Being Sunday there was not a lot that we could usefully achieve in Adis. However, we moved out of our Nostarminus hotel and set off in search of somewhere just a little more comfortable to spend the next two nights. The first hotel we found was nice, but too far out of the centre of things, so we gave it a miss. There was a guest house we had heard of in a central position but, once we had found it, it turned out to be full of Europeans (Italians?) and they had no room for us. On to the next - same thing. But they did recommend a new guest house just up the main drag. We found this place - it was on the 8th floor of a high rise building! It was a ... read more

To smooth over our social indiscretion of the previous night we popped some local currency into the donation box at the monastery gate as we drove out. We had enjoyed our short stay and I had been tempted to flog the water with my rod and line just to see if those really had been trout rising in the lake. But I did not want to risk further offence since I might have needed a license, so my rod stayed put in the car. We had been told that the road to Adis from now on would be good tarmac. We were confident, therefore, that the 250 or so miles to Adis would be no problem today. At first we continued with the dreaded Chinese workmen and their culverts to Dessie, then Kembolcha, covering 40 miles ... read more

We divided our activities today. Firstly, Gail and Jeremy took Milla with them to visit the group of churches near the Bilbilla area some 42 kms north of Lalibela. These are arguably the most spectacular of all the churches, most of them being older. They spent a long time trying to find the right road to the monastery of Yemrehanna Christos but were rewarded by seeing a unique church within a large cavern some 8,800 ft up the mountain. The church and the priest’s house in this dark cavern were built with alternating layers of wood, and granite faced with white gypsum - the whole taking on the appearance of a layered chocolate cream cake. The interior had wonderful stone carvings and early paintings. They returned early afternoon for a late lunch at our hotel campsite. ... read more

Day 1 · Sep 14th · 432 miles (432 today) Shipton/Warwick to Dover/Calais and on to Germany Aarchan free camping site 1 Day 2 · Sep 15th · 748 miles (316 today) Campsite 2 Nurnburg/Regensburg Germany Day 3 · Sep 16th ·1,087 miles (339 today) Campsite 3 just north Aust/Hung border (Austria) Day 4 · Sep 17th ·1,205 miles (118 today) Campsite 4 Budapest (Hungary) Day 5 · Sep 18th ·1,406 miles (201 today) Campsite 5 (free camping) Hungary (storms!) Day 6 · Sep 19th ·1,636 miles (230 today) To hostal in Pitesti (Romania) to dry out. Day 7 · Sep 20th ·1,752 miles (116 today) To hotel Cosmo (Romania) near Bulgaria border Day 8 · Sep 21st ·1,999 miles (247 today) Edirne in Turkey just over border Hotel Tuna Day 9 · Sep 22nd ... read more

We arranged for a boat to take us out to the islands in the Lake to see the monasteries there. The most interesting, they claim, is on a remote island necessitating a 2.30 hour boat trip there and back. We could not face the prospect of 5 hours on a boat so opted for nearer sites. The first was a small church situated on an equally small island where there were a few monks living in solitude - except for the occasional visitors such as us. There were information boards placed around, all printed in Aramaic except for one sentence; “Please make a donation towards the upkeep of this church”. Such is life! We were not enthralled by this place so motored on to another church site, not all that far from our birdwatching location of ... read more

We survived the night and awoke to a cloudless dawn with wonderful views down a vast chasm of a valley to our south. We were joined at breakfast by a group of White Naped Ravens who clearly were used to being fed at that spot! We obliged - a little - which was most entertaining! We packed up and were off deeper into the park and higher into the mountains, with our scout and his rifle in attendance. The road wound up ever higher and we passed great prarie-like areas of wheat and barley growing, almost ready for harvest. To the North the spectacular escarpment became ever more spectacular. The only problem we experienced was that at each of the best vantage points to view this wonder there were crowds of local kids who surrounded us ... read more