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Sunday 13th February Sunday was our last day in Aswan and Egypt, and of course we still had plenty of jobs to do before we left to the unknown of a new country. The day didn't start too well as we found the source of the strong petrol smell was a leaking fuel bottle disgorging itself on the hotel room floor! Oops...best get the fan going! Paul, in the meantime, had to go, reluctantly, to the petrol station and fill up again. A few tantrums were had! Kevin and Siobhan were leaving for Luxor that night so we fitted in our usual routine of tea in the teahouse and then a meal in the Derwesh before they took the train. They gave Kate some little goodies of choccies, UNO and tampax. A wonderful combination that was very much appreciated! (Thank you!) We knew the next day was going to be a long one so we were packed and ready (yes, even by Kate's standards!) before curling up in bed. Monday 14th February 14th of February, Valentines Day - what a great way for Paul to show his love for Kate by taking her on a ferry to a new country. Sounds romantic doesn't it.... well, we'll see! We had to be at the ferry port at 9.30am despite the ferry being due to leave at 3pm so all four of us set off at the sprightly hour of 8 o clock, pedalling the 20km to the port. It was relatively easy navigating ourselves onto the right road provided Kate and Fritzi weren't involved...(Paul deserves a clout for that comment!). There were a few hills but nothing too tedious. The tedious part came next when we arrived at the port. Surprisingly, Aussie Chris was organised as he was there before us but it didn't matter in any case since it was about 11 o'clock before anything started happening. The whole scene at the port reminded us of the day we had to catch a ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba but only ten times worse. Hundreds of Sudanese and Egyptians sat on the pavement and the road with huge piles of boxes, bags and crates surrounding them. It seemed like there was ten times more baggage than there were people...and this all had to fit on the ferry! When we finally got let through the gates, the first obstacle was baggage control. Unluckily for Paul and Stephan who were ahead, they had to face the scrum of people piling baggage onto the x-ray machine, unload their bikes and place their panniers onto the mess. Meanwhile, the rest of us were allowed to walk around the outside. As a result of the scrum, two of the boys' bags came out injured and, as it wasn't the place to tackle then, they would need surgery later on the boat. The next port of call was passport control and departure tax, which of course involved to-ing and fro-ing between queues at a number of different desks before finally being allowed through. All we then had to do was get the bikes onto the ferry...sounds easy? Think again! Our ticket was for the top deck so bikes and panniers had to be lugged up steep staircases and squeezed along narrow gangways before we eventually reached our base for the next 24hours. You could spot the tourists from a mile off, all huddled together with seven bikes in one corner and soon there was quite a camp of us, sweating in the sun. On the boat there were two Dutch couples who had spent a long time getting their 4-wheel drives onto a cargo boat, two aussies, Chris and a guy called Sam, three Japanese (one of who was also a cyclist) and one Korean who, we're afraid to say, no matter how hard we tried we could not remember their names. Then there was Julien, the French guy we'd met in Cairo, and Alvero and Roberto, two Spanish cyclists, and of course, us four. Alvero and Roberto were doing the African leg of Alvero's around the world tour and Sudan was their last country before heading off home. They seemed a lot more experienced and confident than the rest of us, and we were reassured when they suggested that all of us started the next leg of the trip together. We passed away the hours, munching on dates, talking about what lay ahead and playing UNO. Everyone was in quite high spirits even though it took until 6pm, when prayers had been said (over a very loud speaker!) before the ferry left. The boat moved off at a surprisingly swift pace considering how low it was sitting in the water, now fully laden with cargo and people. As soon as it was totally dark, the jam-packed deck went surprisingly quiet as everybody tried to sleep. Navigating ourselves over the blanket-covered bodies in the dark was a little tricky but an adventure in itself. Our little group of tourists in the corner were packed together like sardines as we tried to get some sleep, but at least we didn't get cold. Kate had a bit of a fitful night's sleep as her nose had started getting snotty but the upside of this was a sighting of five shooting stars! Tuesday 15th February At first light everybody started to wake but this wasn't necessarily a bad thing as soon afterwards the boat passed Abu Simbel and gave us a stunning view of the temple. This is probably as close as you could ever get to seeing it as Ramses would have wanted his enemies to as they sailed down the Nile. As we got hungrier and hungrier and we could no longer be supported by dates and overmelted Moro bars, we decided to venture down to the not-so-appealing canteen. We'd heard bad stories about the cleanliness of this