Day 121

Sleeping location: Scrubland 14.39N 33.25E, Sudan
Distance (km today/total): 93 / 9431
Estimated climb (m today/total): 200 / 61600
Progress: still slow
Day in three words: The Goat King

I spent much of the night coughing and/or sweating so neither of us slept that well. The checkpoint men were friendly again in the morning and we got some very cold water from a man who apparently needed to carry an AK47 whilst pouring drinks. The traffic was quieter today, the surface was variable but with some good bits and we had a cross/tailwind, so the riding was decent but otherwise unremarkable. Terrain was the same scrubland and occasional farmland; we were following the Blue Nile but you wouldn’t really have known it. By mid morning it was very hot, which wasn’t helping with my recovery or general sense of weakness.

We had lunch at a nice spot with Hatim the Goat King (not his official title). He was a big jovial guy with bushy white hair and good English. Hatim was raising a herd of naughty little goats with big silly floppy ears, which wandered around the cafe trying to eat most things and climb on/under everything else. He had taught them to respond to a strange frog sound he made with his mouth, which was a hoot to watch. We spent a while here, playing with the goats, chatting with him and his friend, eating some food (the usual eggs and beans, but the tastiest so far) and getting some more food for the evening. The toilets were worth a mention - they were the usual hole in the floor affair, but in one cubicle there was a chair with a hole cut in the seat, just in case you wanted some luxury.

The rest of the day was more of the same, although we did see the aftermath of an enormous crash around sunset. Unsurprisingly, given they all drive like bellends, it involved a bus. We found a pretty good camp spot amongst some thorn trees in the scrubland, sheltered enough and away from the road. Since we have left Khartoum the thorns have taken over and come in a bewildering array of shapes and sizes. One type of tree has the fiercest looking ones, which are thin and up to 5cm long, but the worst are these little bastards that are like caltrops and can poke you even when they are already stuck in something else. I live in fear that my inflatable mattress will sustain a thorn poke and be a nightmare to fix. After gobbling down Hatim’s leftovers I was in bed by 8 in a desperate attempt to claw back some recovery sleep.

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