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Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd January On Saturday night we went out for a final meal with Flip to say goodbye and we were joined by a Scottish guy called Colin who had cycled to Istanbul but was now desperately trying to find his way to India by bus and boat (when we left, he was still grappling with the Saudi Arabian embassy so that he could get to Dubai to catch a boat - he wasn't having much luck......but we hope his luck has changed!), and Ben from England who's heading back the way we've just come. The food was delicious and the beer was okay but we're not quite sure how we both ended up with dicky tummies and quick dashes to the loo! Monday 24th January We had decided to take a bus back to Suez as the road was pretty miserable and populated by the military (making camping hard) and we'd have only been retracing our route. It also saved us trying to negotiate our way very far through Cairo's horrendously busy streets. A bus leaves every half hour and so we had a fairly leisurely morning knowing that we could turn up at the bus station almost whenever we wanted. Even the two-mile ride to the bus station was pretty hectic and we were both feeling weak with lack of food by the time we had arrived. At least there were some guys who, for a little 'baksheesh', helped us sort ourselves out and get on the right bus. From inside the bus the road was no more interesting than on the bike but the journey only took two hours and we got to Suez bus station around 3.30pm. It was then a short familiar ride back to the hotel where we had stayed two weeks earlier. This time, however, we didn't feel as welcome in Suez and particularly at the hotel. The staff this time seemed far more interested in our movements, it was as if they were to relay the information back to the police (maybe we were just being paranoid but by now we'd heard too many stories of police surveillance and constant interference. We had opted for the Red Sea coast with the hope of escaping too much police interest). This feeling combined with painful stomachs and regular toilet visits made the evening in the hotel a miserable one. All we had been able to eat on that and the previous day were various dry breads and croissants with the hope of allowing our tumtums to settle. We were now feeling quite weak and were not looking forward to the next days riding. Tuesday 25th January We ignored the alarm when it went off at 6 the next morning, as we were both not feeling ready. We were desperate to leave Suez though, preferring the prospect of desert squatting and camping, and so by 10 o'clock had forced down some breakfast, packed and were ready to leave. We were just going to take it easy - just enough to get out of Suez and find somewhere to camp. It was typical that the first time we had become properly ill was at the end of our two-week stay in Cairo! Sod's law! We also had some more typically 'Paul and Kate' luck with the weather. At this time of the year the Red Sea coast is supposed to be wonderful for cyclists heading south; there is a strong northerly wind propelling you for hundreds of kilometres a day... Flip experienced this (and he'll be laughing when he reads this) and this quote from Alistair Humphries says it all: "After the crush it made a change to hurtle south along the quiet Red Sea road, a hefty tailwind blasting me 190km one day." Not for us though! Delightfully, for this and the next three days we were battling against a strong headwind; there was not one tail wind in sight! We did more than we planned through that day, cycling out of Suez, and then heading out along the coast road. It was very reminiscent of the coast north of Nuweiba with half finished skeletons of resorts, and finished concrete monstrosities. Even these seemed to be dead. The problem was that the road was sandwiched between steep mountains and intermittent beaches all of which had been occupied by resorts leaving camping possibilities almost non-existent. We were lucky though, after about 45miles we spotted a collection of disused concrete huts just up the hill from the road. When there was no traffic on the road we quickly darted across and found one that was not so filled with rubbish and broken beer bottles, and slipped inside. With no roof, windows or doors, it was to become our own makeshift resort, with sea views and star gazing possibilities from our bed! It turned out to be quite a comfortable night although a little drafty and cold. The sky was incredibly clear and the full moon lit up everything almost as if it was daylight. Mushroom packet soup with rice was on the menu that night, with porridge the following morning as we were trying to stick to fairly simple foods for our delicate tummies. Wednesday 26th January It was Wednesday and we were determined to get to the Monastery of St. Paul later that day. We had heard that it was a beautiful place to visit and that the monks provided free lodgings for those who needed it. It was nearly 60miles away though, and despite feeling a bit better we knew it was going to be a tough day. By late morning, we had covered most of the cycling and had reached the sparse town of Zafarana. This was little more than a service stop for long distance coaches and trucks. Because of this, everything available was at tourist prices, but feeling the need to keep our strength up we stopped for some food anyway. The burgers we had were the cheapest meal on the menu and very tasty. Since France, we have not had to think about steering clear of the intense heat of the midday sun so we were a little