place and upon entering, all was confirmed. We all had a welcome cup of shai, and then picked over breakfast, only eating the boiled egg and the pre-packaged cheese. Our fellow passengers were only too happy to devour what we had left. The morning dragged on as the temperature began to rise but eventually the remote town of Wadi Halfa eventually appeared on the horizon and we managed to dock at around midday. To start with we were happy to watch everyone else fight to get off the boat as there was no way we were getting our bikes through that crowd! By 2 o clock, we were all on the pier, having lowered our bikes and lugged all our panniers out. It was Chris who provided the drama of the morning when his jacket containing his passport decided to go walkies. Luckily, among the sea of black faces, they had an idea of who had picked it up. Chris and Sam eventually found him at customs. He had had no idea he had picked it up as it was so close to all his belongings and so was happy to return it to its rightful owner. It was a typical thing to happen to absent-minded Chris and although it could have been avoided, we did feel sorry for him at the time. At least we managed to squeeze in a few giggles in the aftermath! Kate also got a slapped wrist for trying to take a picturesque photo of the dock but luckily you can delete photos on digital cameras and we soon had a happy policeman again! Sudanese baggage control was another crazy affair, as they seemed to want to see everything inside each pannier. Ah well! We were still through pretty quickly and after changing some money on the black market (the only place to change your Egyptian pounds) we set off as a big cycling posse to find a hotel. It was actually quite difficult finding our way through the desert tracks to the centre of town and we got a brief taste of how difficult the riding was going to be as even here we had to push in the sand! The El Nil hotel was not exactly 5 star - it was just a row of rickety steel beds under a palm leaf roof with a communal open-air bathroom. At least it had running water of sorts and we could have a shower with a bucket. We checked in quickly and set off to find some food. The first thing you come across at the entrance to the restaurant is a beautiful shai lady surrounded by lounging men. She sits there with a charcoal stove, kettle, and neatly arranged collection of jars, producing delicious spiced teas, karkade (hibiscus) and rich coffees. She has an amazing smile and all the boys seemed to be quite taken by her. The food in the restaurant was pretty good too and quite varied, with lots of one-pot dishes including fuul, okra, potatoes, and a couple of meat dishes. By the time we'd finished dinner, and gulped down a few more teas, it was dark and we were braced ready for the steel beds, which were surprisingly comfortable if not so supportive! Wednesday 16th February 4450.9miles, Wadi Halfa, Sudan Well, here we are in what is probably one of the most remote places of our trip and what we would consider to be real Africa...Sudan. The difference between here and Egypt is remarkable. For a start everyone is smiling and is genuinely happy to see us and are so much more laid back. It's great to see these amazingly dark skinned people with dazzling white smiles! The ladies even smile at you and are dressed in vibrant, brightly coloured drapes that flow beautifully in the wind. They make a stark contrast to the desert surroundings and you find yourself constantly mesmerized by them. This is a pleasant change form the generally non-smiling Egyptian women and the hassle at the Egyptian tourist sites. To get our stay in Sudan off to an official start we had to go to get ourselves registered early the next morning. So after a breakfast of fuul and eggs we set off to the Aliens Registration office to see what was what. We ended up having to get our visas and our passports photocopied and exchanging some euros at the bank before we could get the ball rolling. All-in-all, the process which involved visiting about ten offices for different stamps and signatures took about an hour and a half and left us $30 per person lighter.... coming to Sudan is not a cheap option! It was definitely time for lunch when we finished so it was another session at the restaurant. The agenda for the rest of the day was preparing ourselves for riding the following morning and trying to reduce our load as much as possible. We had arranged with Ashwiin and Leonie (one of the Dutch couples) to transport some of our heavier less essential items to a sailing club where we would be staying in Khartoum. Our bikes still felt overly heavy for the road we were about to take, but we'd done our best. The lucky sods, Alvero and Roberto had managed to off-load most of their gear onto friends before arriving in Sudan, so were incredibly and enviably lighter. We've just finished filling our tummies again ready for the hard road tomorrow and are trying to mentally prepare ourselves for what lies ahead.... Thursday 17th February On Thursday 17th it was an early start for the six of us who all had butterflies; filled with apprehension as to what we might come across in the next few days. It was only just getting light as we wheeled our bikes out onto the sandy streets outside. We already felt tired and we hadn't even started! We knew that for the next couple of