Last night my fears became a reality. At stupid o'clock the rumblings of my stomach progressed to movements and I had to enter the lair of the toilet beast himself. The room was down a narrow brick alley way with no light. Two bricks served as a podium to stand on above a hole that polluted the atmosphere with gases that the eyes should not make direct contact with. Unfortunately this was impossible to avoid for the human above 5 foot that didn't want a face and head blanketed with a thick rug of cobwebs.
You had to duck and therefore you had to look down and take the brunt of the smell full in the Chevy Chase. I guess the pills make take some time to kick in I thought. I returned back to my room half the man I was when I left but at least the stomach had stopped rumbling.
To add to my terrible night, I was rudely awoken by a cockerel standing outside my door and making me aware of sunrise not just once, but once every 3 minutes for a good hour. I thought they just cockadoodled a few times? This guy didn't shut up and so to say I started the day in a bit of a bad mood is an understatement.
It's safe to say I was bad company for the majority of the day today. Tiredness, aching muscles, dehydration and lacking energy aren't the best qualities to possess when you're cycling across a mentally straining African country with a headwind and increasing heat. I tried very hard to snap out of it but had a few snaps instead at the unfortunate local that asked me "where you go?" Yes he only said it once, but that doesn't mean I've not heard it over a thousand times but he wouldn't of understand what I said anyway. If I could've, today I would've reset the whole of Ethiopian education and taught them how to say "hello" before the words "where you go" and "money." It frustrates me how they know "money" but they don't know "hello," I'm sure some drop kick is to blame and I know what I would do with him/her if I found them...stick them in last nights toilet!
I stopped to shake off my bad mood with a quite delightful mango juice and egg sandwich. Unfortunately it just sat on my stomach and made me feel heavy and slowed me down even more. I struggled through some very cool looking towns, each building was painted with vibrant colours and there seemed to be even more people on the streets then in the other busy towns. Some guy called me "china," Immensely racist so I soon put him straight and embarrassed him in front of his friends which cheered me up a little.
As I continued along the narrow road lined with cactuses I was aware that there two lakes about 3km either side of the road. It seemed a shame to head straight past them to Shashemene and not actually see them. The state I was in, it made sense to stop and try and recover a little also so when I saw a sign for camping, I made an executive decision to cut my day 40km short and check out camping on lake lagano.
If all went to plan, camping would be cheap and I would have a beautiful tranquil spot to recover in. I was half right, it wasn't as cheap as a hotel amazingly but it was quiet and tranquil and I dragged my tired legs down the sandy road to the lakeside. There was a steep rocky hill from the reception to the tent pitches and I hit some soft sand which caused my exhausted body to fall off Nigel. Luckily Nigel and the rear rack were ok and I just had to pick sharp strands of grass out of my rear end. The rest couldn't of come soon enough and I laid by the side of the lake for a good 4 hours and did nothing but listen to the birds and the sounds of water. I was the only person there.
Out of a bad thing came a good thing and I'm thankful for my struggle and poor health as I would never of stayed on the lake and enjoyed the relaxing breeze and the beautiful location as I rested. I do hope my health takes a positive turn though as I don't want a repeat performance of today despite its good ending.
As the sun set I set up my tent and didn't risk eating anything so just stuck to popping pills like an addict and sipping water. Tomorrow is not a big day as I would like to stop in Shashemene so the short 40km will hopefully work in my favour and I will get rid of this bug once and for all!
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