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Sunday 6th - Wednesday 9th March Our visit to Meroe to see the pyramids was a welcome change to the numerous tourist sites we had visited in Egypt. Apart from one man asking for a camel ride and a few model pyramid sellers, we were almost always on our own. All it took was a 3 hour long trip on a local bus which dropped us off on the side of the road in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. You could see the remains of the pyramids at the Royal Cemetery up on a hill, and to get there it was a scramble across a ditch containing newly laid pipes before a short hot dusty walk up to the site entrance. The guy there was relatively friendly and after taking the 10 dinars a head allowed us to roam freely amongst the pyramids and sand dunes. We were allowed to camp a little way from the pyramids where we wouldn't be discovered by the night security. There are probably about 20 pyramids, smaller than those in Egypt, with their portico entrances all facing east. Inside those entrances which were accessible, you could see hieroglyphics and drawings cut into the stone. There was no trace of any colour or paint but what was clearly visible was the scratched-in graffiti of the past centuries. Many of the pyramids were badly damaged and none still retained their original peak. From a distance the pyramids looked like a damaged Toblerone. Some of the pyramids' peaks and entrances had been restored with concrete but this has done little to enhance the ancient beauty of the site. We had a couple of hours wandering around before the sun set, and we headed off into the next valley to find ourselves a resting spot for the night. It was a pleasant night, all six of us Europeans, all staring up at the stars. We had hoped to see the pyramids set against a sunrise the next morning but we were facing the wrong direction … never mind! We still had a lazy wander around the pyramids before heading across the main road to the Royal City of Meroe. This is a similar pyramid site but in far worse condition so we only spent a while there. Unfortunately, most of our time there was spent trying to fix our camera which had decided to jam itself. Probably hadn't appreciated all the corrugation and the heat from the previous riding in Sudan. We managed to hitch a lift in a truck heading back to Khartoum pretty easily. It was again extremely hot sitting in the back but we appreciated the bottle of cold 7up and water which the driver offered. Luckily the journey was quite short as he had been driving pretty dangerously, eager to overtake anything possible! We had a quick bite to eat and about 6 Pepsi's (each!!) before trekking back to the campsite where the shade was very welcome. Its funny how despite being in Sudan for 3 weeks now, we still haven't got used to the heat with its temperatures rising to over 450C in the day and staying in the 30's during the night! We had a very civilised evening at the French Cultural Centre where an African Jazz Concert was being played. Amal el Nour is a blind Sudanese female singer who seems to be very popular in her own country. She had an amazing voice but was badly let down by some seriously poor backing musicians. The concert was packed and there were also many stalls; it was in aid of Africa women's week and all the women's rights groups were represented. Thursday 10th March On Thursday, it was time to say goodbye to Audrey and Benjamin who were flying out that lunchtime to Sri Lanka. We had had a goodbye pizza meal the previous evening so it was a nice but sad ending to our time spent altogether in Khartoum. We then had our final preparations to do as we were leaving the next day. Final preparations also included Kate organising some make-do kitten food for her little adopted furry babies! Friday 11th March It was time for us to finally leave Khartoum so we got up at 6 o'clock to get ready. It was still dark and also still very warm but luckily there was a breeze which we hadn't had for a few days. Stephan and Fritzi were soon up, making tea for us before we went to meet Midhat on the road. Midhat is a Sudanese cyclist who works for a local tour company called Globtours and also guides the Tour d'Afrique through his own country. He is extremely kind and generous, and it seems that almost every cyclist that passes through Sudan seems to get help from him. He has a great sense of humour and an amazing capacity to talk (more than Kate!). We had been to ask him for directions out of town a few days before and he had offered to ride the first 50-60km with us. Although he's ridden this road several times before, he is just desperate to get out and cycle. We had planned to meet him at 7 o'clock outside the gates but it was nearly 7.30 and he still hadn't arrived. So we decided to try and find the way on our own with Stephan and Fritzi waving from the gate. One minute later, a taxi with a bike strapped on top stopped and out popped our apologetic Midhat - his alarm had not worked! Despite it being Friday there was till a lot of traffic on the road, which included a lot of impatient and speeding coaches. The road was very narrow and they would much rather force us off the road than slow down. The first 60km passed relatively quickly and we only had to contend with one near-miss with a speeding Toyota. At 10.30am we decided to pull into a roadside café where this was to be the last stop with Midhat. We had a quick bite to eat and drink before saying goodbye. We then pedalled out onto what is probably the most dangerous road we have ridden on so far. In the next 30km before lunch we were forced off the road a number of times, having to drop often quite a long way from the tarmac on to the gravel siding - not fun. Kate had a little success with some of the trucks, asking them to wait; the speeding coaches just ignored her. Her hand gestures only infuriated the bus drivers even more and caused them to overtake even more recklessly. It was so incredibly hot when we stopped for lunch at a café 10km outside a town called Kamlin, but unfortunately the heat had made us lose our appetite. So we drank, tried to rest and nibbled on a few biscuits till it was late enough when we felt we could venture out into