Day 109
Sleeping location: Desert 20.03N 30.35E, Sudan
Distance (km today/total): 83 / 8592
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 60000
Years: 1
Day in three words: A pleasant diversion
Distance (km today/total): 83 / 8592
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 60000
Years: 1
Day in three words: A pleasant diversion
In the night I had a bizarre dream in which my family owned a barge and gave me a lift on it, then we found a family of duck billed platypus and adopted them. I was awoken from this by our alarm clock of a bright orange sunrise, so I never got to find out what crazy adventures we got up to. Today was the 1st anniversary of the day Rebecca and I met; on our date she probably didn’t envisage waking up with me in the Sudanese desert a year later. We stayed snuggled up for some extra time to celebrate.
The cafe we’d earmarked for breakfast wasn't doing food (or politeness) but the coffee was excellent so we stayed for a couple along with the now customary crossword. I was reading about a local guesthouse which offered boat rides to a nearby temple on the other side of the Nile, when the owner of said guesthouse appeared and said hello to us. We spontaneously decided to visit and he agreed to get a boat sorted. At the guesthouse was a group of Hungarians on a 4x4 tour of Sudan, and their guides gave us some bread, water and halva when they heard we hadn’t eaten yet. They wouldn’t accept payment - so far Sudanese people seem very generous. We incorporated some mesh into our breakfast and discovered that it’s much better in small doses, kind of like a stinkier marmite in terms of the depth of flavour it adds. The trip to the temple involved getting the boat across the river and walking through the fields on either side, which was interesting as we’ve spent most of our Sudan time on the desert highway (ie away from that sort of thing) so far. The temple itself was ruined but beautiful and we had it to ourselves. Confusingly our boat man said that entry would be $15 each, then 100 SP (£1) each, then in the end settled on nothing. On the return we saw a 3ft lizard scurrying away as the boat came in to shore.
After we set off the road followed the river for a bit longer, then went up through the desert for a very hot 30km stretch. Here we saw loads of people using metal detectors in one of those areas with the holes that we slept in last night, then later on was a big temporary town with loads of heavy machinery. It seems that there’s mining going on round here and the dug up areas are to scan for whatever they’re mining.
We couldn’t find anywhere to eat up there so we took a fun little detour along a dirt track to visit a small town. Here we found a restaurant selling only fried eggs and bread, which was surprisingly tasty for such a simple and cheap meal. The hipsters of London would probably go wild for such a concept restaurant, it would be called Yolks or something like that and it would be £3 per egg. Whilst trying to ask for bread for our dinner I accidentally ordered another portion, which we were thankfully able to take away in some tupperware. We found a campsite in one of the dug up areas again, slept outside the tent again, and enjoyed another vibrant sunset, another set of amazing stars and the rest of Interstellar. So far Sudan has been fantastic.
The cafe we’d earmarked for breakfast wasn't doing food (or politeness) but the coffee was excellent so we stayed for a couple along with the now customary crossword. I was reading about a local guesthouse which offered boat rides to a nearby temple on the other side of the Nile, when the owner of said guesthouse appeared and said hello to us. We spontaneously decided to visit and he agreed to get a boat sorted. At the guesthouse was a group of Hungarians on a 4x4 tour of Sudan, and their guides gave us some bread, water and halva when they heard we hadn’t eaten yet. They wouldn’t accept payment - so far Sudanese people seem very generous. We incorporated some mesh into our breakfast and discovered that it’s much better in small doses, kind of like a stinkier marmite in terms of the depth of flavour it adds. The trip to the temple involved getting the boat across the river and walking through the fields on either side, which was interesting as we’ve spent most of our Sudan time on the desert highway (ie away from that sort of thing) so far. The temple itself was ruined but beautiful and we had it to ourselves. Confusingly our boat man said that entry would be $15 each, then 100 SP (£1) each, then in the end settled on nothing. On the return we saw a 3ft lizard scurrying away as the boat came in to shore.
After we set off the road followed the river for a bit longer, then went up through the desert for a very hot 30km stretch. Here we saw loads of people using metal detectors in one of those areas with the holes that we slept in last night, then later on was a big temporary town with loads of heavy machinery. It seems that there’s mining going on round here and the dug up areas are to scan for whatever they’re mining.
We couldn’t find anywhere to eat up there so we took a fun little detour along a dirt track to visit a small town. Here we found a restaurant selling only fried eggs and bread, which was surprisingly tasty for such a simple and cheap meal. The hipsters of London would probably go wild for such a concept restaurant, it would be called Yolks or something like that and it would be £3 per egg. Whilst trying to ask for bread for our dinner I accidentally ordered another portion, which we were thankfully able to take away in some tupperware. We found a campsite in one of the dug up areas again, slept outside the tent again, and enjoyed another vibrant sunset, another set of amazing stars and the rest of Interstellar. So far Sudan has been fantastic.
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