days obtaining water was going to be difficult, so we each packed 8 litres of water in the hope that this would be enough. It was in the hotel in Wadi Halfa that we were introduced to what was to become our water source for the coming days; large clay urns in which any pathogens sink to the bottom. We had been told that these were a safe water source and so we needn't purify the water before drinking. In fact throughout the next two weeks of use, none of us suffered any ill effects from water taken from these jars. It wasn't the easiest task finding our way out of town. Wadi Halfa is now a bit of a mess as it was hurriedly relocated when they realised that they'd made a miscalculation with the level of Lake Nasser. Eventually, after asking for directions a number of times, we picked up the road south and headed off. It immediately became difficult. We were given our first taste of corrugations, the regular ridges in the road that hammer your hands, bums and bikes, and we had to push our bikes in the sand a number of time. We occasionally picked up smoother, firmer surfaces at the side of the main road but these rarely lasted long, either turning into soft sand or returning to the hard-going main track. We kept pushing on through the increasing heat, wondering why we had taken on such a tough task. Later in the morning we came across an abandoned shelter, which was a godsend to us. It was here we could all flop in the shade away from the desert sun. We joked that there would be a tea and coffee van arriving soon to supplement Kate and Alvero's daily needs. As we sat a cloud of dust appeared on the horizon. As it got closer we could make out that it was the other Dutch couple (whose names we never got) in their four-wheel drive. No sooner had they pulled up beside the shelter, they were offering us coffee and cold drinks. Alvero had his wish come true! We picked ourselves up to start again but by this point the sun had risen even higher and we felt like we had entered an oven as we pushed on. The Dutch couple followed us for a while, filming the crazy riders before disappearing out of view. By about 1 o'clock, the sun was getting too much for some of us and there was absolutely no shelter to be found so we rigged up a bit of cover with camping mats between two bikes. After about 20 minutes of crouching in the tiny shade that it afforded, we were greeted by a passing man on a camel (wiser than us we think!). He told us that there was good shelter close by and inspired by this we quickly packed up and started again. Another hour's riding later still hadn't produced any shelter, (in fact we never did find the darn shelter! or maybe they have a different interpretation of 'close by'!) and so, still desperate to find some more shade, we rigged up a more substantial shelter with the tent. It was a miserable couple of hours lying on the side of the road, occasionally moving ourselves to follow the tent's shadow. We were all way too hot and, trying to conserve our water, way too thirsty. At 4.30pm we packed up, still sweating, and continued to push on through the still amazingly hot afternoon sun. We continued until dusk when we headed off to the side of the road to find ourselves a suitable camping spot. We had only managed 45km that day and were exhausted and a bit dehydrated, as we sat eating our tuna, bread and cheese; we barely had enough water for drinking so cooking was not an option. At least the night was cool enough and the desert was utterly silent, allowing us to sleep a bit and dream of cool showers and ice-cold drinks! Friday 18th February We had read that there was a cafe after 75km and determined to reach it for lunchtime we set off with another early start. Although by no means easy the road that day seemed faster going than before. After about 31km we were sure we should have passed this so-called cafe. We stopped to rest under another lone Acacia tree and waited for Stephan and Fritzi to catch up. We were unsure what to do, as water supplies were getting low. We could push on to find this cafe or sit and rest out the hottest part of the day. When Stephan and Fritzi came and sat down, Stephan got out his GPS, which had the co-ordinates of the cafe. It appeared to be only 850metres away down the road. Filled with renewed enthusiasm yet still with a little doubt, we set off again down the road..... And low and behold, round the first bend, there it was! Mohammed's tumbledown shack was a sight for sore eyes but we were soon sprawled out under the shade of his straw roof. Mohammed served us with numerous cups of shai and huge bowls of fuul, eaten with piece after piece of bread. Never was such a simple meal so welcome. After food, we tried to sleep for an hour or two but it was difficult with the heat and the irritation of the flies. We knew that the next cafe, El Bir, was less than 30km away and although we knew it was going to be tough we thought it would be a wise idea to spend the night there. It would also take us closer to where water would become less of an issue. We left at 4pm and to start with the road was very tough, but as the sun started to go down, the last 15km were almost a joy to ride. We picked up a number of smooth rolling tracks, which even with fully loaded bikes were fun and on a mountain bike would have been awesome. We pulled into the cafe just as it was getting