Another 2 long days in the Nubian Desert.

Desert Camp to Desert Camp 143kms. 31^st January 2011.

We took off nice and early just as the sun was starting to light up the Nubian Desert, pretty spectacular scenery at that time of the day. The day progressed just like the rest, with a slight tailwind to take us to lunch which was at the 73km mark. 

Just after lunch we stopped at the major bus terminal for those heading north to Dongola or south to Khartoum.  The major terminal is a brick/mud shack.  Got to meet the local people and had some cool photos taken.  Will post when I get to Khartoum in 2 days time.

By the time we left the bus stop the wind was now roaring to an intense level.  If the wind was hitting us sideways it would have blown us off our bikes.   The whole day was pretty easy and I’m certainly taking my time each day and stopping at every opportunity to have a tea or coke with all my mates.

The camp site was in the desert and shit was it hot as hell.  The wind was blowing so strong, with all the zippers closed on my tent the sand still got in.  Far too windy to pull out the laptop and do an update.

The computer read 40 degrees all afternoon, and that I consumed 5000 calories.  I ate like a horse, probably too much as it took a while to fall asleep because I had stuffed myself silly.  Pays not to be pig sometimes. Finally got to sleep around 8pm with a billion stars to help me along the way.

Desert Camp to Desert Camp 148kms. 1^st February 2011

Again up nice and early for the long ride.  Having to do 3 days over 140kms is pretty tiring and something I have to get use to if I want to ride all the way to Cape Town. The first tea stop was at 20kms, which of course I stopped with Rodney, Andre, Daniel and Lindsay.  

Back on the bike for the next haul to the 83km mark for lunch.  We didn’t see many people for the next 2 hours, other than camels, camels, kids, mud houses, and more mud houses. Lunch was a nice egg and tuna, honey, peanut butter pita bread sandwich.  Basically I throw anything on my lunch that’s on offer.  It actually tastes pretty good.  I have two of them a couple of slices of orange and back on the bike to the next tea stop.

On our way to the next stop a total of 16 lorries carrying armoured tanks passed us travelling in a northerly direction.  Not sure of where they’re going but with Cairo in a bit of trouble, border protection would be pretty important right now.  The whole group were very lucky to get out of Egypt before the uprising started.

Back to the 146km coke stop.  This little shack had cane beds to lay on while we had our drink and tea.  I lay down for about 2 hours and then decided to make my way down the road to the campsite to erect my home for the evening.  At least the wind is not blowing a gale again.  

After a couple cups of soup and 1 or 2 cups of tea it’s time for the rider meeting about what’s going to happen tomorrow.  We have a 20km Time Trial, and then a convoy into Khartoum.  They reckon the traffic into Khartoum is a nightmare.  It doesn’t really concern me as Josh and I had a nightmare experience when we rode into Nairobi a couple of years ago.

Dinner is a fabulous event for me every night.  Tonight I’m going to have 1 plate only tonight, get a good night’s sleep and have a terrific ride tomorrow into Khartoum.

Good night from my sandy, smelly tent in the Nubian Desert Sudan.