14th November 08

Date: 14th November 08
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Weather: A few clouds today but the sun was still out and shining, 32°c
Status: Wahoo, we’re moving again!!

Up good and early to get the list of jobs done before leaving the capital for the last time, the visas are in the bag, the truck is prepared and we now need to haul ass to get home in time for Christmas!

Bre and I have decided to leave the others again for a few days, they wanted to stay in the capital for a few days longer and we need to get ahead in order to climb Ras Dashen and be back in Gonder by the time they arrive in around a weeks time.

It felt great to be off on our again, the road our destiny and the spirit of adventure truly coursing through our veins once more. Lets see if the people of the north are as friendly as those in the south….

We stocked up on supplies in the supermarket, filled with fuel and took the road out of the city, it wound up the hillside through small towns with the usual cattle and donkey slowing our progress occasionally. The landscape becoming more farmed and arable based as we went which gave us amazing views into the distance forming patchwork on the hills around.

Another road under repair though I’m afraid with long sections of rocky diversions, dusty times following construction trucks and worryingly the occasional puff of white smoke from the Colonel, hopefully a sign of the terrible quality Ethiopian fuel rather than the Colonel developing lung problems this late in the expedition!

We drove for a few hours until we reached the town of Debre Birhan and made our way to the Adaklu Hotel in the centre of town as it offered a secure courtyard for the night. We haggled over the cost for a while then made the tent and enjoyed some dinner with some overlanders on their motorbikes who had left Europe a couple of months ago and were heading to South Africa. The usual exchanging of route info, latest maps and stories until I decided it was time for a movie and bed.

A cold one though as we’re up to 3000m above sea level so a good chance of frost in the morning, yuk.

End of day location: Debre Birhan, Ethiopia
Distance covered: 130kms