Salam (hi)
Where to start?
For those of you who arenât aware, my bicycle is called Elphi (El for my granddaughter Elise and phi for my grandson Philip).
After 8 days of riding it has been worth every cent and every minute of planning.
I will try to interest the athletes, environmentalists/animal lovers, cooks/hoteliers, bankers/economists,medics, people watchersâ¦did I miss anyone?
It was quite a way to start. We had a police escort out of Khartoum and then we were on our own. It was a religious holiday so the streets were emptyâ¦a rare sight. It sounded like an easy first 4 daysâ¦81,148, 143, 141 k. What a shocker.    81 k no sweat. Arrive in camp 4 hours later (taking it easy at 22 kph), set up the tent, get clean, relaxâ¦â¦Well letâs try head winds of 40 kph. Thank goodness for the lunch truck half way along. I only hoped that the second day would not have the winds. Forget that. 40 kph again. Thank goodness I was able to hook up with a group, a little faster than I but were willing to have me in the group. One of the ladies, Jennilee made it quite clear that she wasnât going to not finish the second day of the ride. It meant that we had to keep up 14 kph. If we were to finish. There were 4 of us in the peleton all sharing the pull. Even doing 12 was tough. We had to finish before sunset at 6:30 or the sweep truck would pick us up. At 6:20 we crossed the finish line. We were the group who cycled from sunrise to sunset, 11 hours. Day 3,4 were  a little easier..10 and 9 hours. Mentally I couldnât handle being with a group and trying to pull and keep up so I rode by myself.
While in Khartoum I managed a 45 minute run and a 15 minutes swim. The owner of the hotel, Acropole, was Greek. He paid for our entrance to a Greek fitness centre where there was a track and a pool. The track was quite simple but it did the trick. The pool was incredibly cold. I am not sure with high temperatures during the day how it could have been so cold. I was only able to do 30 lengths and was starting to shake. The other 2 men managed 2.
It took us 4 days to bike from Khartoum to Dongola, the capital of northern Sudan, through the Nubian desert. It is absolutely freezing in the morning, 9 degrees. I thought I might need arm and leg coolers to protect me from the sun. I
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have to wear them every day plus a Sugoi jacket for the first 3 hours. At times, I can hardly get the spoon in my mouth at breakfast for shaking. Then by lunch, everything comes offâ¦well not my shorts and top of course. It is then 20-25.It is very much like the prairies with miles and miles of sand as opposed to wheat but there are huts, some bushes, mosques along the way. To add to the interest are the donkeys, camels, camels, donkeys, and more donkeys pulling carts. One day a camel decided to cross the road about 100 m ahead. It crossed, looked around, didnât like the view and crossed again just in front of us. They are so majestic.     Â
The food is absolutely delicious. The Tour dâAfrique (TDA) provides breakfast, lunch and dinner. They know that we have to eat a lot. There is plenty with meat (lamb, chicken, ground beef) vegetables (beans, corn) salads (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, spinach) fruit (water melon, bananas, oranges, melon). There is never dessert. The water is processed in the truck so there is always lots to drink. We are also supplied with energy drinks and bars. On rest days (every 4-6 days) we are on our own. We have taken a Tuk Tuk(taxi) into town and discovered the restaurants. One night we had ½ a chicken eachâ¦no vegetables but it filled the spot.
The Sudanese pound (SDP) is 6-9/$1.00 US. At the Acropole hotel in Khartoum, they said that we should pay in SDP and not US $. It is hard to know how much to exchange. The Tuk Tuk cost 10SDP almost everywhere, the hotel 360, breakfast 17, dinner 14, coke/fruit drinks 3-5.
A lot of people have had to ride the truck already because of bad saddle sores. Apparently it is very important not to ride if they develop or they can be very serious. In the past a man had to go home because of infection. I am hoping that the âbutt creamâ keeps working for me.
Despite my dislike for camping, I am enjoying the entire experience. Once in my tent it is a lovely little home. I couldnât believe that several people arrived with new tents and hadnât practiced putting up their tent. Do you believe it, 65 year old me was showing 19-40 year olds how to do it. It takes about 1 hour to take
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down or put up the tent, get clean, organized and ready to go to sleep or get on the road. I tend to get up at 5:30 and go to sleep at 7:30-8.
The Sudanese are such friendly people. The back of the trucks full of 5-10 people, plus a goat sometimes, always wave. The children appear from nowhere to wave and say hi, how are you. That is the extent of their Englsh. Only a few children have thrown rocks or gone after us with long sticks. A few people have come bagging. I have to wear long pants and a cover on my arms when out in the town. One night we met a Sudanese doctor who gave us incredible insight into the life of women in Sudan. At a coke stop a Sudanese English teacher came to talk to us. What a delight. He invited 3 of us to his home for tea. Unfortunately we had to decline. I would love to have gone.
It is said that this is the easy part of the tripâ¦.canât wait.
Inshalla,
Catharine
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