreeing to the first one I stumbled upon.
I arrived in Injabeera at around 2. Today was the start of me getting back into the swing of budgeting again as I slipped up a little in Bahir Dar. Right, i need to be under £10 a day and I've already spent £1 on lunch but I need dinner and an after dinner snack later so let's aim for £3-5 a night for a hotel I thought. I arrived at a hotel which was more like a motel with a square courtyard area and rooms around the edges. How much is the room? £1.75, yeah go on then. It was like a cell with a double bed and a chair in but the bed felt like memory foam and I managed to get an upgrade to a bigger padlock for my door so I was well chuffed.
It was only until after I collapsed on my bed that I realised I had no toilet and in recent days this has been a necessity so I just ensured I had my loo roll at the door and I had a clear route to the communal pit.
I had a coffee in the hotel restaurant and had a very rare and random conversation with a well educated Ethiopian as we sat and watched the world go by. Don't ask me how but we got on to the subject of fighter pilot recruitment requirements, see, told you it was random. We had a good laugh and I could finally express my feelings to a local about the issues I have experienced in rural Ethiopia. It was nice to have a wee vent and he agreed with me which made it better but we both agreed it would take more than two blokes drinking coffee to improve Ethiopia but at least the country is going in the right direction. (This is easy to do when you start at a dead end)
After this he then pointed me to a restaurant that served meat as it was a fasting day today and the majority of establishments will not serve any animal related food stuffs on a Wednesday or Friday. Meat and egg have been pretty much all I've had and I was not liking the idea of giving them up for a vegetarian curry. I had the usual "tibs" (bits of sheep with bath mat) and whilst I sat and ate, a very helpful man sat and ate next to me and helped me out with some local language that may help scare off the odd pesky kid that I've been coming into contact with.
"Tao" means "no touch" and was probably the easiest for me to remember so I will give that a go tomorrow and see how successful it is. After dinner I was pretty tired, although I hadn't taken that long to do it, I still managed 120km today so I went back to my cell block to end a very successful and enjoyable day.
The mountains are still waiting but after today I feel a lot more comfortable in conquering them. I know I can do them even in a bad mood but my spirits have certainly been lifted a lot since this morning which is always nice.
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