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Elabored by the Railway |
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Cycling the old railway from Asmara to Elabored
It was hugo’s idea. After taking delivery of his top-of-the range snowbike (replacing his “flying vicar” roadster which had hit one too many Asmara pothole) his new found enthusiasm for Mountain biking led him to suggest a ride along the route of the old Asmara-Keren railway line (now disused).
The plan was to ride as far as Elbored, Hugo’s old teaching post, 70 Km by road from Asmara and return by vehicle.
The morning after Jim and Mick’s birthday party found Hugo and Susan banging on my door at an ungodly hour, ready for the off. After preparing a sumptuous packed lunch for us all (after the Aba Hani walk the rule of thumb is to never leave home with less then 3 times as much food as you need) we were all ready to leave. I was already looking forward to the taste of Hugo’s promised flapjacks he was sure to have baked.
To reach the railway we headed cross country from the TTI towards the village of tsada Christian. Then turned along the disused line. The railway was not much in evidence, all signs of rails or sleepers having been removed. The path was well maintained though, with a smooth dirt surface the cycling was easy (and a quick mental calculation suggested a gradual 1 in 100 descent all the way).
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The line ran through a valley, next to a wide, dry riverbed. Occasionally arched bridges spanned the rived and tunnels cut through mountain sides.
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Very picturesque, even old railway cottages every 30K or so with the distance and altitude still visible in faded lettering on the wall. With purple flowering bushes growing up to their roofs these looked reminiscent of some quaint guards cottage in England.
We stopped for lunch at a beautiful shady spot by the river. For once a picnic lunch mercifully free of pestering kids. Pressing on we soon reached Km 47. Here the maintenance of the line ended abruptly. The way was covered with the old stone ballast and often the old rails were still in place. Cycling over the stones made the riding more “interesting” and the progress slow.
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From here it was not long before our first puncture, thorn bushes grew on the track, bushes with inch long spines or small balls of spikes which evolution had honed over millions of years to puncture mountain bike tyres. After the first puncture we were quickly on our way after a change of inner tube, but only minutes later we were well and truly stopped with three flat tyres between us.
This necessitated a trip to the river bed with puncture kits. In two tubes we found a total of 15 punctures! Soon the spare tubes were more patches than tube. An hour later we were off again, but halted by punctures with alarming regularity. After counting the 36th puncture at 6 PM we decided to give up and take to our feet, pushing the bikes.
When darkness fell we walked by the light of a bike light, the full moon not yet risen. We still got three more punctures even just pushing the bikes but at least on the Railway track navigation was no problem. Elabored was beginning to seem very distant and the valley was surprisingly devoid of habitation, despite the railway line and a river. At 10:30 we spotted the lights of Elabored, still some way off, an estimated hour and a half’s walk.
Once we sat down for a rest it seemed pretty difficult to get back up, so we finished the last of the cheese sarnies and decided to make camp for the night there by the side of the line. “Making camp” consisted simply of putting on our remaining clothing and lying down for possibly one of the least comfortable nights of my life, a rock digging in my back and my head on a thorn bush. It certainly wasn’t sleep inducing and at 5AM we struck camp and continued walking in the brilliant moonlight for Elabored.
At 6:30 we reached the Elabored farm and freewheeled down the main road on our deflated tyres to Elabored for the most welcome cokes, teas and frittata ever. After buying new tubes from the local cyclista we were once more mobile and headed back along the Asmara road looking for a hitch. The first lorry that passed us stopped and we were in luck. Slinging the bikes in the empty trailer we clambered into the cab where the only space available was in the bunk beds. I fell asleep soon as I lay down and woke up at the coca-cola factory on the outskirts of Asmara 70Km laterc, the best sleep I’d had all weekend.