This is how happy I am ...

Onwards from Khartoum

Tonight we are being hosted by the Sudanese Cycling federation for dinner (I wrote this earlier and am still sitting in the Internet cafe … decided to chill out in camp, pack bags and get a good nights sleep). I still need to pack my bag and Red Box and clean my bike. We then head off towards Ethiopia … quite good, flat, tarred roads. Some short sections of rough road surfaces expected shortly before the border and then two rough days to Gondor in Ethiopia. I’m going to leave on my rough terrain tyres … and take it a little easier during the next week … my legs are taking a little strain and I’ve developed a real nasty little sore down on my saddle regions … eina!

So keep well all, don’t work too hard and think of me enjoying myself! Not sure when next I’ll have a connection to get on line … love you lots …

Some Extras

Dongola ...Rest Day

Even More ...

At the well
We want a massage ...
Which route ...
One of the backup vehicles

Khartoum

Some Sudanese cyclists that joinred the convoy in Khartoum

Khartoum is a city with anywhere from three to five million persons … no official census and nothing planned for the near future. The city is very nice … hectic, but nowhere like Cairo. It seems like a real large bustling Harare crossed with Umtata. Lots of little Tuk-Tuks and lots of flashy modern cars around. Hyundai and Toyota still predominant vehicles. Out in the desert we had nothing besides Toyota Pickups, buses and trucks – trucks both as buses and for goods.

There are some modern buildings and some decent, yet numerous dilapidated roads and buildings all round. There is a noticeable air of wealth and spending on basic luxuries – food, restaurants, cell phones, cars, electric equipment – apparently more noticeable over the last few years as the wealth off the oil has been expanded.

The Blue and the White Nile come together here and this abundance of water has resulted in lots of greenery and beauty. The city is very clean and quite calm in general. Shop assistants are all very friendly and helpful … and although they don’t try to rip us off on each purchase as in Egypt, I’m sure they crank up their prices a little here and there.

Camels

Sarah traded in her bike ...

More of us in Sudan

Shanny (from TdA in Canada) and Abdul - Abdul is our local "guide/assistant" from the department of Tourism in Sudan
Alice ... what is becoming of our young physios in South Africa?
Rachel ... go Australia!
Sarah ... aka Tiny ... able tow bath and shave in her Red Box ... I hate you!!!
Pierre

The Route …

We enter Ethiopia at Metema and head off to Gonder – here we have two days off and will try to fly thru to Lalibela to the Temples carved out of the ground.

We go on to Bahir Dar – another day off on the southern tip of Lake Tana

We then head south thru Debre Markos and Dejen to Addis Ababa (Rest Day)

On thru Awasa on Route 6 to a rest day in Yabelo.

Further along Route 6 to cross into Kenya at Moyale

Here we turn westwards and follow the A2 thru the Dida Galgalu Desert to rest in Marsabit … apparently there is something odd/different/special about this town – but no one will divulge what it is

We continue south thru Isiolo, Naro Moru, Thika and into Nairobi. Here we have an off day

We then go two days south to Arusha where we celebrate the half way mark with three … yes a whole three days off!!! Game watching, relaxing, sleeping, drinking, partying … yeeha!

From here we go slightly westwards on the A104 and turn south towards Babati, Kondoa, Dodoma and rest in Iringa

We continue along the A104 thru Mafinga, Igawa and turn south onto the B345 towards Lake Malawi

We cross the border at Kyela and head for a fabulous campsite (can’t remember the name) outside Livingstonia on the Lake … if anyone wants to come visit us – this is a lekker spot!!!

We progress further to Lilongwe – rest day – and then swing westwards into Zambia at Mchinji

We follow the T4 all the way to Lusaka … where we will experience the first real first world shopping malls again … and apparently feel totally out of place and out of our comfort zones – basically we won’t be used to it anymore.

From here we go south on the T2 and soon turn west again on the T1 towards Livingston … two rest days!! All visitors welcome here …and we will be celebrating two 50th birthdays on the same day

From Livingston we travel to Kazungula, cross into Botswana via the ferry and follow the Elephant Highway to Nata

Here we head west along the A3 to Maun – rest day

We then head south , at Toteng more south along the A3, thru Ghanzi to Kalkfontein/Tshootsha where we head west to the Namibian border at Buitepos … this will be our longest distance at 208km for the day

We then follow thru Gobabis and on to Windhoek where we have two days off … and hopefully a bed in a house, a washing machine and some home cooked meal??

From Windhoek we head straight south along the B1 till we get to Keetmanshoop. We turn slightly west and soon south again to head down to the Fish River Canyon and on to Ai-Ais for our last rest day

We then fly along thru the border, Springbok, Bitterfontein and head west at Vanrynsdorp to plod along towards Lambert’s Bay.

We make our way along the coast to Yzerfontein for the last night before arriving in Cape Town on May 12

12 May … party, drink and be merry!!

Even More Sudan

The common structures - houses, etc - along the Nile


Agro
Lunch in Agro ... just before catching the ferry across the Nile

Lotsa fun and general feelings

I’m happy! It is definitely tough – but not as bad (so far) as some people made it out to be. The mixture of seeing Africa, cycling, relaxing and meeting so many people is very therapeutic … and most of you probably know I need therapy ;-)

I miss decent toilets … where one can sit down for a few minutes and consider the meaning of life. The squat toilets in these Arab countries and a shovel in the desert don’t really offer possibilities to relax and contemplate.

I miss Vida e, good wine, Gandalph, Mykl (my cycling buddy) and swimming!!!

A shower would be nice a little more often

For those looking for my tent in the photographs … mine is a little North Face, Rusty Red in colour … but not the one alongside the truck in the aerial shot previously displayed.

Everyone is getting on very well in the group (for now) … I’m sure some people will be grating each other the wrong way here and there as the tour progresses, but those from previous years organizing and working on this tour seem to agree we have a real good group this year.

Feel free to check out the other blogs and websites … link to them via the Tour website on www.tourdafrique.com. There are also three very good fundraising programs being run by fellow riders – Marcus and Adri have two interesting programs going. Howard has a neat newsletter via subscription to raise monies for two good causes … contact Michelle on africa.cycle.trip@mweb.co.za for more information on his little project.

The distances we are covering are really dependent on the terrain we are going over. Basically the leaders tend to cruise along and complete the day’s riding in about four to five hours, us cruising racers will do so in under six hours and the last bunch crawls in around three or four o’clock latest. Distances of over 150km really don’t phase us in the least. The first week in the desert we had distances of around 80kms, last week around 130km and next week around the 160km mark on several days.

Toughest at the moment is getting comfortable – or the first bum placement – on my saddle in the mornings.

Getting out of my sleeping bag in the mornings is also tough … except when we have the Gummy Bears playing in the background (thanks Inge).

Flat tyres are possible in the desert … either from the numerous rocks everywhere in the Nubian Desert or from tyres/tubes pinching when running on low pressure thru the sand