taken aback by the temperatures we were experiencing as we took the road again. Luckily, it was only 15miles to the turning for the Monastery and the headwind, despite slowing us down, kept us quite cool. From the turning it was 8miles through the desert to the Monastery itself....and my goodness were those miles hard! As soon as we were away from the coast, the wind dropped and the air became stiflingly hot and still and although hardly visible the road was climbing all the way. Every one or two miles we had to stop to take a breather, have a drink and a couple of times also take a desert squat. It was incredibly hard work and by the time we had climbed the 350metres to the Monastery we were exhausted and sweating profusely. It was well worth it though as we were made to feel welcome immediately and were looked after by a novice monk, Immad and his 'civilian' helper Kameel. Immad was extremely funny and trying desperately hard to get his English vocabulary right. We joined him as he showed a French tour group around the Monastery and he was constantly asking us for our advice on how to phrase things correctly. St. Paul is said to be the earliest Christian hermit and this and the Monastery of St. Anthony, about 35km away across the desert, are the two oldest monasteries not only in Egypt but also in the whole of Christendom. St. Paul's is a beautiful place and has 75 monks and 15 novices in residence. The monastery receives many visitors daily who come to see its old buildings and frescoes. Coptic Christian youths also come to visit the monastery to take refuge for a few days in one of its retreat houses. In the guidebook it says that there are both male and female lodgings for visitors but the female didn't seem to exist. Had Kate not been there, Paul would have been able to stay in one of the retreat houses. Instead, after we had joined Immad and Kameel for dinner and had a cold shower, we cycled back down the road for 2km to the main gatehouse where we could supposedly pitch our tent. When we arrived, the men there seemed not to understand this and we soon found ourselves camped out on the pavement in our sleeping bags covered by four blankets they'd kindly lent us. Thursday 27th January We were very warm but unfortunately, that was probably the only good thing about that night. There was a car parked next to us and throughout most of the night they thought it would be fun to blast loud music and to honk their horn continuously. A far cry from the peaceful night spent in a monastery we had expected! We were not amused. To add insult to injury, at 4am the first coach load of tourists arrived. 4am!!! Are these guys crazy!?? They were not allowed into the monastery yet and so the coach driver honked his horn, people climbed on the gates and boys played a noisy game of football...until eventually the gatekeepers let them in at 6 o clock. By this time, we were wide-awake but felt that we had not slept at all. We didn't feel that we could cycle the 2 km back up to the monastery to have breakfast and say our goodbyes, let alone cycle the 100km minimum that we wanted to do that day. Ah well, we made it back in spite of feeling exhausted. We were really grateful for the wonderful breakfast and the kind donations of smoked herring, a huge lump of home made cheese and a big bag of oranges. Immad and Kameel had been very welcoming and we had enjoyed spending time with them. They both had an incredible sense of humour and were constantly playing games, keeping us on our toes. Eventually, at about a quarter to nine, we headed off and found the 13km descent back to the sea a wonderful ride in the mid-morning sun. The only problem was that once we reached the coast road, the sun was really hot and the head wind had picked up again. We donned lots of sunblock to try and protect ourselves from getting frazzled like the day before, giving us both ghostly white faces! From this point onwards the road really wasn't that enjoyable. Sadly, we were never close enough to the sea to really appreciate it and the desert we were riding through was dull and scarred by human occupation. Plastic bottles and broken glass littered the gravelled surface and every single bush had become a magnet for plastic bags. There were also electricity pylons and telephone wires criss-crossing the landscape, spoiling the view in every direction. We pushed ourselves to cover as much distance as possible before the sun was at its hottest. So by 11.30am, having done nearly 40miles we were desperate to get out of the relentless sun and find some rare shade. This 'rarity' came in the form of a stinking roadside cafe where we stopped for an expensive can of coke. We had planned to stay for a couple of hours to wait out the fiercest sun but the smell was so bad that after only half an hour we were back on the road again! And so, probably foolishly, we pushed on through the midday sun to reach the town of Ras Gharib, an unremarkable little desert town sandwiched between the sea and the desert highway. With military precision, we managed to locate the two roadside cafes, the first of which the owner went out of his way to look after us until he found that we were not made of money as he had originally thought. The place was also very busy, noisy and expensive and so we paid for our bottle of water, dragged our bikes out of the pee-ridden garden and went next door. This place was much quieter and we were much better received. We ended up being served soup and bread, and then followed by omelettes, cheese, salad and bread. It was brilliant and solved the problem of who was going to have to cook later