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On the bus for security reasons!
I do not know if the biggest danger is the bandits or the bus, for cross-country, Moyale Express which I took last night! I am aching everywhere as if I had been in a fight with the bandits …
It is the second time I write in the morning because yesterday I was too tired. The bus left more or less at midnight from Isiolo, the manager though called me around 10,30 because he said he was scared of forgetting … Continue reading
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Mount Kenya, why are you hiding?
This morning I took it easy because the stage was not long and because in Nanyuki there was a very fast internet connection, like in Milan. I downloaded all the maps of Ethiopia up to Addis Abeba, which Giorgia had prepared for me considering different options, because neither in Zambia nor in Nairobi I found a map of Ethiopia. At the cyber cafè there was no Excel, and not even Word not to pay for the licenses I think, so printing the tables with the kilometers was complicated …
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‘Don’t you feel cold?’ asks me a young girl coming back from school, while her school mates throw each other hail balls …
Yes today I got cold! Very cold! It seemed to be on the Alps on a rainy day … from the 1197 meters of Sagana to almost 2000 of Naro Moru, with in the middle a series of uphill and downhill, then you go down again but not as much as you went up.
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Starting off from Kikuyo Compound means about 25 km more, compared to from the centre of Nairobi, but it was worth it. Meeting David and his group was a very interesting experience, and I hope we will be able to do something together in the future. The bicycle is better, we have changed all the crowns of the gear in front and behind, done an overall maintenance, it is not perfect but we are close to the maximum achievable considered the starting materials and the spares available in Africa. But then one of the intentions of this journey is also to prove that it is possible to do a lot even with little, with limited means. Hence, what are you moaning about Matteo?
Chris Froome, who is he?
I should have been writing from at least one hundred kilometers from Nairobi, instead I write from the small bedroom which David’s boys have freed for me in the compound of Kikuyu, which is immediately after the more famous suburb of Karen, believed to be called like this because there Karen Blixen who wrote ‘Out of Africa’ used to live, the origin of the name is actually more complex even though Blixen herself declared that the suburb was named in her honor. Continue reading
The first time I came to Africa it was really in Nairobi, I then passed by here many times throughout the years, but entering on a bicycle at the time when the factories aloes, finding myself immerged in traffic, overtaking hundreds of cars and trucks victims of roundabout and traffic lights, has a particular effect. I remembered the time spent stuck in traffic jams on the beltway in my previous life. I think that it will be difficult for me to feel again the same benevolent sensation towards traffic I felt yesterday!
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I wanted to wake up early, but not that early! The prolonged call to prayer of the muezzin at 5 in the morning, amplified by pretty powerful speakers, coming from a mosque near the River Camp Lodge ruined my last hour of sleep.
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I have learnt that it is better to cross the border in the evening there is less people it takes you less time and the day after you are ready to start again directly towards your new destination. Through Namanga I passed in the far 1998 when I climbed Kilimanjaro, which today I hoped to see in the distance but could not: the sky was covered, but I am not sure you can see it from where I passed.
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I am cycling for about 20 km on this road with dermatitis, it is full of rocks set on the ground, where I look for relief at the sides of the road where the condition is slightly better, 40 meters ahead an old man, Muslim I would say judging from the hat, bends down, picks up a stone in front of me, and throws it away on the ground outside the road, to make my cycling easier. When we meet he smiles and tells me safari njema, have a safe journey. After more or less 500 km of impossible road a similar gesture is difficult to forget … Continue reading
Giorgia told me that she hardly found anybody who had passed from Iringa to Arusha on this road by bicycle … now I understand … from Iringa to Dodoma the road is bad, from Dodoma it is almost impracticable, Continue reading
