World Run II / Reports

The map shows the position of which the pictures for the day are taken (if any). The start and finish markers are placed at the first and last valid registered position. This is not nessesary the actual start and finish position, if GSM or GPS signals was not available.

Goto: 2009-03-31 2009-04-02 Africa

2009-04-01:
Distance today: 27.0 km (Accumulated: 12172.8 km)
Elapsed time: 03:24:17
Country: Africa

Start 08:20am., at roadmarker " 300" w. white spray on tarmac at unknown hill (near mark 127.930) on the main road towards Gondar. 23c, allm. clear and l. wind. Finish 14:15pm., at unknown bridge 1km N. of Nagaribahar, on the main road. 39c and same.

... And then there are occationally days like these - or actually, only in nightmares, except this one turned into reality:

Yesterday a great supporter in Finland had organised to get an Ethiopian crew out for a few days to help in the mountains to ease the strain of running w. the stroller wich now is up to 50kg w. extra water for the remote dust roads and winding uphill runs.

That kind of help is GREAT and Far more than I could even ask or hope for :-) !!!
But; perhaps I should have honoured an old expedition rule: planning beats quick impulses.

Only thing harder that not having support, is having support wich dont show up.In critical situations it can be a 'show stopper' especially reg. motiovation.
And that was what happened. Early on the stage: dehydration (steep uphillon stone roads in the sun), long waits to see if the car came.. Wich it didnt.

As the model of a bad-day' it was, all going the same direction. A perf.tentground w. shade under a tree after a long climb to ca. 1500m alt: groundburning by pesants appear nearby, quickly spreading towards the tent.
Then dustroad and downhill; all climbing alt. 'lost'. Temp and humidity, up again !
A brown layer of dust, sweat and sunscreen sticking everywhere..

At 2pm. to hot to continue. Too dehydrated.

The only shade: under a large tree w. monkeys fighting it out with parrots.

For good measure the large parrots (that are actually quite interesting :-) use the tent for target practice w. ....

If there is reasons to continue I have hard to see them right now; the physical and motivational "toleration limit" has been passed long ago and today was just about as unbearable as it gets.

- Yet.. there are always positives if you look for them. At halfway I was invited into a 'strawhut resturant' in a tiny settlement along the route. For a minimal amount I had the first cooked/warm meal in a week :-) Delicious traditional food. And in Khartoum is a person who is very special to me - if I had a phonesignal I could send a message.. And recieve some of hers !

But out here is no signal, except the one each cell of my body sends: GET REST. NOW.