Day 80
Sleeping location: Ahmed’s apartment, Sharm, Egypt
Distance (km today/total): 46 / 6284
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 55900
Size of Sharm: huge
Day in three words: A wasted day
The day started with some nature as I discovered a strange crab spider merrily eating a fly whilst sat on my bag, then as we left I spotted some snake tracks about 10m from where we’d slept. On our way to the coast road we ignored the official track and instead cycled across the beach/desert* as it was easier. This was fun and felt very adventurous. The coast “road” turned out to be more sand, but this weird compacted type that was very bumpy. We passed through a sleepy little checkpoint where a nice young man with an AK47 was very confused by us, only letting us through after his superior showed up.
We were trying to get to a dive shop for its opening at 8; I had wanted to email them from the dunes but there was no signal, and we wanted to dive with them today. The town of Nabq was a succession of enormous fancy hotel complexes, all of which had segregated beaches. When we arrived we found that it was inside one of these hotel complexes and the security guard wouldn’t let us in. I messaged the owner but she didn’t reply for ages, and when she did it was to say that the boat dives had already left and it was too rough in Nabq for shore diving today. As we wanted to dive in Sharm we would have wait until tomorrow, which meant that today was effectively wasted.
We booked an apartment in Sharm, then cycled towards it. The city seemed to be nothing but dual carriageways and more enormous hotel complexes, which meant that it was very spread out and it was a good 30km from Nabq to our accommodation. Thankfully we had a tailwind and zipped along the wide roads. There was a carrefour on route so we stopped for a shopping spree for “luxury” items that are commonplace back home but difficult to find here, such as instant noodles, fancy snacks and nice things in tins. Checkin was a bit of a faff as it turned out our apartment belonged to a guy called Ahmed rather than the apartment complex. When we mentioned diving he said that he was a diving guide and could take us the next day, with what seemed a good price. I took his number and asked a few questions over whatsapp whilst we chilled by the pool (and had some swimming races). But his answers were a bit evasive and it didn’t feel right, then he abruptly cancelled on us anyway, which left us with a scramble to book some diving and avoid another wasted day. Thankfully a dive shop that had been recommended by our guide back in Aqaba came to our rescue. To celebrate we got a dirty takeaway and some ice cream - this is our last night where such things will be available, before several days of roughing it to Cairo.
*Where does one end and the other begin?
Distance (km today/total): 46 / 6284
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 55900
Size of Sharm: huge
Day in three words: A wasted day
The day started with some nature as I discovered a strange crab spider merrily eating a fly whilst sat on my bag, then as we left I spotted some snake tracks about 10m from where we’d slept. On our way to the coast road we ignored the official track and instead cycled across the beach/desert* as it was easier. This was fun and felt very adventurous. The coast “road” turned out to be more sand, but this weird compacted type that was very bumpy. We passed through a sleepy little checkpoint where a nice young man with an AK47 was very confused by us, only letting us through after his superior showed up.
We were trying to get to a dive shop for its opening at 8; I had wanted to email them from the dunes but there was no signal, and we wanted to dive with them today. The town of Nabq was a succession of enormous fancy hotel complexes, all of which had segregated beaches. When we arrived we found that it was inside one of these hotel complexes and the security guard wouldn’t let us in. I messaged the owner but she didn’t reply for ages, and when she did it was to say that the boat dives had already left and it was too rough in Nabq for shore diving today. As we wanted to dive in Sharm we would have wait until tomorrow, which meant that today was effectively wasted.
We booked an apartment in Sharm, then cycled towards it. The city seemed to be nothing but dual carriageways and more enormous hotel complexes, which meant that it was very spread out and it was a good 30km from Nabq to our accommodation. Thankfully we had a tailwind and zipped along the wide roads. There was a carrefour on route so we stopped for a shopping spree for “luxury” items that are commonplace back home but difficult to find here, such as instant noodles, fancy snacks and nice things in tins. Checkin was a bit of a faff as it turned out our apartment belonged to a guy called Ahmed rather than the apartment complex. When we mentioned diving he said that he was a diving guide and could take us the next day, with what seemed a good price. I took his number and asked a few questions over whatsapp whilst we chilled by the pool (and had some swimming races). But his answers were a bit evasive and it didn’t feel right, then he abruptly cancelled on us anyway, which left us with a scramble to book some diving and avoid another wasted day. Thankfully a dive shop that had been recommended by our guide back in Aqaba came to our rescue. To celebrate we got a dirty takeaway and some ice cream - this is our last night where such things will be available, before several days of roughing it to Cairo.
*Where does one end and the other begin?
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