Day 87
Sleeping location: Dahab Roof Hostel, Cairo
Distance (km today/total): 15 / 6865
Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 57500
“Crashes” - 2
Day in three words: Cairo is crazy
We enjoyed a VERY long lie in at the airbnb, which we had probably earned after 550km in 5 days, mostly into a headwind. During this time we also absolutely rinsed their fast wifi to download masses of podcasts, netflix and music. We had breakfast/brunch/lunch at a cafe which only did sweet things, meaning that our meal consisted entirely of cakes and an enormous peanut butter and banana milkshake. Egyptians are hugely proud of the footballer Mo Salah, who plays for Liverpool, and usually the first thing they say after learning that you’re English is his name with a thumbs up. As this frequently happens in restaurants Rebecca thought that “Musalah” was the word for the bill and we had a confusing interaction when we tried to pay.
The traffic on the way into the centre of Cairo was beyond words; all I can say is “fucking mental” 1000 times. We had two minor incidents, one where I braked to avoid a dog and Rebecca crashed into me, knocking my pannier off, and one where a car pulled across me from the right, directly into my front wheel. I managed to swerve but for some reason my second instinctive reaction was to unclip and kick the car with my right foot. I have no idea if this was to signal to the driver, damage the car, or push myself away from him; either way, I hope my cleat took a massive chunk out of the bastard’s paintwork. Near the end was a section through a market which was one of the most overwhelming things I’ve ever experienced. Cars, bikes, motorbikes, carts and pedestrians were all vying for each square foot of space, and the horns and the fumes were relentless. In the midst of all this was the world’s most zen man, who was somehow cycling through the chaos with a ladder balanced on his head.
Rebecca had found a nice cheap rooftop hostel, with the only drawback being that roofs are generally quite high up and we had to lug the bikes up seven flights of stairs (thankfully there was a lift to put the panniers in). At the top was an oasis of calm and we each spent a couple of hours doing some relaxed admin, including trying to repair my gloves with superglue and getting most of it on my fingers. We found a cafe that sold BEER, then got some nice Egyptian food, then had a couple more beers up on the peaceful rooftop. So far Cairo is a sensory overload but I kind of like it, it has a sort of crumbling glamour and the people are nice despite the chaos.
Distance (km today/total): 15 / 6865
Estimated climb (m today/total): 0 / 57500
“Crashes” - 2
Day in three words: Cairo is crazy
We enjoyed a VERY long lie in at the airbnb, which we had probably earned after 550km in 5 days, mostly into a headwind. During this time we also absolutely rinsed their fast wifi to download masses of podcasts, netflix and music. We had breakfast/brunch/lunch at a cafe which only did sweet things, meaning that our meal consisted entirely of cakes and an enormous peanut butter and banana milkshake. Egyptians are hugely proud of the footballer Mo Salah, who plays for Liverpool, and usually the first thing they say after learning that you’re English is his name with a thumbs up. As this frequently happens in restaurants Rebecca thought that “Musalah” was the word for the bill and we had a confusing interaction when we tried to pay.
The traffic on the way into the centre of Cairo was beyond words; all I can say is “fucking mental” 1000 times. We had two minor incidents, one where I braked to avoid a dog and Rebecca crashed into me, knocking my pannier off, and one where a car pulled across me from the right, directly into my front wheel. I managed to swerve but for some reason my second instinctive reaction was to unclip and kick the car with my right foot. I have no idea if this was to signal to the driver, damage the car, or push myself away from him; either way, I hope my cleat took a massive chunk out of the bastard’s paintwork. Near the end was a section through a market which was one of the most overwhelming things I’ve ever experienced. Cars, bikes, motorbikes, carts and pedestrians were all vying for each square foot of space, and the horns and the fumes were relentless. In the midst of all this was the world’s most zen man, who was somehow cycling through the chaos with a ladder balanced on his head.
Rebecca had found a nice cheap rooftop hostel, with the only drawback being that roofs are generally quite high up and we had to lug the bikes up seven flights of stairs (thankfully there was a lift to put the panniers in). At the top was an oasis of calm and we each spent a couple of hours doing some relaxed admin, including trying to repair my gloves with superglue and getting most of it on my fingers. We found a cafe that sold BEER, then got some nice Egyptian food, then had a couple more beers up on the peaceful rooftop. So far Cairo is a sensory overload but I kind of like it, it has a sort of crumbling glamour and the people are nice despite the chaos.
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