XC Ski... read more

Been still from a travelling perspective for three weeks (since return from a stolen weekend in Paris) so it must be time to go again. Across to the south east in preparation for a flight from gatwick to Oslo tomorrow lunchtime, then on to Tromso the next day in the hope of catching not only some wonderful snowy adventures with dogs and snow mobiles and the like but also a glimpse or two of the northern lights. Stop off in Oslo again on the way back, then on to Copenhagen for a few days while 2012 arrives and then back to the UK for a few days of landing time before some time to plan the next adventure.... read more

Not much sleep achieved before the early morning call. A brief breakfast and we’re off into the darkness. But the three of us soon switch off our head torches as the moon is providing enough light to walk by. Three hours in the moonlight and the sun begins to shed its yellow beams onto to the high escarpment behind us. The hiking has been mostly on the road here which is always disappointing for a summit attempt. Nature has shown the folly of this road already though. Carved into the hillside, the road exposes fragile rock and earth and, at many points along its length, the road is impassable due to landslides. Impassable by vehicle that is, easily passable by foot. Icy puddles provide entertainment along the way until the sun reaches us an hour or ... read more

Rough night’s sleep leads to a creaky start but, all things considered, the aging body is feeling quite willing. Today we trek on to our first summit – the jutting promontory of Imet Gogo. Allegedly, the views from here surpass the ones from Ras Dashen’s summit. We happily meander along the rolling hills until we reach the beginning of the high rocky outcrops and the first of the truly stunning views of the park below. A countless series of peaks stretches as far as the eye can see. Reminiscent of grand canyon scenes but pock-marked with agriculture and really impressively green. I sit for a while with DJ and PC until RL and JW catch up. We drop our packs (PC stays behind with them) and head for the summit. A couple of short awkward scrambles ... read more

Early start delivers us to the domestic terminal for what’s promised to be an early and short flight to Gondar. Soon becomes obvious the flight will be going via Axum and is leaving half an hour later than scheduled. The flight actually leaves an hour and a half late and then sits at the tiny airfield in Axum for nearly an hour, meaning we arrive about three hours late in Gondar. In the confusion of Gondar, we collect our cook (KB). The drive from Gondar to Debark is appalling. The Ethiopian government are borrowing money they have no way of repaying to pay Chinese construction firms to build a whole series of roads in this area but the one to Gondar is very much still “under construction”. This seems to involve much in the way of ... read more