dark and the smiles on everyone's faces showed how relieved we were to reach civilisation. A truck laden with goods and passengers arrived at the same time as us. They were there to get a drink of water at the same time as saying their sunset prayers. Before this, though, they all had to shake hands with the white cyclists as they individually stepped off the truck. It felt like being a celebrity with a long line of waiting fans! What a great welcome at the end of two very tough days! We were again served fuul and shai; Ali's was even better than Mohammed's and we all had numerous helpings before heading off to bed. It was quite a surreal night and didn't afford us much sleep as we were constantly woken up by the goat and the cats trotting in between us. Another truck arrived later in the evening and Arabs, sadly, have no sense of noise pollution or of personal space! Oh well! Saturday 19th February We were all decidedly groggy when we woke the next morning. It was a slightly later start as we all felt we deserved it after the previous day. We ordered breakfast and tea but by 8.30am, the fuul was still not forthcoming so we decided to grab some of our own food and head off. By this time it was already quite hot and the first section wasn't too easy with quite a bit of pushing. We'd not gone even 5km when Stephan caught up with us to tell us that Fritzi was finding it particularly hard in the heat and so they were going to go back to El Bir to find some other form of transport. It was a shame as we'd all been getting on well as a team but we thought it best as well considering how far we had to go. After they left us, the road turned from bad to worse; it was just tracks in the sand heading off into the mountains with no village to be seen for miles. Although the Spaniards, with their lighter bikes seems to fare okay, we found ourselves pushing for a very long stretch. By about 10 o clock, we'd only done about 10km. Whilst we were resting after this stretch a shiny pick-up came hurtling past with Stephan and Fritzi in the back. As it went past, we heard a shout from Stephan "Abri". Maybe we'll see them there! The next 20km got a little easier and as we neared the 30km mark we rounded the top of a hill to see the Nile and the village of Akasha below us. The sight of greenery after days in the desert lifted our spirits hugely. As we turned up in the village we were greeted by a few young boys. They told us there was no restaurant or cafe, but that we were more than welcome to stay at their house and have some shai and food. When we wheeled our bikes into the cool courtyard of the house we were greeted by a sea of faces who had already heard that some white folks had arrived. Quickly four beds were laid out outside and they brought us tea, followed by lentils, helva and jam, and bread. The bread was wafer thin, like crispy pancake - far different from what we'd had before. Kate had had a slow puncture all morning and just to make the afternoon more interesting it had to be fixed. Obviously being the chivalrous guys they were, Roberto and Alvero offered to repair it, and of course, Kate couldn't decline! It wasn't easy to find but they soon had it mended and Kate's bike was again ready for the off. Once the commotion had died down, the locals left us in peace and allowed us a couple of hours dozing. Before we left, they filled up our water bottles and refused payment of any kind. Typically Sudanese. After buying some supplies in a local shop and talking to a teacher, we pedalled off up and over the gravel strewn hills. This first stretch out of Akasha was the worst we had seen so far. First there were corrugations and then we found ourselves pushing in very deep sand. Eventually it took the pair of us to push each bike back onto firmer ground, and on top of all this it was really hot. The combination of pushing and heat made us feel very weak and tired. This got a bit too much for Paul after two and a half days of difficult riding. Kate had to endure a succession of cursing and ranting until they had reached firmer ground where the two Spaniards were waiting for us. After this, the worst section of the desert road, we picked up the best section; fast swooping bits of firm sand where we could pick up speeds of over 20km an hour. We were definitely happier bunnies! It was getting dark as we finally returned to the Nile and cruised into the next village. The first thing we found was a bakery where we picked up some fresh bread and some helva biscuits. We were told that they could open up a house to stay in but before this could happen we were invited into a house by its owner, Mohammed Amin. He spoke very good English but spent most of the time watching a TV programme about tourists in Indonesia rather than talking to us. The coffee he gave us was wonderful though. He then led us to the said-house where a group of men were waiting for us. They sat and watched us eat the fuul that had been prepared for us before eventually leaving us in peace. Before we went to bed, we made the most of the communal stand tap outside where we could wash our clothes so that they could dry for the next morning. It was a very hot night and none of us slept particularly well. Paul and Kate x
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Challoner's, Fasiledes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire