2012 English Channel Swim
7 - 14 September 2012
After having cycled through Africa, completed 5 Ironman Triathlons, run the Comrades Ultra Marathon, Climbed Kili ... I have decided to take on a slightly tougher option ...
... 34km of cold, open water swimming ... leaving the coast of the eternal "wanna-be" soccer nation, over to the "frogs" on the other side ...
Ethiopian Mountains
We made it thru to the Ethiopian border with a great incentive of cold beers!! Sudan allows NO alcohol. And, promptly on crossing the border … not even thru immigration … we were offered cold beers. We enjoyed cold, clean, refreshing showers at the local brothel and got an introduction to the Ethiopian swarms surrounding our camp who are perfectly content in staring us down for hours on end … and this for the next 19 days!!! Campsites get surrounded by a rope – within which we camp – and the onlookers flood in very quickly to merely surround our circus and stare till well after sunset – when their mommies expect them home. By the time we rise in the morning – the swarm has returned and simply stands and stares for hours at end.
Daryl in Ethiopia
I found a scale at the truck stop/border crossing and clocked in several kilos lighter … roughly 88kg. The full mirror in my hotel room here in Gondar was also interesting … definitely changing shape slightly … sorry no measuring tape as yet to update measurements.
Tonight we are being hosted by the Sudanese Cycling federation for dinner (I wrote this earlier and am still sitting in the Internet cafe … decided to chill out in camp, pack bags and get a good nights sleep). I still need to pack my bag and Red Box and clean my bike. We then head off towards Ethiopia … quite good, flat, tarred roads. Some short sections of rough road surfaces expected shortly before the border and then two rough days to Gondor in Ethiopia. I’m going to leave on my rough terrain tyres … and take it a little easier during the next week … my legs are taking a little strain and I’ve developed a real nasty little sore down on my saddle regions … eina!
So keep well all, don’t work too hard and think of me enjoying myself! Not sure when next I’ll have a connection to get on line … love you lots …
Some Sudanese cyclists that joinred the convoy in Khartoum
Khartoum is a city with anywhere from three to five million persons … no official census and nothing planned for the near future. The city is very nice … hectic, but nowhere like Cairo. It seems like a real large bustling Harare crossed with Umtata. Lots of little Tuk-Tuks and lots of flashy modern cars around. Hyundai and Toyota still predominant vehicles. Out in the desert we had nothing besides Toyota Pickups, buses and trucks – trucks both as buses and for goods.
There are some modern buildings and some decent, yet numerous dilapidated roads and buildings all round. There is a noticeable air of wealth and spending on basic luxuries – food, restaurants, cell phones, cars, electric equipment – apparently more noticeable over the last few years as the wealth off the oil has been expanded.
The Blue and the White Nile come together here and this abundance of water has resulted in lots of greenery and beauty. The city is very clean and quite calm in general. Shop assistants are all very friendly and helpful … and although they don’t try to rip us off on each purchase as in Egypt, I’m sure they crank up their prices a little here and there.
We enter Ethiopia at Metema and head off to Gonder – here we have two days off and will try to fly thru to Lalibela to the Temples carved out of the ground.
We go on to Bahir Dar – another day off on the southern tip of Lake Tana
We then head south thru Debre Markos and Dejen to Addis Ababa (Rest Day)
On thru Awasa on Route 6 to a rest day in Yabelo.
Further along Route 6 to cross into Kenya at Moyale
Here we turn westwards and follow the A2 thru the Dida Galgalu Desert to rest in Marsabit … apparently there is something odd/different/special about this town – but no one will divulge what it is
We continue south thru Isiolo, Naro Moru, Thika and into Nairobi. Here we have an off day
We then go two days south to Arusha where we celebrate the half way mark with three … yes a whole three days off!!! Game watching, relaxing, sleeping, drinking, partying … yeeha!
From here we go slightly westwards on the A104 and turn south towards Babati, Kondoa, Dodoma and rest in Iringa
We continue along the A104 thru Mafinga, Igawa and turn south onto the B345 towards Lake Malawi
We cross the border at Kyela and head for a fabulous campsite (can’t remember the name) outside Livingstonia on the Lake … if anyone wants to come visit us – this is a lekker spot!!!
We progress further to Lilongwe – rest day – and then swing westwards into Zambia at Mchinji
We follow the T4 all the way to Lusaka … where we will experience the first real first world shopping malls again … and apparently feel totally out of place and out of our comfort zones – basically we won’t be used to it anymore.
From here we go south on the T2 and soon turn west again on the T1 towards Livingston … two rest days!! All visitors welcome here …and we will be celebrating two 50th birthdays on the same day
From Livingston we travel to Kazungula, cross into Botswana via the ferry and follow the Elephant Highway to Nata
Here we head west along the A3 to Maun – rest day
We then head south , at Toteng more south along the A3, thru Ghanzi to Kalkfontein/Tshootsha where we head west to the Namibian border at Buitepos … this will be our longest distance at 208km for the day
We then follow thru Gobabis and on to Windhoek where we have two days off … and hopefully a bed in a house, a washing machine and some home cooked meal??
From Windhoek we head straight south along the B1 till we get to Keetmanshoop. We turn slightly west and soon south again to head down to the Fish River Canyon and on to Ai-Ais for our last rest day
We then fly along thru the border, Springbok, Bitterfontein and head west at Vanrynsdorp to plod along towards Lambert’s Bay.
We make our way along the coast to Yzerfontein for the last night before arriving in Cape Town on May 12
12 May … party, drink and be merry!!
Ethiopian Mountains 
