Day 86
Sleeping location: Weird Airbnb in Nasr City, Cairo
Distance (km today/total): 110 / 6850
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 57500
Fast food eaten: too much
Day in three words: Approach to Cairo
After a predictably bad sleep we were up and off along the motorway again. There was a nagging headwind all day which made the going tougher than it should have been, as the roads were good and flat. We stopped for drinks and coffee at the first possible opportunity, where the guy tried to charge us 2-3 times a reasonable price. I “negotiated” him down but it was still expensive. This is the first time in Egypt someone has tried to blatantly rip us off, and hopefully not a sign of things to come. After maybe 40km we were made to wait by the side of the road for a replacement escort that we didn’t even want. “5 minutes” turned to 20, then we were told that actually yes we could just go on alone. This bureaucratic (yet inept) military bullshit is seriously ruining our time here and honestly I can’t wait to get to Sudan. On the plus side, we invented a game where we tried to hit a cigarette packet with stones - I was the inaugural champion.
We continued down the motorway, which got gradually busier as we approach Cairo. There was nowhere to eat so I continuously nibbled on cheesy corn and raisins. Once we turned off the motorway the traffic became less orderly but oddly easier to navigate. Everyone is constantly honking, which means that everyone just ignores honks, so it’s a sea of pointless noise wherever you go. We were aiming for a Decathlon to buy various bike/camping bits, but they had absolutely none of them. The very nice sales assistant recommended another bike shop a few km away, and as it was getting late we decided to stay in that neighbourhood, which is about 15km east of the centre of Cairo, rather than braving more traffic.
The bike shop* had some good stuff but sadly none of the things we needed in stock, although they did let me use their cable cutters so I could cut the gear cable that I replaced several days ago. When we left they gave us a small bag of gifts: a medium sized cat souvenir**, an Egypt keyring***, and two Chinese “health safety riding friend” rear bike lights. In lieu of a description these had a poem on the packaging, which I recount in full here as it is both beautiful and profound:
Slender shape with a neat edge
Road columnar beam design, lit
Like a sharp blade pierced the paint
Black night sky. Ultra-wide exposure
Range Wai, provide more security.
Elastic bandage new design will firmly
Solid installation in a bariety (sic) of different
Shapes, Diameter of the vehicle body.
Compact, lightweight Li Fall, full of
Design sense, with each Very stylish
Cars on the species.
After we had ruminated on this over a juice, we headed to an airbnb booked minutes earlier. It was a “room in house” one and I had forgotten how weird these can be, but it was a nice house in a good area and the owner was friendly (if a little creepy with his endless smiling). After showers we headed out in an attempt to find some urban decadence. Nowhere did beer but we found a fast food place that gave us about a kilo each of awful yet delicious food, then got an ice cream, then collapsed onto the fine marble mattress and pillows of smooth granite. On the way back we saw a tshirt that said “break your limits, ride the wheels” which feels oddly appropriate for us.
*3agalty bike shop; I will mention them as they were nice
**”Forgotten” in the airbnb
***Rebecca attached it to my bar bag and so far I’ve been too lazy to remove it
Distance (km today/total): 110 / 6850
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 57500
Fast food eaten: too much
Day in three words: Approach to Cairo
After a predictably bad sleep we were up and off along the motorway again. There was a nagging headwind all day which made the going tougher than it should have been, as the roads were good and flat. We stopped for drinks and coffee at the first possible opportunity, where the guy tried to charge us 2-3 times a reasonable price. I “negotiated” him down but it was still expensive. This is the first time in Egypt someone has tried to blatantly rip us off, and hopefully not a sign of things to come. After maybe 40km we were made to wait by the side of the road for a replacement escort that we didn’t even want. “5 minutes” turned to 20, then we were told that actually yes we could just go on alone. This bureaucratic (yet inept) military bullshit is seriously ruining our time here and honestly I can’t wait to get to Sudan. On the plus side, we invented a game where we tried to hit a cigarette packet with stones - I was the inaugural champion.
We continued down the motorway, which got gradually busier as we approach Cairo. There was nowhere to eat so I continuously nibbled on cheesy corn and raisins. Once we turned off the motorway the traffic became less orderly but oddly easier to navigate. Everyone is constantly honking, which means that everyone just ignores honks, so it’s a sea of pointless noise wherever you go. We were aiming for a Decathlon to buy various bike/camping bits, but they had absolutely none of them. The very nice sales assistant recommended another bike shop a few km away, and as it was getting late we decided to stay in that neighbourhood, which is about 15km east of the centre of Cairo, rather than braving more traffic.
The bike shop* had some good stuff but sadly none of the things we needed in stock, although they did let me use their cable cutters so I could cut the gear cable that I replaced several days ago. When we left they gave us a small bag of gifts: a medium sized cat souvenir**, an Egypt keyring***, and two Chinese “health safety riding friend” rear bike lights. In lieu of a description these had a poem on the packaging, which I recount in full here as it is both beautiful and profound:
Slender shape with a neat edge
Road columnar beam design, lit
Like a sharp blade pierced the paint
Black night sky. Ultra-wide exposure
Range Wai, provide more security.
Elastic bandage new design will firmly
Solid installation in a bariety (sic) of different
Shapes, Diameter of the vehicle body.
Compact, lightweight Li Fall, full of
Design sense, with each Very stylish
Cars on the species.
After we had ruminated on this over a juice, we headed to an airbnb booked minutes earlier. It was a “room in house” one and I had forgotten how weird these can be, but it was a nice house in a good area and the owner was friendly (if a little creepy with his endless smiling). After showers we headed out in an attempt to find some urban decadence. Nowhere did beer but we found a fast food place that gave us about a kilo each of awful yet delicious food, then got an ice cream, then collapsed onto the fine marble mattress and pillows of smooth granite. On the way back we saw a tshirt that said “break your limits, ride the wheels” which feels oddly appropriate for us.
*3agalty bike shop; I will mention them as they were nice
**”Forgotten” in the airbnb
***Rebecca attached it to my bar bag and so far I’ve been too lazy to remove it
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