Camping in Qabala

After a sleeping in, a breakfast of bread, eggs, coffee and tea and a departure time of around 9am, the riders were on their way on a fairly flat and mostly downhill ride (well, flat and downhill for most for the morning – they would kill me if I said most of the day!) made a wee bit tricky with signs that we cannot read and a lunch truck that had decided that it enjoyed the carpark in Seki last night and didn’t want to leave this morning. Thankfully, Wimpie (African Routes) worked his mechanical magic and it was on the road around 10ish. The day was a fairly short one (100km is a short day for these guys now) with a few twists and turns here and there. The uphill, of course, came at the conclusion of the day just to remind the riders that they are actually riding and that they do still have legs. Most took it in their stride and the view of the campsite plus the satisfyingly good hot showers at the campsite made sure to make the riders all feel that much better. Everyone was in camp by 3pm, showered, tents up, soup eaten and most spent the afternoon stretching, eating, reading and enjoying the scenery. Our campsite is in a beautiful park on the outskirts of Qabala, complete with the river noises, a cute dog that wants to chew on everything and everyone, majestic mountains rising up in the distance, pine trees, rocky meadows full of sheep and goats and boys that bring chai to your tent on a tray. It is a perfect place to spend an afternoon and allow the riders to rest up and relax before tomorrows ride. Apparently, it is a fairly up and down sort of a day! Sshhhhh, don’t tell the riders about this just yet…