Quite a tough day today.....back up to 2300m

Beyond the Saddle ....Cairo to Cape Town
Howard Fairbank
Sun 25 Feb 2007 14:57
Position: 05:50.534N 38:15.694E

Into the 5 degrees north now! Just down the road of a place called Hera Lipitu...not sure you will find it on a 'normal' map!

Cycled 104km today, but it felt like 140km...lots of hills and valleys, and then one huge hill..the one that was supposed to have beeen the day before!

Had a hyena come quite close to our campsite last night....

The ride started off wonderfully at 6 45am, heading out just before sunrise, in this heavy equatorial type environment.....very lush, and lots of traditional grass hut villages.

Went through Dilla, which was quite a big town, with a few good coffeee shops.....the coffees are wonderful here in ethiopia, as one may expect....machiatto's that cost 1 birre or 25US cents!

Broke a chain again today...too much power connecting in up the mountains! Also broke a spoke...too much speed on the downhills and the road surface has deteriorated.


Fixed the chain on the run, but with at least 40 locals watching EVERY single move in the process!

I got into camp at abou 2pm feeling quite tired, but satisfied.

Forgot to mention yesterday...that we were 7 are in Rastas country.....lots of reggae stuff and people have a different outlook...more in the newsletter.

The people intrusion thing hit MAX today....maybe because i know I have only two more days of it.....I'll expand on this in the newsletter...the psycological effects on me is something I wasn't prepared for....!

Lots of fresh fruit around....bananas, pineapples, avo's etc.....these people here aren't starved!

Thats about it for now

Howard.