that night. By 4 o clock, after the worst of the heat had dissipated, we were back on the road, trying to cover a few more miles before finding a suitable camping spot and bedding down for the night. After about 15miles, we were getting a little concerned as the desert had turned a little marshy and all potential camping spots were completely exposed to roaming police! However, after passing an army observation post, we spotted the edge of a ditch in the huge sandy central reservation. Checking the coast was clear, we legged it across the road to take a closer look and low and behold it was a haven! It turned out to be another huge gravel pit, almost all of which was hidden from view. Great! The only downside was the amount of smelling and decaying rubbish we had to move aside to find ourselves a patch of sand to lay our sleeping bags on! As we didn't need to cook later that evening, we quickly tripled our clothing, snuggled into our sleeping bags, sprayed DEET to keep the mozzies at bay and lay back to watch the stars, all the while surrounded by sand, bags, bikes and rubbish. With the absence of the moon in the early evening, the night sky was incredible as we settled into a chilly night in the sand. This was the closest we'd come to camping out on the beach. Friday 28th January The alarm woke us again at 5.30am in the morning as we were determined to try and miss the heat again. The porridge was great, although we're not quite sure of the nutritional value of the sand! Unfortunately, it turned out to be another dull days riding. The landscape didn't change much and the strong sun combined with the ever-present head wind meant that riding wasn't easy. By about lunchtime though, we had done 60miles but still had not found shelter from the midday sun. We eventually came across a strange structure spanning the road with a building at either end, which was like so many things in Egypt - unfinished. At least it was a relatively quiet spot to take some shelter, have a drink and something to eat. Seeing that the private resort town of El Gouna was only a few kilometres away, we decided an hour was enough and we'd go and find somewhere to have a longer rest and a good drink. Plans quickly changed though as it turned out that El Gouna was a long way off the main road so we were forced to push on, again through the heat of the day, to our final destination, Hurghada. The Red Sea coast road had been really miserable riding with no interest or anything to spur you on, and so it was a relief when we finally made it into Hurghada in mid-afternoon. When we arrived we tried out a couple of hotels. The first was awful and far too expensive. The second was marginally better and so we decided to stay. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, having lugged the bags up to the room, we realised how filthy it was and what a bad choice we had made. Kate was also unimpressed with the attitude of the management. As yet, we hadn't paid for anything or handed in our passports, so we picked up all our bags and went downstairs and walked out. We were keen to have cheap budget hotels but there was a limit! So we finally found ourselves here at the Four Seasons Hotel. Although it is a little more expensive than we had planned, it is a beautiful room with friendly management and we were just so happy to have found something decent. On reaching the hotel we had done exactly 80miles that day and were in desperate need of a good shower! Saturday 29th January 4394.1miles, Hurghada, Egypt We're sitting on the balcony of our hotel which is one of the hundreds that now dominate the Hurghada coastline where once there was just a small fishing village. There's an old man on the street below us, singing away trying to sell his fruit which has been sat in the hot sun all day and looking far from edible. It's the main route down to the beach for most tourists in the area so is lined with young men hassling passers-by trying to sell their wares or handing out flyers for bars and beach clubs. Considering we are in Egypt and not in a European resort the tourists appear to be oblivious to Arab culture and dress code, and are wearing, at times, inappropriately scant clothing. We recognise that this is a beach resort and don't want to appear prudish but most of the workers here are from conservative backgrounds and so it would seem right to respect this away from the beaches themselves. If you're not here for snorkelling, diving, or sunbathing the relatively grotty town of Hurghada has very little to offer. However, our hotel room is wonderful and is a far cry from the places we've been sleeping in over the past few days. It's clean, light and airy....with an ensuite bathroom and 24 hour hot water. Pure heaven! Had it not been for this and the fact that the last few days have been so difficult we would not have stayed in Hurghada for more than one night. However, we were desperate for a rest and where better to take that break than in a hotel room with a sea view. Remember our dicky tummies at the end of our stay in Cairo? Well it's taken Paul right through to today to kick his stomach bug into touch which also hasn't helped with the last few days riding. Funnily enough, Kate's seems to have settled down a little more. Desert squatting isn't the most fun experience at the best of the times! This evening we treated ourselves to a proper Italian meal - we think we emptied half the balsamic vinegar onto our salads, as it was such a rare treat! Paul and Kate x
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Challoner's, Fasiledes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire