diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 78d1428eca516c8e6641d00e0af605df15d48ad0..74e7db73fcf3ff66364516aa55ac525bb00215e1 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ variables:
   STACKNAME: CICD_reporef$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
   NECTAR_ALLOCATION: HPCCICD
   ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING: "False"
+  DEFAULT_PATH: "CICD"
 
 stages:
 #  - integration_test_downstream # working but unwanted here
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ build_cluster_cicd:
     - bash -x ./CICD/heat/heatcicdwrapper.sh create_or_update $STACKNAME
     - bash -x ./CICD/heat/server_rebuild.sh all
   after_script:
-    - sleep 20 # artifically wait a bit to give the nodes time to boot
+    - sleep 30 # artifically wait a bit to give the nodes time to boot
 #  only:
 #    changes: #https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#onlychangesexceptchanges
 #    - "heat/*HOT*.yaml"
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ ansible_create_cluster_stage:
   tags: 
   - ansible
   before_script:
+    - cd $DEFAULT_PATH/..
     - echo "$GC_KEY" > gc_key.pem
     - chmod 400 gc_key.pem
     - echo "$HPCCICD_openrc" > ./$NECTAR_ALLOCATION-openrc.sh
@@ -192,7 +194,7 @@ clean:
   script:
     - source ./$NECTAR_ALLOCATION-openrc.sh
     - bash -x ./CICD/heat/heatcicdwrapper.sh delete_if_exists $STACKNAME
-  when: manual
+  #when: manual
   
   
   #trigger_pipeline_in_B: