Hills!

To put it simply, today was all about hills! Billed as one of the toughest days of riding in the tour, the never ending hills, the heat and the naughty Ethiopian children meant this stage lived up to the description given at the riders meeting the night before. We climbed out of the bush camp and the only way you could describe the mornings ride was up… and up and up and up it went. Around every corner was yet another hill or switch back to conquer. The scenery was an incredible landscape; a combination of large mountains mixed with trees, rocky outcrops and villages of thatched roof houses. Riders came and went from the lunch stop throughout the day and continued on their upward climb through rolling hills, coke stops and dirt roads, avoiding the large trucks, buses, vehicles, cattle and children. Well, avoiding Ethiopian children is tricky as they like to run into the middle of the road and they always seem to pop up when you are riding slowly up a hill so you cannot out-ride them. At the finish line, bananas and watermelon were a welcome sight but, with our accommodation still 20kms away, the riders moved quickly (as quickly as they could after such a day on the bike!) on to the next challenge of navigating the hilly town of Gondar and finding our way up to the Goha Hotel which overlooks the town. The last riders came in just before sunset, relieved that their day was finished and that they could finally enjoy 2 days of rest after a long week in the saddle.