Place: Lalibela
Tunes: She Wants Revenge, Armin van Buuren
What a fine shitter to use this morning...
...after which some luxury did not hurt. We were originally supposed to spend last night on this terrace. This place was fantastic.
Here was todays crashed lorry.
Some riding on very loose rocks.
The scenery is not bad I have to say.
More scenery and toilet humour. The scan
Fields.
God, what a shithole I woke up from. The mosquito net was impregnated with some toxin and I have in itch from hell everywhere. At least I managed to get 1-2 hours of sleep.
I don’t know what all of the Ethiopians are doing but I know where all of them are – on the roads built by the Chinese or the Koreans. It was going to be a long day so we started early. We had breakfast in this nice place in Gondar where we were supposed to be in if it was not for that bastard in the customs office. Spectacular views, spectacular toast and spectacular orange juice. Some luxury would not hurt at this time, but being real men, we did not stay for long ... and split off into groups immediately after that.
The amateurs went straight to the next hotel but the main group took a little shortcut to arrive to our starting point three hours later. The shortcut road was covered – with gravel and rocks – so no worries there.
The first part of the morning ride was excellent. Spectacular scenery and a good road that went up and down in every way imaginable and good weather. Lots of hills, big and small. The tarmac is new apart from some short sections, where things are apparently not quite finished. Too bad it did not last longer.
The countryside was piss-poor as can be expected, but what I do not understand is the treatment we get for no reason than being white. We were spat on. Things were thrown at us, such as sticks, stones, leaves and god knows what else. We were attacked by suicidal chickens, donkeys and children (someone must have coached the chicken and the donkey). Where do they learn all this?
And then there is the begging. Everyone begs. All the time. And so many people do precisely the same thing in precisely the same way. It's like they teach this stuff at schools. Kids hardly old enough to walk or talk were asking for money in english! Or throwing stones at us if we were moving too fast. Which we were most of the time.
No time for lunch for adventure travelers, Pepsi instead. After which, we started to chase the setting sun. Of course driving in the dark is much more adventurous than during daytime, so we pressed on in the darkness. It also started to get pretty cold reaching 12 degrees at the lowest.
Every guidebook about Africa and every person who has visited this place always tells you explicitly – do not drive in the dark. These people are social democrats and/or hippies and their advice can be ignored.
After it went dark, we pressed on for about 30 minutes dodging people, animals, all sorts of shit (usually the smelly kind). No food since breakfast and not enough water may sound like a bit of a stressful situation, but for us pro's it is just another day in the office.
We reached Peter and Pekka when there was about 60km to go to our next stop in Lalibela and decided on the rest of the night time activities. The amateurs (who drove straight on without the countryside detour) were already at the hotel.
The road ahead of us to Lalibela was a windy little gravel track. And it was pitch black. We have lights (well ok, on the GS 800 you have something just as good as a candle in a jam jar) on the bikes and no social democrats with us, so we of course pressed on.
The experience was interesting to say the least and we will be doing it again soon I suspect. We drove pretty much as fast as possible under the circumstances up and down the hills. There were some very steep hills/descends where you are in serious trouble if you forgot your ABS on as you can not break. Loose rocks and all the other good stuff. At least it was dry and you could not see how steep the cliffs down were. I suspect that a change of underwear would have been in order if we could have seen just how steep the cliffs that you almost went down were.
As soon as the road from the airport to Lalibela started (tarmac), the last stage of today’s road racing took place. It was only 15 km, so no real effort needed there. The kitchen was still open and so was the bar. Some well-earned beers and a meal followed but you do feel a bit exhausted after a day like this.
The hotel was very nice and a good night’s sleep will feel better than anything ever. In the morning there was some sightseeing in the program but real men spend the time doing motorcycle maintenance.
Is this a packet holiday or are we motorcyclists?
Tunes: She Wants Revenge, Armin van Buuren
What a fine shitter to use this morning... 
...after which some luxury did not hurt. We were originally supposed to spend last night on this terrace. This place was fantastic.
Here was todays crashed lorry.
Some riding on very loose rocks.
The scenery is not bad I have to say.
More scenery and toilet humour. The scan
Fields.God, what a shithole I woke up from. The mosquito net was impregnated with some toxin and I have in itch from hell everywhere. At least I managed to get 1-2 hours of sleep.
I don’t know what all of the Ethiopians are doing but I know where all of them are – on the roads built by the Chinese or the Koreans. It was going to be a long day so we started early. We had breakfast in this nice place in Gondar where we were supposed to be in if it was not for that bastard in the customs office. Spectacular views, spectacular toast and spectacular orange juice. Some luxury would not hurt at this time, but being real men, we did not stay for long ... and split off into groups immediately after that.
The amateurs went straight to the next hotel but the main group took a little shortcut to arrive to our starting point three hours later. The shortcut road was covered – with gravel and rocks – so no worries there.
The first part of the morning ride was excellent. Spectacular scenery and a good road that went up and down in every way imaginable and good weather. Lots of hills, big and small. The tarmac is new apart from some short sections, where things are apparently not quite finished. Too bad it did not last longer.
The countryside was piss-poor as can be expected, but what I do not understand is the treatment we get for no reason than being white. We were spat on. Things were thrown at us, such as sticks, stones, leaves and god knows what else. We were attacked by suicidal chickens, donkeys and children (someone must have coached the chicken and the donkey). Where do they learn all this?
And then there is the begging. Everyone begs. All the time. And so many people do precisely the same thing in precisely the same way. It's like they teach this stuff at schools. Kids hardly old enough to walk or talk were asking for money in english! Or throwing stones at us if we were moving too fast. Which we were most of the time.
No time for lunch for adventure travelers, Pepsi instead. After which, we started to chase the setting sun. Of course driving in the dark is much more adventurous than during daytime, so we pressed on in the darkness. It also started to get pretty cold reaching 12 degrees at the lowest.
Every guidebook about Africa and every person who has visited this place always tells you explicitly – do not drive in the dark. These people are social democrats and/or hippies and their advice can be ignored.
After it went dark, we pressed on for about 30 minutes dodging people, animals, all sorts of shit (usually the smelly kind). No food since breakfast and not enough water may sound like a bit of a stressful situation, but for us pro's it is just another day in the office.
We reached Peter and Pekka when there was about 60km to go to our next stop in Lalibela and decided on the rest of the night time activities. The amateurs (who drove straight on without the countryside detour) were already at the hotel.
The road ahead of us to Lalibela was a windy little gravel track. And it was pitch black. We have lights (well ok, on the GS 800 you have something just as good as a candle in a jam jar) on the bikes and no social democrats with us, so we of course pressed on.
The experience was interesting to say the least and we will be doing it again soon I suspect. We drove pretty much as fast as possible under the circumstances up and down the hills. There were some very steep hills/descends where you are in serious trouble if you forgot your ABS on as you can not break. Loose rocks and all the other good stuff. At least it was dry and you could not see how steep the cliffs down were. I suspect that a change of underwear would have been in order if we could have seen just how steep the cliffs that you almost went down were.
As soon as the road from the airport to Lalibela started (tarmac), the last stage of today’s road racing took place. It was only 15 km, so no real effort needed there. The kitchen was still open and so was the bar. Some well-earned beers and a meal followed but you do feel a bit exhausted after a day like this.
The hotel was very nice and a good night’s sleep will feel better than anything ever. In the morning there was some sightseeing in the program but real men spend the time doing motorcycle maintenance.
Is this a packet holiday or are we motorcyclists?
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