Day 108
Sleeping location: Desert 20.31N 30.20E, Sudan
Distance (km today/total): 121 / 8509
Estimated climb (m today/total): 300 / 59800
Collapsed road: three times
Day in three words: Where’s the fuel
The quiet of the desert meant a good night’s sleep, but we were initially reluctant to get up as it was still pretty cold at sunrise. But the promise of pineapple oats with yoghurt was enough, despite the lack of coffee. The gas canister from Jordan ran out at the end of Egypt and we are without a stove until I can figure out how to a) get liquid fuel in Sudan, and b) work my stove with said fuel. None of the petrol stations we passed yesterday were open, and it was the same case today. I think there’s a fuel shortage across the whole country. This did allow me to keep singing At The Drive In*, but sadly I couldn’t actually listen to them as Spotify doesn’t work in Sudan.
We passed increasingly beautiful jagged hills and after an hour of lovely cycling I realised I was happy in a way that I hadn’t been since maybe Dahab. Egypt was such a mental drain that it seemed to drag our moods down even when it was fun and interesting. So far Sudan is much more relaxing, and all the better for it. Mid morning we came across a sort of shanty town in the middle of the desert. We tried to get hold of some food (ie fuel for our legs) but there weren’t any basics like bread, so we made do with a coffee. In the coffee tent a nice man whose name I can’t remember sat down with us and asked if he could practice his English with us. This attracted an audience, like it was some kind of onstage interview, but everyone was quiet and respectful. When we left the nice man insisted on paying for our drinks.
From here we followed a dry riverbed then went up onto an empty plain, which reminded me of the altiplano in Peru, endless and lifeless. There was a lonely petrol station in the middle, though obviously it was shut. After this we descended back to the Nile proper for the first time since Aswan. All of a sudden there were houses and people, and the river itself was a stripe of blue and green running through the yellows and greys of the desert around it. On this stretch was a section where the road had collapsed three times in about 10km, seemingly after its foundations had been washed away by a flash flood. The largest collapse was about 10m across and contained a car with a smashed up front which had accidentally launched itself off the tarmac and crashed into the other side of the hole. The car was now stranded as there was another hole the other side stopping any kind of crane getting near it. Oh dear.
We had lunch at a place where I didn't know the name of anything so I went into the kitchen area and pointed at stuff; it was tasty despite the dubious quality of the meat. After this we picked up a nice tailwind and made quick distance for a couple of hours before looking for a place to sleep. It was flat land but someone had helpfully dug loads of big holes and left the dirt in piles which were convenient for us to hide behind, so we did that. At dinner we experimented with this strange Egyptian foodstuff called “mesh” that we had accidentally bought, thinking it was hummus. It is insanely salty and quite funky, and we can’t figure out how to make it taste nice. In honour of the beautiful stars we watched the first half of Interstellar, after which I spent ages staring at the sky and wondering if anything interesting was going on up there.
*The line “this station is non-operational” from the (brilliant) One Armed Scissor, but of course you knew that already
Distance (km today/total): 121 / 8509
Estimated climb (m today/total): 300 / 59800
Collapsed road: three times
Day in three words: Where’s the fuel
The quiet of the desert meant a good night’s sleep, but we were initially reluctant to get up as it was still pretty cold at sunrise. But the promise of pineapple oats with yoghurt was enough, despite the lack of coffee. The gas canister from Jordan ran out at the end of Egypt and we are without a stove until I can figure out how to a) get liquid fuel in Sudan, and b) work my stove with said fuel. None of the petrol stations we passed yesterday were open, and it was the same case today. I think there’s a fuel shortage across the whole country. This did allow me to keep singing At The Drive In*, but sadly I couldn’t actually listen to them as Spotify doesn’t work in Sudan.
We passed increasingly beautiful jagged hills and after an hour of lovely cycling I realised I was happy in a way that I hadn’t been since maybe Dahab. Egypt was such a mental drain that it seemed to drag our moods down even when it was fun and interesting. So far Sudan is much more relaxing, and all the better for it. Mid morning we came across a sort of shanty town in the middle of the desert. We tried to get hold of some food (ie fuel for our legs) but there weren’t any basics like bread, so we made do with a coffee. In the coffee tent a nice man whose name I can’t remember sat down with us and asked if he could practice his English with us. This attracted an audience, like it was some kind of onstage interview, but everyone was quiet and respectful. When we left the nice man insisted on paying for our drinks.
From here we followed a dry riverbed then went up onto an empty plain, which reminded me of the altiplano in Peru, endless and lifeless. There was a lonely petrol station in the middle, though obviously it was shut. After this we descended back to the Nile proper for the first time since Aswan. All of a sudden there were houses and people, and the river itself was a stripe of blue and green running through the yellows and greys of the desert around it. On this stretch was a section where the road had collapsed three times in about 10km, seemingly after its foundations had been washed away by a flash flood. The largest collapse was about 10m across and contained a car with a smashed up front which had accidentally launched itself off the tarmac and crashed into the other side of the hole. The car was now stranded as there was another hole the other side stopping any kind of crane getting near it. Oh dear.
We had lunch at a place where I didn't know the name of anything so I went into the kitchen area and pointed at stuff; it was tasty despite the dubious quality of the meat. After this we picked up a nice tailwind and made quick distance for a couple of hours before looking for a place to sleep. It was flat land but someone had helpfully dug loads of big holes and left the dirt in piles which were convenient for us to hide behind, so we did that. At dinner we experimented with this strange Egyptian foodstuff called “mesh” that we had accidentally bought, thinking it was hummus. It is insanely salty and quite funky, and we can’t figure out how to make it taste nice. In honour of the beautiful stars we watched the first half of Interstellar, after which I spent ages staring at the sky and wondering if anything interesting was going on up there.
*The line “this station is non-operational” from the (brilliant) One Armed Scissor, but of course you knew that already
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