Day 113
Sleeping location: Semi desert 16.59N 31.37E, Sudan
Distance (km today/total): 122 / 9034
Estimated climb (m today/total): 300 / 60900
Things that aren’t sand: limited
Day in three words: The halfway point?
The day started with a success as I finally plucked up the courage to use my stove with liquid fuel, rather than gas canisters. It took a good half an hour of reconfiguring, then figuring out, plus some alarming (but apparently normal) fireballs, but in the end coffee was produced for the first time in a week or so. Whatever the man in Dongola gave us, it’s close enough to petrol to work as fuel. We set off into the desert, which was the theme for most of the day now that we’ve left the river. Lots of golden sand and dark rock but little else. After about 15km something did appear on the horizon: what appeared to be a forest. This wasn’t a mirage, but in fact turned out to be a wall of trees around a huge lush garden. I have no idea how and why this exists.
The morning’s riding was mostly annoying due to a stiff crosswind and a rubbish cracked road surface that jolted you every other second. The first cafe wasn’t for 70km so we had a morning break sat on a little dune, sadly without coffee, but we did have a date stone spitting competition. The dates here are much more dried than the type I’m used to, so they’re crunchy/chewy instead of soft, but still very tasty. Lunch was at the aforementioned cafe, in a village in the middle of nowhere which now seemed to be mostly deserted (in both senses). The meal was very basic but also new levels of cheap. We had a basic chat with some men in a van who then gave us some bread and cheese as they thought we might struggle for food. [CLICHE ALERT] People here have so little but there is such a strong culture of generosity. The guys were very nice and we took some pictures with them and us and their van.
The afternoon was quick due to a friendly tailwind once more, and on this section came the big milestone of km 9000. This is significant because I had estimated the total distance to Cape Town to be 18,000km, making this the estimated halfway point. Obviously I won’t know the actual halfway point until I finish*, but this is still a symbolic moment. Where I’ve come from is slowly becoming more impressive than where I’m going. As with the journey as a whole, the second half feels simultaneously huge and achievable. I know what it took to get this far, but also I know that I got this far.
After that period of self reflection it was time to find somewhere to sleep. As is tradition, after a day of desert the landscape suddenly turned to sparsely populated scrubland just as we started looking. But after a few km we found a nice spot behind some half ruined mud walls. We were facing west and the sky went a series of incredibly vivid colours as darkness fell. African sunsets are so intense. Thanks to the newly working stove we had hot food for the first time in a while, although our supplies are running low so it was pretty basic*. There were no snake tracks about so we slept under the stars, possibly for the last time in a while.
*Pasta, foul beans (That is their name, I’m not saying they are foul. They are just deeply mediocre) and the “feta” from last night, plus the late addition of a diced cucumber in a desperate attempt for some texture
*But based on gut feeling I think it will be roughly Khartoum
Distance (km today/total): 122 / 9034
Estimated climb (m today/total): 300 / 60900
Things that aren’t sand: limited
Day in three words: The halfway point?
The day started with a success as I finally plucked up the courage to use my stove with liquid fuel, rather than gas canisters. It took a good half an hour of reconfiguring, then figuring out, plus some alarming (but apparently normal) fireballs, but in the end coffee was produced for the first time in a week or so. Whatever the man in Dongola gave us, it’s close enough to petrol to work as fuel. We set off into the desert, which was the theme for most of the day now that we’ve left the river. Lots of golden sand and dark rock but little else. After about 15km something did appear on the horizon: what appeared to be a forest. This wasn’t a mirage, but in fact turned out to be a wall of trees around a huge lush garden. I have no idea how and why this exists.
The morning’s riding was mostly annoying due to a stiff crosswind and a rubbish cracked road surface that jolted you every other second. The first cafe wasn’t for 70km so we had a morning break sat on a little dune, sadly without coffee, but we did have a date stone spitting competition. The dates here are much more dried than the type I’m used to, so they’re crunchy/chewy instead of soft, but still very tasty. Lunch was at the aforementioned cafe, in a village in the middle of nowhere which now seemed to be mostly deserted (in both senses). The meal was very basic but also new levels of cheap. We had a basic chat with some men in a van who then gave us some bread and cheese as they thought we might struggle for food. [CLICHE ALERT] People here have so little but there is such a strong culture of generosity. The guys were very nice and we took some pictures with them and us and their van.
The afternoon was quick due to a friendly tailwind once more, and on this section came the big milestone of km 9000. This is significant because I had estimated the total distance to Cape Town to be 18,000km, making this the estimated halfway point. Obviously I won’t know the actual halfway point until I finish*, but this is still a symbolic moment. Where I’ve come from is slowly becoming more impressive than where I’m going. As with the journey as a whole, the second half feels simultaneously huge and achievable. I know what it took to get this far, but also I know that I got this far.
After that period of self reflection it was time to find somewhere to sleep. As is tradition, after a day of desert the landscape suddenly turned to sparsely populated scrubland just as we started looking. But after a few km we found a nice spot behind some half ruined mud walls. We were facing west and the sky went a series of incredibly vivid colours as darkness fell. African sunsets are so intense. Thanks to the newly working stove we had hot food for the first time in a while, although our supplies are running low so it was pretty basic*. There were no snake tracks about so we slept under the stars, possibly for the last time in a while.
*Pasta, foul beans (That is their name, I’m not saying they are foul. They are just deeply mediocre) and the “feta” from last night, plus the late addition of a diced cucumber in a desperate attempt for some texture
*But based on gut feeling I think it will be roughly Khartoum
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