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Sunday 27th February The next two days were a hard slog but at least it was on tarmac. We'd been told that there were restaurants and villages every 10km but we often saw nothing for 50 or 60km at a time. As we kept pushing on to find a restaurant for the first evening, we ended up riding a day's total of 151km to a restaurant which didn't serve food but at least made a good cup of tea. They also gave us a mat to sleep on under the stars. Monday 28th February The one restaurant we stopped at the next day was an awful windy sandy place. The sand got in everything, and the food was very disappointing and they overcharged us. We pushed on bracing ourselves against the very strong wind and the sand hoping to find a better restaurant for lunch. There was nothing on the road and we eventually found a derelict building with a tiny amount of shade. It was 2 o clock by this time, and for the first time we were both really suffering from the heat. Roberto and Alvero flagged down a local bus for some water, as we were getting dangerously low. Perhaps because they come from Spain Roberto and Alvero never seemed to suffer from the heat. Once we got going again we managed to find somewhere for a cool drink where we were told it was only another 30km into Khartoum. Feeling spurred on by this, we pushed on until we reached Omdurman where we stopped for a falafel sandwich. What a surprise... Khartoum was still another 20-30km away. We kept riding until we felt it was too dark and too dangerous to carry on, and we asked directions for a hotel. We ended up walking with a guy to a hotel that seemed to take forever. Our total that day, 143km, meant that the last two days were our longest on this trip so far. When we finally arrived, we then had big problems convincing the hotel manager to allow a woman to stay the night. He even wanted to see our marriage certificate which of course we don't possess! As soon as we eventually settled in, we went straight out to the fruit stalls we'd seen on the main road and completely devoured a huge whole watermelon, and some oranges and bananas to cleanse our malnourished bodies. The locals at the stalls found this incredibly funny, even with the fan it was still quite hot in the room but at least we had a cold shower. Tuesday 1st March We knew we didn't have far to go the next day so we had a leisurely start. We met up to drink tea with the shai lady at 8 o'clock. For us this was a real lie-in. She had a beautiful baby gurgling beside her and Roberto gave her his blanket which he no longer needed. It was quite nice riding through the busy streets towards Khartoum and we stopped once more to eat falafel and egg sandwiches. Once we crossed the White Nile and reached Khartoum we said goodbye to the boys as they had jobs to do and were going to stay in a hotel. We arranged to meet them that night for food. Wednesday 2nd March Wednesday and Thursday were spent chilling out, doing chores, reading our emails and meeting up with the boys for regular meals. They had been successful in bringing their flights forward and so on Thursday we would say our final farewell. We have enjoyed spending time with them and maybe one day we'll ride together again. Thursday 3rd March Khartoum is a funny place. It has a strangely calm feel after the manicness of Cairo. Unlike Cairo, Khartoum is at its busiest in the morning and early afternoon. As the sun starts to go down, things get quieter and quieter so that by the time it's dark, nearly everything is shut. Trying to find a restaurant here after 7.30pm is nigh on impossible! During the day, it's still not that easy to find a great selection of restaurants as most just tend to sell hamburgers and falafels. Despite this, during the day it does have the atmosphere you might expect from a modern African city. The streets are busy and dusty (and even sandy) and the more traditional street sellers compete for space in front of the modern almost western shops. There is a brightly dressed tea lady on almost every corner and the number of men sitting in front of her is always a gauge at how attractive she is! Some streets are lined with workmen with their tools laid out in front of them, waiting for the next job to arrive. Boys from the ages of 7 to 15 years old stroll the streets, rattling their empty polish tins, looking for shoes to shine, and whenever there are cars parked you'll find lads soaping down and polishing them. You also get traditional coffee houses outside which clusters of men sit, chat and drink. You get little china bowls half filled with sugar, which you top up from your tiny metal jug with rich Sudanese coffee. Occasionally, you can see a man in the street roasting the coffee beans over a roaring charcoal fire after which he empties out the contents onto a straw mat to dry. It's quite sad though, that amidst all this you find so many people, young and old, and not all desperately poor, asking for money. Sometimes its a little child tugging your sleeve or an older person drawing you in with a typical Sudanese smile and handshake before turning the subject towards money. At least the children are grateful for the food we'd rather give them. Even so, you still get the typical Sudanese generosity even in Khartoum. We have often found it difficult to pay for tea because the men have insisted on paying for us. The Blue Nile Sailing Club is a relatively calm spot on the banks of the Nile with reasonably well-kept lawns, and Kitchener's old gunship, the Malik, as its centrepiece. Although there is an assortment of powerboats and sailing boats all moored in front of the club, very few of the members actually seem to go on the water. It seems to be a place where relatively well-off Khartoumians arrive in their smart Landrovers and spend the afternoon and most of the night drinking tea and Pepsi. The club also allows tourists to use its grounds for camping for a small fee. The facilities are very basic and rarely cleaned or maintained but at least you can buy a cold drink from the kiosk and the staff seem friendly enough. Our base at the edge of the Nile allows us to see a variety of Khartoum wildlife from the hawks circling overhead and a little parrot that comes along occasionally to the three newly born kittens which Kate has somehow managed to find and adopt. When you go to the toilet you can be accompanied by huge ants and even the odd lizard. This isn't a bad place to relax after the tough days getting here..... Friday 4th March On Friday night we went to see a group of Sufi dancers at the Hammad El-Nil cemetery in Omdurman. There was a big group of us: Chris and Tamsin, two English overlanders; Richard and Sylvain who had driven up from Cape Town; Christian, a really friendly Aussie motorcyclist who we got on very well with, and Audrey and Benjamin. Audrey and Benjamin are two of the French cyclists we met in Cairo. They had meant to cycle to Ethiopia but after finding a cheap flight from here to Sri Lanka, have changed their plans somewhat! The Sufi dancing was very different to what we had seen in Cairo, being much more a form of worship than a performance. There were hundreds of people dancing in a circle, some dressed in green with dreadlocks and some dressed in white, chanting 'No God but Allah', whilst moving rhythmically. A few were whirling and some processed around the circle. The atmosphere was fantastic and full of energy. Saturday 5th March 5,045.4 miles, Khartoum, Sudan Fritzi and Stephan arrived today after some hard days crossing the desert. It's nice to have them back again with us. On Monday, we'll be travelling to the pyramids in Meroe with the two of them and Audrey and Benjamin where we'll spend the night in the desert. We also might go to a Sudanese jazz concert on Tuesday night at the French Cultural Centre. All going well, you won't hear from us now until Gondar.... so take care watch this space for the final instalment. Love Kate and Paul x
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Challoner's, Fasiledes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire