Ras Dashen Expedition Blog #3

First things, first, everyone is well and Dave and Tom worked their magic to improve the performance of the handcycle 👏.

After leaving Cheru Leba, we turned off a smooth asphalt onto an old dirt road that was barely used which led us down to a ford across the river. The road was eroded in places which made progress slow, and the ford took us through water that was close to knee high and flowing rapidly - not ideal for the handcycle, so we had to carry it across while the Landrover minced over the boulders in the riverbed.

We finally reached a point in the road where our cook team, lead by the effervescent Abidjo had decided to make camp. The following morning we woke to discover the road further down was impassable, and after much discussion, we all agreed to refocus and attempt to ascend by the Bayeda road from the south of the mountain, so we quickly packed and set off back the road we had come up.

 On the way back up, we stopped for our picnic lunch with great views back to Ras Dashen in the sun. We reached the main asphalt road, and Emebet was off! Mark went off ahead and entered a small settlement that had sprung up by a road construction camp. He found a buna bet (local coffee house) and directed the expedition there, where they all had beers and coffee before setting off again, rather like the pied piper with scores of kids in tow! They followed us for several kilometres over the bridge and along the eastern side of the widening gorge.