the sun again. The next 30km went quite smoothly but Paul was starting to notice problems with his rear brake. He couldn't work out what the cause was. When we stopped in a village called El Talbab, he discovered that his rear wheel rim had split. This could potentially be a really big problem and although we only had 800km to go, we weren't even sure if it would last 50km. Kate had already taken charge of the situation and had found a man who spoke very good English. Before we knew it we were in Mohammed Musa's house being offered food and drink surrounded by his welcoming family. Mohammed seemed to be a wise and very well-respected gentleman who had travelled and lived throughout Europe when he was training to be an aviation engineer. Unlike many people we have stayed with he gave us space to discuss our situation. He suggested (and we agreed) that we rest there the night and try to remedy the problem in the morning. Mohammed lived in a house full of women and we were introduced to most of them. His wife, Sumeya, was very interested in our trip and wanted to join us and it was one of his daughters, Susan, an English teacher who served us food. A little while later we were escorted by Tahib, Husebo and Ahmed, members of Sumeya's family (everyone in the village seemed to be related!) to Hasebo's "bachelor pad" where they put beds out in the courtyard for us. Before we went to sleep, they sat with us and talked, every once in a while more people coming in to greet us, and they gave us Pepsi, followed by sweet milky tea and chopped bananas. Although we had quite a serious problem with the wheel, we went to bed, lying under the stars, feeling quite relaxed and slept peacefully. Saturday 12th March We woke early as usual, and soon we had a small group of family members sitting with us whilst we had sweet milky tea and bread and jam. Mohammed was keen to take us on a tour of a local village nearby called Abu Rusta where he thought there might also be someone who could help us with our bike problems. The Saturday market was busy and full of life. Men and women were setting up stalls, whilst greeting each other in the traditional lengthy Arabic manner. The livestock market was especially busy, with hundreds of goats, cattle and braying donkeys being bargained for. The tea ladies were already doing good business and the atmosphere, even though still early in the morning was so colourful and vibrant. Mohammed seemed to be greeted by almost everybody and appeared to be a very well-respected member of society. He also owned a fair number of shops, mainly telephone centres. After a quick discussion with the bicycle guys, it was clear that they could do nothing to help but they suggested a man called Bedoui in the town of Hana Hissa who was more of a wheel specialist. It was nice that they'd admitted their lack of expertise rather than making the matter worse by giving it a go. Before setting off to Hana Hissa, Mohammed took us out past the hospital to another one of his shops before driving to his farm. They had had some problems with the water supply over the past couple of days so he was going to check what was being done about it. He had big fields of wheat and chickpeas and it was nice to be out in open space that was green for once. It wasn't long before we were back on the road driving towards Hana Hissa. The town was much bigger and even busier, with streets crowded with ragged looking children, women in bright clothes and men in white robes. There must have been at least a dozen bike shops but we were directed to one in particular where Bedoui worked. Unfortunately, he was unable to help us either. The rim was not technology that Sudanese bikes used. Our best resort was to phone our trusty Sudanese cyclist, Midhat. We knew he had a modern western bike (in fact more modern than ours) and of course he is always willing to help. We rang him from a phone booth in town and he immediately offered his rear wheel to replace the broken one. He even wanted to bring it out to us by bus but we felt he was already helping us enough so arranged to meet him back in Khartoum that day. We couldn't believe that we had to go back to Khartoum again after only one day but were grateful at the same time that we weren't that far. We did though both really hate the fact that we had to take his wheel, as it somehow didn't seem fair. But at this point we didn't have any other choice. We were so close yet still so far from our final destination with more badly surfaced roads to deal with. After collecting some tools and a small bag and being fed a final time we went back out onto the main road to hitch a left back into Khartoum. It seemed to take forever but finally a Toyota pick-up pulled up and the driver agreed to take us and the bike back into the centre of Khartoum. He was a nice guy who worked for the Ministry of Electricity and so when he dropped us off at Midhat's office he refused any money saying that it was a government vehicle. We spent 3 hours working on the bike, swapping over parts and ensuring the Midhat's wheel was actually road worthy. Half the spokes were loose and one was missing. Whilst we were there Stephan arrived. He was obviously very surprised to see the cyclists from the day before but was a dab hand at trueing wheels and soon had the slightly misshapen hoops running smoothly again. By this time, it was too late to return to El Talbab so Midhat kindly furnished us with one of his 36 tents and we set off to the BNSC once again. Of course, Fritzi, the kittens and the staff were very happy to see us, if a little shocked at our quick return. William, one of the staff, was very happy for us to put up our tent and not say a word to the finance man. That evening we sat out once again by the Nile drinking Pepsi and eating freshly cooked burgers. Bedtime was spent with the kittens curled up inside the tent. Paul had somehow allowed Kate this one final request before we went back on the road. Luckily he slept well but the cats kept Kate awake for most the night playing with the feathers from the spare sleeping bag. Oh well!! Love Kate and Paul x
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Challoner's, Fasiledes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire