This has been a very strange birthday - for the last 17 years or so I've been confined to celebrating it whilst attending primary school, secondary school or university. This time however, I'm in a campsite on the edge of the city of Luxor in Egypt.
The final day of cycling before our rest day here was a brisk 90 or so kilometres along a fairly major highway which ran alongside the Nile. Before lunch I joined a train of pretty fast riders as they averaged about 30kmph or so towards lunch. The peloton oscillated from short to long, much like a longitudinal wave, as riders sped up and slowed down in turn. Soon enough though, we reached lunch, at the almost ridiculous time of 8:30am!
I hung about for a bit, wanting to eat more than just the two half pitta breads that the speedier guys were restricting themselves to. Instead, I helped myself to four halves, two with vegetables and two with peanut butter and jelly. Soon enough, my usual riding buddies, Jason and Jen, and Australian Dan rolled up and I just hung about until they were ready to go.
The 50km after lunch was just as rapid as the morning ride and we rolled into camp at about 10:25am yesterday. Most of the afternoon was spent tending to laundry and picking up various essentials (toilet paper, suncream, chocolate). The campsite is basically the lawn outside a hotel, which luckily comes under the remit of the hotel's wi-fi coverage. Essentially, I'm sitting in my tent writing this.
Today we journeyed (by horse and carriage) to the Karnak Temple Complex, a huge site of ancient temples which tower into the sky. It's impressive how large these were built given the comparably less advanced technology the ancient Egyptians would have had! After exploring the temple complex for some time, we walked to and then around the Luxor temple and then walked into the market. It's quite amusing here that many of the local sellers put on Scottish accents. The usual exchange goes something like the following:
Seller - 'Australian?'
Me - 'No'
Seller - 'American?'
Me - 'No'
Seller - 'Scottish?'
Me - 'No, Venezualan'
I've also developed a habit of greeting all the kids we pass when cycling in Swahili. I think once I reach Kenya I'll switch to greeting people in Arabic.
This afternoon I was using my degree in Computer Science to help fix people's computing woes. One of other rider's brand new Asus Eee isn't recognising it's hard disk anymore. Having tried several electrical screwdrivers over the last few days to try and open it, it appears that it was tightened by a robot with superhuman strength! So that she had a useful computer again, I downloaded Ubuntu Netbook Remix, sideloaded it onto a bootable SD card and the little netbook was good to go!
Other than that, this afternoon was more of routine chores, cleaning my bike and collecting laundry. To my relief, all my socks matched up (several other riders lost items of clothing on the chaotic washing lines outside). One point of confusion is that my cycling chamois (the padded cycling shorts) are exactly the same type, size and brand as another rider's shorts. Something to look out for!
Tomorrow we head south towards Sudan, and in a couple of days we'll be on a pretty epic ferry (30 hours!) which is the only official route for tourists to take into the country. Connectivity is likely to be difficult, so until next time, kwaheri! (Or, to be correct- ma'as salaama!)
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Randi (LIndsey F.'s mom) wrote at 12:16 am on Sat 23rd Jan -
Last summer while on a cycling trip in France, I did laundry (in the bathtub) and hung up my shorts on hangers hooked on the huge wood French doors/windows in the front of the hotel. I hung them out at night because our room faced out to the street. The other side faced to Lake Annecy. I lined up my socks on the floor of the balcony. Well, sometime during the night a huge storm blew in with massive wind gusts. In the morning I went to bring in my laundry and I was missing two socks, unfortunately, from two different pairs. Matt, my husband, and I ran downstairs and spent a really long time hunting all over for the socks in the parking area below. I found one way at the edge of the hotel property against a pricker hedge. The other one was just not to be found. That day was the time trial around Lake Annecy of the Tour De France and the route went right past the hotel. I am telling you this because 1. You won’t feel bad that our room didn’t have a view of the lake because it did have a direct view of the race if we had decided to sit there all day. 2. Thankfully, no cars came and went all day. When Matt and I returned after the race, we started hunting again for my missing sock. (the sushi one, if you ever looked at my socks). Anyway, Matt found it in the windshield wiper well of a car in the hotel parking lot. I can’t tell you why he looked there but the whole thing was pretty silly. I just keep wondering what the driver would have thought if he drove off and it started to rain....socks!
The last update was written in a bit of a rush from an internet cafe in Safaga. I was running out of Egyptian currency and so my internet time was limited! I spent the afternoon cleaning my bike (not terribly effective but it's less sandy now) and looking for a money exchange. Walking into town, I passed several convenience stores. Since the trip has started, we've been eating a lot (and burning a lot) - whenever I see food now I think it must be eaten! As I walked towards the Bank of Alexandria, I bought and ate some biscuits, something similar to a slice of sponge cake and Fanta in some strange purple colour.
The town itself was quite a sleepy tourist town - there are a few resorts and hotels scattered about and most of the shops seem to be around on the back of those visitors. At 3pm on Monday though, there were few customers and many of the shops were in fact actually shut. The bank was shut but I managed to withdraw some money from the ATM which I promptly used to purchase biscuits (something similar to custard creams but round in shape). On the way back I passed a hairdresser's shop and with my electric razor being a poor excuse for a grooming device, decided to get my face shaved. The hairdresser's English wasn't that great, when I asked him how much, he replied 'It's okay, it's okay!' quite enthusiastically. I just nodded and pointed to my growing beard. After what seemed like an age of spreading shaving foam on my face, he put a new blade in his razor and started work. This was the first shave I've ever had with a loose blade and it was surprisingly decent. After he finished, I was a bit alarmed to see him attempt to cut my hair. I shook my head (while the scissors were held away, or it could have been painful!) and he got the idea, although he still insisted on using hairspray and combing my hair. Hairspray combined with a bicycle helmet results in an interesting hairstyle!
That night on the beach seemed like it might just be the quiet night we were all hoping for. In actual fact, the three dogs that seemed to live in that enclosure were at war with each other (seemingly) and several times during the night they were barking and making various noises of aggression towards each other! The morning came soon enough and we began the 138km fifth stage to yet another desert camp.
The Egyptian riders had forewarned us that the first 40 kilometres were all climbing, and it was with this in mind that we tried to form a group of riders. Trying to maintain a speed of 20kmph with a side/headwind on the ascent was just about manageable and we soon reached the lunch truck at about 10:30am! The remainder, a solid 75 km, was much less hilly but just as strong wind. Our group of riders absorbed several smaller groups and at its largest consisted of sixteen riders! At first we were a disorganised mass of bicycles and people, but Jen, a fairly loud (she admits this herself) Canadian lady, soon organised the group into a more orderly two column peloton*. It was a tough day all-in-all but we pedalled on and reached the desert camp at 2:30pm, giving us plenty of time to unpack, drink soup (a mixture of broccoli, potatos and other vegetables - great) and chill out.
Riders are starting to feel the pain of five hard days of cycling now (myself included) and knees are one of the most common disturbances so far. This happens because people aren't used to spinning (using a low gear and pedalling fast) and prefer to mash (using a high gear and pedalling less often). This is a cycling trait of mine as well, coming from a mountain biking background where there is less constant pedalling and more high intensity bursts, so I've been trying actively to spin more.
Camp life is starting to get quite fun - an enterprising local turned up today with a cooler full of beer which he sold to us at quite a hefty price. Since I don't drink beer, I tried my luck and asked if he had any soft drinks. The answer - 'no!'. We usually have a rider meeting just before dinner where they explain our route for the next day and discuss the next few days of the tour. Today the truck crew had an auction (the currency: cans of beer) of all the items that had been left lying around the truck. Luckily none of my items showed up - trying to fit my bags in the locker may have pushed the door off its hinges...
It's sometime after dinner now, which really just means bedtime. There are flies buzzing around my tent - I figure these are relatively tame compared to the nasty insects that will invade later in the trip. For some reason the Tour D'Afrique trucks were playing Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' (or whatever that song from Titanic was called). This probably makes sense given that Canadians represent the largest proportion of riders here.
*I realise that I keep using the word peloton and non-cyclists are probably wondering what on Earth they are. It's literally a group of cyclists, taking various formations, where each cyclist is fairly close to those in front and behind. This is more efficient than cycling solo since there are aerodynamic gains to be made - whilst the cyclist at the front works harder, all those who are drafting (i.e. riding behind) tend to save energy because of lower air resistance. The cyclist at the front usually rotates so that riders save energy most of the time.
The town itself was quite a sleepy tourist town - there are a few resorts and hotels scattered about and most of the shops seem to be around on the back of those visitors. At 3pm on Monday though, there were few customers and many of the shops were in fact actually shut. The bank was shut but I managed to withdraw some money from the ATM which I promptly used to purchase biscuits (something similar to custard creams but round in shape). On the way back I passed a hairdresser's shop and with my electric razor being a poor excuse for a grooming device, decided to get my face shaved. The hairdresser's English wasn't that great, when I asked him how much, he replied 'It's okay, it's okay!' quite enthusiastically. I just nodded and pointed to my growing beard. After what seemed like an age of spreading shaving foam on my face, he put a new blade in his razor and started work. This was the first shave I've ever had with a loose blade and it was surprisingly decent. After he finished, I was a bit alarmed to see him attempt to cut my hair. I shook my head (while the scissors were held away, or it could have been painful!) and he got the idea, although he still insisted on using hairspray and combing my hair. Hairspray combined with a bicycle helmet results in an interesting hairstyle!
That night on the beach seemed like it might just be the quiet night we were all hoping for. In actual fact, the three dogs that seemed to live in that enclosure were at war with each other (seemingly) and several times during the night they were barking and making various noises of aggression towards each other! The morning came soon enough and we began the 138km fifth stage to yet another desert camp.
The Egyptian riders had forewarned us that the first 40 kilometres were all climbing, and it was with this in mind that we tried to form a group of riders. Trying to maintain a speed of 20kmph with a side/headwind on the ascent was just about manageable and we soon reached the lunch truck at about 10:30am! The remainder, a solid 75 km, was much less hilly but just as strong wind. Our group of riders absorbed several smaller groups and at its largest consisted of sixteen riders! At first we were a disorganised mass of bicycles and people, but Jen, a fairly loud (she admits this herself) Canadian lady, soon organised the group into a more orderly two column peloton*. It was a tough day all-in-all but we pedalled on and reached the desert camp at 2:30pm, giving us plenty of time to unpack, drink soup (a mixture of broccoli, potatos and other vegetables - great) and chill out.
Riders are starting to feel the pain of five hard days of cycling now (myself included) and knees are one of the most common disturbances so far. This happens because people aren't used to spinning (using a low gear and pedalling fast) and prefer to mash (using a high gear and pedalling less often). This is a cycling trait of mine as well, coming from a mountain biking background where there is less constant pedalling and more high intensity bursts, so I've been trying actively to spin more.
Camp life is starting to get quite fun - an enterprising local turned up today with a cooler full of beer which he sold to us at quite a hefty price. Since I don't drink beer, I tried my luck and asked if he had any soft drinks. The answer - 'no!'. We usually have a rider meeting just before dinner where they explain our route for the next day and discuss the next few days of the tour. Today the truck crew had an auction (the currency: cans of beer) of all the items that had been left lying around the truck. Luckily none of my items showed up - trying to fit my bags in the locker may have pushed the door off its hinges...
It's sometime after dinner now, which really just means bedtime. There are flies buzzing around my tent - I figure these are relatively tame compared to the nasty insects that will invade later in the trip. For some reason the Tour D'Afrique trucks were playing Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' (or whatever that song from Titanic was called). This probably makes sense given that Canadians represent the largest proportion of riders here.
*I realise that I keep using the word peloton and non-cyclists are probably wondering what on Earth they are. It's literally a group of cyclists, taking various formations, where each cyclist is fairly close to those in front and behind. This is more efficient than cycling solo since there are aerodynamic gains to be made - whilst the cyclist at the front works harder, all those who are drafting (i.e. riding behind) tend to save energy because of lower air resistance. The cyclist at the front usually rotates so that riders save energy most of the time.
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The fourth stage was pretty straightforward (I wouldn't go so far as calling it easy, but relative to the horror of the second stage, then sure - easy). A brisk before lunch run to the lunch truck followed by a brisk after lunch run to the campsite saw us reaching Safaga, a town near the coast of the Red Sea.
This campsite is luxurious compared to our previous three nights - Tour D'Afrique has booked out three hotel rooms for us to shower in and there are GENUINE toilets! We're camping on the beach pretty much, adjacent to a hotel. There's a bar just next to the 'campsite', most of the other riders are busy getting beers.
There's really not much to say about the day's riding so far, so I'll leave off now until we arrive in Luxor in three days time - an 'official' rest day (also my birthday).
This campsite is luxurious compared to our previous three nights - Tour D'Afrique has booked out three hotel rooms for us to shower in and there are GENUINE toilets! We're camping on the beach pretty much, adjacent to a hotel. There's a bar just next to the 'campsite', most of the other riders are busy getting beers.
There's really not much to say about the day's riding so far, so I'll leave off now until we arrive in Luxor in three days time - an 'official' rest day (also my birthday).
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Yesterday's entry was cut short by a lack of energy. The ride today was much easier - shorter (all in all, 147km) and much less effort (a tailwind instead of a headwind!). I cycled the first 20 kilometres solo, having been dropped by the faster Australian riders within a kilometre. As we reached a police checkpoint however, the ride came to a halt. The heavy rain of last night had apparently caused the roads to become flooded and the police didn't want us riding down the road. After nearly half an hour of waiting around, we were given the all clear to proceed, ahead of about a hundred waiting trucks. As we spun along the road, the wind helping us along, there was no surface water to be seen. Supposedly the Egyptian police were being overcautious - either that or the sun is incredibly efficient at evaporation in these parts, especially at 8am!
I rode with Alison up until lunch, one of the staff who was on her day off and had chosen to ride for the day. After lunch (more pitta bread) I managed to join a group of riders - a mixture of North Americans mainly. It's amazing how much easier it is to keep up a certain pace when you're riding with other people. On my own, I'd struggle to motivate myself.
You can usually tell something is amiss when you roll into any place and all the riders who were in front of you are just sitting, waiting (as happened in the morning at the police checkpoint). As we reached the finish flag, we were greeted by this sight of riders just sitting, waiting. Supposedly the campsite was actually a further 8km (but actually 10km) down the road due to, wait for it, flooding at the original choice! This alternative campsite is very windy and right next to a police checkpoint. While we can hear the rush of trucks going past, the tent is also flapping all over the place. Luckily there is substantial debris on the ground around the campsite, so it's possible to ground the tent. Putting it up was an interesting experience, if I was any lighter, I'd have been literally blown away. As each pole went into the tent, it became more and more like a sail.
Camp life is interesting, since we wake up quite early daily (most people are awake sometime after 5am) and because we have been riding quite hard, bedtime is usually soon after it gets dark (and/or dinner has been eaten). We've been at 'desert' camps for the last few days now, which don't really have any facilities. Going to the toilet is a substantial effort involving a shovel and a lighter. Tomorrow evening we're passing through a town called Safaga, and we'll be at a genuine campsite with showers (and hopefully, toilets). Dinner at the campsite is usually a generous serving of carbs with some kind of vegetables. It's not the tastiest food in the world though, and I think I'll soon have to burst open the various packets of chilli powder that my mother has equipped me with. Tour D'Afrique has also given us enough energy bars for 2 per day - one of the riders today noticed that these bars all expired in June 2009. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.
I rode with Alison up until lunch, one of the staff who was on her day off and had chosen to ride for the day. After lunch (more pitta bread) I managed to join a group of riders - a mixture of North Americans mainly. It's amazing how much easier it is to keep up a certain pace when you're riding with other people. On my own, I'd struggle to motivate myself.
You can usually tell something is amiss when you roll into any place and all the riders who were in front of you are just sitting, waiting (as happened in the morning at the police checkpoint). As we reached the finish flag, we were greeted by this sight of riders just sitting, waiting. Supposedly the campsite was actually a further 8km (but actually 10km) down the road due to, wait for it, flooding at the original choice! This alternative campsite is very windy and right next to a police checkpoint. While we can hear the rush of trucks going past, the tent is also flapping all over the place. Luckily there is substantial debris on the ground around the campsite, so it's possible to ground the tent. Putting it up was an interesting experience, if I was any lighter, I'd have been literally blown away. As each pole went into the tent, it became more and more like a sail.
Camp life is interesting, since we wake up quite early daily (most people are awake sometime after 5am) and because we have been riding quite hard, bedtime is usually soon after it gets dark (and/or dinner has been eaten). We've been at 'desert' camps for the last few days now, which don't really have any facilities. Going to the toilet is a substantial effort involving a shovel and a lighter. Tomorrow evening we're passing through a town called Safaga, and we'll be at a genuine campsite with showers (and hopefully, toilets). Dinner at the campsite is usually a generous serving of carbs with some kind of vegetables. It's not the tastiest food in the world though, and I think I'll soon have to burst open the various packets of chilli powder that my mother has equipped me with. Tour D'Afrique has also given us enough energy bars for 2 per day - one of the riders today noticed that these bars all expired in June 2009. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.
Dave wrote at 3:02 pm on Tue 19th Jan -
Trowel and lighter?
Is that to burn of the methane etc from veggie diets in an eco friendlier way than just leting them waft? :P
Is that to burn of the methane etc from veggie diets in an eco friendlier way than just leting them waft? :P
It's 7:40pm and I'm sheltering inside my tent. It is wet outside, and getting wetter by the minute. Our campsite appears to be right under the centre of a thunderstorm, which has transformed the many constant winds of the day to the gusty winds of the evening. I'm wearing my pyjamas, with the intention of sleeping soon, should the noise from other riders, the weather and the road permit. Two days of hard cycling have left me with a curious smell, and the dirt from the road combined with the unrelentless sun has embrazoned my arms with fairly linear lines (dirt + tan lines as opposed to just tan lines) where my cycling jersey ends.
Today was a brutal day by all accounts and indeed probably the longest I've ever ridden in a single go in my life. 168km was the overall distance and it started well enough, feeling refreshed from a night of sleep. However less than thirty minutes into the ride, my back wheel started rattling in a strange fashion. I left the peloton of Australians I had pegged out of camp with and went to check the damage by the side of the road - somehow a small pin had managed to work it's way into and through my tyre. An easy enough problem to fix but enough still to lose valuable time. Soon enough, just about every other tour rider made their way past me, each asking if I was ok - a fact I am glad of, useful if anything does actually go drastically wrong.
In a futile attempt to catch up with the Australians, I pushed as hard as I could for the next 45km or so, overtaking most of the riders who had passed me attacking my wheel with a tyre lever in my hand. However, as we came closer to the coast of the Red Sea, a headwind soon picked up. Riding solo was a tactical error and I was soon overtaken by a group of riders all drafting each other - much more efficient. Eventually we reached the lunch truck and I filled up with cheese and peanut butter filled pitta breads (separately!).
Having pushed hard for the morning, the remaining 100km in the afternoon was tough. The headwind endured and became even more violent. The roads became more open and riders were spread sparsely. At about 140km, we had a refreshment stop and then it was full on until the finish. By the time I got into camp, the sunset was very near.
Today was a brutal day by all accounts and indeed probably the longest I've ever ridden in a single go in my life. 168km was the overall distance and it started well enough, feeling refreshed from a night of sleep. However less than thirty minutes into the ride, my back wheel started rattling in a strange fashion. I left the peloton of Australians I had pegged out of camp with and went to check the damage by the side of the road - somehow a small pin had managed to work it's way into and through my tyre. An easy enough problem to fix but enough still to lose valuable time. Soon enough, just about every other tour rider made their way past me, each asking if I was ok - a fact I am glad of, useful if anything does actually go drastically wrong.
In a futile attempt to catch up with the Australians, I pushed as hard as I could for the next 45km or so, overtaking most of the riders who had passed me attacking my wheel with a tyre lever in my hand. However, as we came closer to the coast of the Red Sea, a headwind soon picked up. Riding solo was a tactical error and I was soon overtaken by a group of riders all drafting each other - much more efficient. Eventually we reached the lunch truck and I filled up with cheese and peanut butter filled pitta breads (separately!).
Having pushed hard for the morning, the remaining 100km in the afternoon was tough. The headwind endured and became even more violent. The roads became more open and riders were spread sparsely. At about 140km, we had a refreshment stop and then it was full on until the finish. By the time I got into camp, the sunset was very near.
Leszek wrote at 6:55 pm on Tue 19th Jan -
Technically, unless they were going around in circles, the group of riders couldn't all have been drafting each other...
SS wrote at 2:35 pm on Thu 21st Jan -
Well...all but one!
wrote at 7:12 pm on Thu 21st Jan -
Intriguing - we need to see some pictures of the wonderful terrains you are cycling - maybe the lunch crew can take some pictures
Today was the first and (in my opionion) probably the easiest day of the Tour D'Afrique. It began early, a 4:30am wakeup for a 6am (but actually 7am) departure in a large convoy to the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Once we arrived at about 8:45am, we met with local Egyptian riders who would join us for this stage (or day) of racing, and took many many photos in front of the start banner. The morning was marred by excessive equipment 'failure' - in an attempt to reset my cycle computer to kilometres (which all directions are given in), the reset button became stuck (leaving the screen to flash 'km/h' for the whole day), so I turned to my backup navigational aid, my Garmin GPS unit. Unfortunately this had run out of charge, and a lack of forward thinking meant all spare batteries were behind a locked door. Finally, it was cold in the morning and my heart rate monitor's chest strap failed to make adequate contact with my skin (lack of sweat y'see), giving erroneous readings for the first two hours (220 BPM I think not!).
Soon after this we were underway on our journey out of the city of Cairo. On this leg and the previous we were escorted by the local police who blocked off ramps (we were on the highway) and made sure we were protected from the surrounding traffic. It is likely a feature of all developing countries that drivers must horn excessively (something I picked up many a time on my visits to India, and also visible in Kenya and Nepal). The police are no exception to this generalisation, only more potent in their damage to our hearing - they have LOUD sirens. In addition to their excessive volume, they also have many different types of siren and it was a mildly entertaining game trying to determine which siren came from which vehicle (it is a many to many relationship).
Another two hours into the ride, we finally left the polluted and unpleasant highway to start our journey East towards the Red Sea, which we will follow down for some time until we cut back to the main road to arrive in Luxor. I left pretty quickly (choosing not to stop for a rest break) and was relatively near the front - they were being held up by an over enthusiastic police escort. Once he stopped limiting their speed, they soon shot off into the distance. I was soon caught up with a growing peloton of riders comprising of some of the Australian riders I had met early on. Putting the force down a bit, I was able to keep up with them, only finding it extremely difficult when I was at the front. Luckily we soon reached the lunch truck and my turn was short lived.
The scenery in the Egyptian countryside is starkly different to anything I have ever seen before. The colour of the landscape is, well, sandy. There's a lot of sand. And as far as the eye can see - more sand! The sand is contoured in a way that I'm sure even the most lackadaisical Geologist could appreciate. The sky was deep blue without even the slightest hint of a cloud. It made for some beautiful photos. The tragedy of being a cyclist however is that your motion is effectively powered by you. It seems like a terrible shame to stop unless absolutely necessary since it's your energy at stake. If you're a racer, your pride also stops you from stopping. I'm going to work on my taking-photos-whilst-cycling technique.
After a quick (15 minutes) lunch (pitta breads and peanut butter, surprisingly good) I rejoined the 'peloton' feeling fairly energetic. Sure enough, this feeling worse off and after some time I eventually hit the 'wall' and was unable to keep up. This is probably a good thing since my heart rate was pushing a good 180-190 BPM while I tried to keep up with them. After I dropped out of their group, it was a case of just pedalling on - something I think we will all become quite familiar with in the next 4 months! Some company would have been nice but it was refreshing to choose my own pace again.
It took a good two hours of solo cycling before I reached the stage finish where the trucks were parked. I was quite anxious for the first hour or so because of the sheer lack of other riders overtaking me. Soon enough though, a group of the local Egyptian riders came blasting past on my left, and soon after them, the lunch truck. As I got closer to the rough area where the campsite for the night was, I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of the trucks. When they finally came into eyeshot, it took some time to actually convince myself that they were there!
This first day was 133 kilometres of cycling, about 83 miles. This is the longest distance I have ever cycled in my life so far and tomorrow will be worse - 168 km, over 100 miles. Today wasn't as bad as it could have been, although every joint that has ever ached before in my life was aching at some point throughout the ride. My neck is sore from maintaining a grip on my drop bars - I wonder how sleeping on the floor will help that. My speed wasn't too bad (I think I was roughly 10th out of the male riders) but I was pushing hard for about 60km or so. The plan for tomorrow is just to chug along at my own pace - slow and steady wins the race, or at least reaches Capetown!
Oh and a final word - the trucks that are supporting us are FRICKIN COOL. Photos up soon but between the two of them they've basically got everything to support 60 people. A tonne of lockers, a huge supply of water, bike racks, FAT tyres (and lots of them), containers for food, and some other cool bits.
Soon after this we were underway on our journey out of the city of Cairo. On this leg and the previous we were escorted by the local police who blocked off ramps (we were on the highway) and made sure we were protected from the surrounding traffic. It is likely a feature of all developing countries that drivers must horn excessively (something I picked up many a time on my visits to India, and also visible in Kenya and Nepal). The police are no exception to this generalisation, only more potent in their damage to our hearing - they have LOUD sirens. In addition to their excessive volume, they also have many different types of siren and it was a mildly entertaining game trying to determine which siren came from which vehicle (it is a many to many relationship).
Another two hours into the ride, we finally left the polluted and unpleasant highway to start our journey East towards the Red Sea, which we will follow down for some time until we cut back to the main road to arrive in Luxor. I left pretty quickly (choosing not to stop for a rest break) and was relatively near the front - they were being held up by an over enthusiastic police escort. Once he stopped limiting their speed, they soon shot off into the distance. I was soon caught up with a growing peloton of riders comprising of some of the Australian riders I had met early on. Putting the force down a bit, I was able to keep up with them, only finding it extremely difficult when I was at the front. Luckily we soon reached the lunch truck and my turn was short lived.
The scenery in the Egyptian countryside is starkly different to anything I have ever seen before. The colour of the landscape is, well, sandy. There's a lot of sand. And as far as the eye can see - more sand! The sand is contoured in a way that I'm sure even the most lackadaisical Geologist could appreciate. The sky was deep blue without even the slightest hint of a cloud. It made for some beautiful photos. The tragedy of being a cyclist however is that your motion is effectively powered by you. It seems like a terrible shame to stop unless absolutely necessary since it's your energy at stake. If you're a racer, your pride also stops you from stopping. I'm going to work on my taking-photos-whilst-cycling technique.
After a quick (15 minutes) lunch (pitta breads and peanut butter, surprisingly good) I rejoined the 'peloton' feeling fairly energetic. Sure enough, this feeling worse off and after some time I eventually hit the 'wall' and was unable to keep up. This is probably a good thing since my heart rate was pushing a good 180-190 BPM while I tried to keep up with them. After I dropped out of their group, it was a case of just pedalling on - something I think we will all become quite familiar with in the next 4 months! Some company would have been nice but it was refreshing to choose my own pace again.
It took a good two hours of solo cycling before I reached the stage finish where the trucks were parked. I was quite anxious for the first hour or so because of the sheer lack of other riders overtaking me. Soon enough though, a group of the local Egyptian riders came blasting past on my left, and soon after them, the lunch truck. As I got closer to the rough area where the campsite for the night was, I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of the trucks. When they finally came into eyeshot, it took some time to actually convince myself that they were there!
This first day was 133 kilometres of cycling, about 83 miles. This is the longest distance I have ever cycled in my life so far and tomorrow will be worse - 168 km, over 100 miles. Today wasn't as bad as it could have been, although every joint that has ever ached before in my life was aching at some point throughout the ride. My neck is sore from maintaining a grip on my drop bars - I wonder how sleeping on the floor will help that. My speed wasn't too bad (I think I was roughly 10th out of the male riders) but I was pushing hard for about 60km or so. The plan for tomorrow is just to chug along at my own pace - slow and steady wins the race, or at least reaches Capetown!
Oh and a final word - the trucks that are supporting us are FRICKIN COOL. Photos up soon but between the two of them they've basically got everything to support 60 people. A tonne of lockers, a huge supply of water, bike racks, FAT tyres (and lots of them), containers for food, and some other cool bits.
nilesh wrote at 12:23 pm on Thu 21st Jan -
well done sonny.
No comments yet!
No comments yet!
No comments yet!
We had our start of tour rider briefing today, a few statistics for your perusal.
22 rest days
96 riding days
14 nationalities of riders
Oldest rider is 71, the youngest is 18
11,704 kilometres a(7315 miles)
Once we leave Cairo, it's going to be hard to stay connected - I will be regularly updating the stats by
text message however. Most of the riders have now arrived, all different ages from a variety of countries.
The strongest country (in terms of rider numbers) is Canada, where Tour D'Afrique (the company that
organises the Tour D'Afrique) is based.
A brief ride out to the pyramids of Sukkara this morning was slow but pleasant, with no major issues
except my brakes locking up as I went over a speed bump too fast. We think that this was because the
brake levers were loose on the handlebars - the impact of landing caused them to move and pull the
brake cables.
At the end of our rider briefing we were asked to choose whether we wished to ride as an expedition,
after speaking to many of the other riders who are planning on casual racing, I made the switch to race
too. The Tour D'Afrique is the longest bicycle race in the world, so it should be interesting to see how it
progresses.
The only annoying thing about being a racer is that there is no set time for lunch - this means that every
minute I stop cycling in order to eat counts against me. Then again, I'm not doing it with any air of
seriousness, so this shouldn't be a problem.
The first day of riding is almost upon us - less than 36 hours now! The plan is to ride out to the Great
Pyramid (see photos) for our 'official' start.
From here it's a lengthy 136km first day. This should be interesting :-).
Once we leave Cairo, it's going to be hard to stay connected - I will be regularly updating the stats by
text message however. Most of the riders have now arrived, all different ages from a variety of countries.
The strongest country (in terms of rider numbers) is Canada, where Tour D'Afrique (the company that
organises the Tour D'Afrique) is based.
A brief ride out to the pyramids of Sukkara this morning was slow but pleasant, with no major issues
except my brakes locking up as I went over a speed bump too fast. We think that this was because the
brake levers were loose on the handlebars - the impact of landing caused them to move and pull the
brake cables.
At the end of our rider briefing we were asked to choose whether we wished to ride as an expedition,
after speaking to many of the other riders who are planning on casual racing, I made the switch to race
too. The Tour D'Afrique is the longest bicycle race in the world, so it should be interesting to see how it
progresses.
The only annoying thing about being a racer is that there is no set time for lunch - this means that every
minute I stop cycling in order to eat counts against me. Then again, I'm not doing it with any air of
seriousness, so this shouldn't be a problem.
The first day of riding is almost upon us - less than 36 hours now! The plan is to ride out to the Great
Pyramid (see photos) for our 'official' start.
From here it's a lengthy 136km first day. This should be interesting :-).
No comments yet!
The hours preceding my flight from Heathrow were possibly the most stressful few hours of my life. Five months away from home is a large amount of time, complicated by the fact that we're cycling for most of it! We left home about forty-five minutes later than we were aiming for (entirely my fault - a last minute shower + shave (possibly the last decent shave until June)), and reached the airport about 2.5 hours before the flight left. Having checked in online, it was a simple case of dropping my two bags and bicycle off. While queuing for the oversize bag drop, I received a phone call from a man at the Watford Observer, a local newspaper, inquiring about my trip!
After a lengthy Italian lunch (a delightful gnocchi) at Carluccios with my parents, I ventured forth alone through the security at Terminal 5 and made it through unscathed. A rushed walk to the gate (since lunch was quite lengthy indeed) and I sat waiting before noticing people were walking away from the gate. A quick search online (via my internet tethered netbook) revealed that our flight was delayed by 45 minutes, a fact which was not displayed on the monitors next to the gate - strange. This extra 45 minutes gave me some much needed internet time and despite looking around every minute to check the plane hadn't left yet, I was still one of the last few passengers to board.
The flight itself was a typically British Airways affair, we were further delayed out of Heathrow because of heavy traffic (there I was thinking flights were being cancelled!). I soon fell asleep though, a result of sleeping for only two hours on the previous night, and awoke some time later to drinks and another Italian meal for dinner (risotto this time). I was a bit confused at the number of people who appeared to be hovering around the immigration hall at Cairo Airport who weren't travellers - it seemed like anyone could just walk back through the desks. My bike was sitting by the side of the belt in the baggage hall waiting for me, looking surprisingly intact.
The transfer to the resort was as dangerous as expected, Egyptian roads being similar to the roads I remember in Kenya. Luckily for another cyclist they picked up and I, they placed our bikes inside the minibus - supposedly the bikes of another two riders were on the roof and predictably fell off! Arriving at the hotel in Giza, there was a clear failure of communication as our escort (who had taken us from the airport) tried to claim money from us (but for what, he could not say). At reception, they could not understand that I'd be sharing with another rider who had already checked into a double room, repeating that he had already checked out (of his single room). This was no doubt true but their booking system (and their grasp of English) was sufficiently abysmal to result in an hour of arguing while they tried to 'sell' us another double room for 3 times the rate we had booked it at. Not acceptable for a '5*' hotel. They finally found the room and I got to sleep at about 4am, after breaking the zip on my only pair of pajama bottoms!
On Tuesday I joined up with a group of Australians who had arrived much earlier to sort out visas and we went to go visit the Great Pyramid, not far at all from Giza. Finding transportation here is quite an adventure - most taxi drivers are 'off' the meter, so it's a question of negotiating the price down. The funny thing is that most drivers will gladly haggle hard but they won't know where you want to go. It's only after you've gotten into the cab, arranged a price and been driven around for a few miles that they will meekly pull over and ask for directions. It was clear each time that this happened that they hadn't known where they were going from the start since we usually ended up pulling a u-turn!
The weather in Cairo at this time is quite cool - getting slightly chilly at night - and it was unfortunate that when we went to visit the pyramids, it was quite overcast. Regardless of how the photos came out, the pyramids themselves are quite an impressive sight. Journeying into the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid itself was quite an experience, walking up with a hunched back something inbetween a ladder and a staircase in a confined passageway. To be fair though, we had a bit of forewarning that this was likely to be the case from the flustered faces of the overweight tourists leaving as we entered.
After walking around trying to find an internet cafe (and finding possibly the dirtiest such cafe I have ever seen), we went for an early dinner to have some of the local Egyptian koshary. Koshary is apparently a staple food here and is supposedly 'a complete dietary dish containing carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals'. It's pretty cheap too, coming in about 50 pence for a pretty hefty serving. It's perfect food for any cyclist - sort of like a spicy spaghetti bolognaise.
After dinner was a sound and light show on the pyramids where our total lack of preparation for the cold meant that we were all sitting shivering until one of the riders found out you could hire blankets. I was feeling warm enough at that point so I decided to bear it out - it struck me about twenty minutes later and I was shivering for most of the rest of the show.
This morning, after breakfast, we ventured out for a hour long short ride. All went well aside from realising that my cycling computer wasn't working because my front wheel was on backwards. The seat was also slightly hard (it's a Brooks leather saddle which needs to be 'broken in'), which might be the only comfort issue that I can immediately foresee.
A long, traffic slowed, taxi ride to Cairo later, we arrived at the National Museum. A disorganised place, it has some genuinely interesting exhibits (although these are quite reminiscent of my memories of the British Museum's Egyptian section). It seems the ancient Egyptians were obsessed with their afterlife and it put me in a pensive mood about what legacy I'd like to leave on the world. A statue or Tomb would be a bit annoying for the generations after me, and I wouldn't really want it to be pilfered in order to buff up some museum exhibition's contents. Instead, I think I'd want my own Wikipedia page - and not something that would be immediately reverted back to empty disk space. I think it'd involve doing something genuinely interesting so that it would be worth having a biography there for people to learn from. Hopefully it would be useful enough information so that it would stay relevent throughout the course of time.
The other riders are all good fun, many of them also have blogs. Check out the TDA Profiles page to read more about them!
Dinner now, time for more koshary!
After a lengthy Italian lunch (a delightful gnocchi) at Carluccios with my parents, I ventured forth alone through the security at Terminal 5 and made it through unscathed. A rushed walk to the gate (since lunch was quite lengthy indeed) and I sat waiting before noticing people were walking away from the gate. A quick search online (via my internet tethered netbook) revealed that our flight was delayed by 45 minutes, a fact which was not displayed on the monitors next to the gate - strange. This extra 45 minutes gave me some much needed internet time and despite looking around every minute to check the plane hadn't left yet, I was still one of the last few passengers to board.
The flight itself was a typically British Airways affair, we were further delayed out of Heathrow because of heavy traffic (there I was thinking flights were being cancelled!). I soon fell asleep though, a result of sleeping for only two hours on the previous night, and awoke some time later to drinks and another Italian meal for dinner (risotto this time). I was a bit confused at the number of people who appeared to be hovering around the immigration hall at Cairo Airport who weren't travellers - it seemed like anyone could just walk back through the desks. My bike was sitting by the side of the belt in the baggage hall waiting for me, looking surprisingly intact.
The transfer to the resort was as dangerous as expected, Egyptian roads being similar to the roads I remember in Kenya. Luckily for another cyclist they picked up and I, they placed our bikes inside the minibus - supposedly the bikes of another two riders were on the roof and predictably fell off! Arriving at the hotel in Giza, there was a clear failure of communication as our escort (who had taken us from the airport) tried to claim money from us (but for what, he could not say). At reception, they could not understand that I'd be sharing with another rider who had already checked into a double room, repeating that he had already checked out (of his single room). This was no doubt true but their booking system (and their grasp of English) was sufficiently abysmal to result in an hour of arguing while they tried to 'sell' us another double room for 3 times the rate we had booked it at. Not acceptable for a '5*' hotel. They finally found the room and I got to sleep at about 4am, after breaking the zip on my only pair of pajama bottoms!
On Tuesday I joined up with a group of Australians who had arrived much earlier to sort out visas and we went to go visit the Great Pyramid, not far at all from Giza. Finding transportation here is quite an adventure - most taxi drivers are 'off' the meter, so it's a question of negotiating the price down. The funny thing is that most drivers will gladly haggle hard but they won't know where you want to go. It's only after you've gotten into the cab, arranged a price and been driven around for a few miles that they will meekly pull over and ask for directions. It was clear each time that this happened that they hadn't known where they were going from the start since we usually ended up pulling a u-turn!
The weather in Cairo at this time is quite cool - getting slightly chilly at night - and it was unfortunate that when we went to visit the pyramids, it was quite overcast. Regardless of how the photos came out, the pyramids themselves are quite an impressive sight. Journeying into the burial chamber of the Great Pyramid itself was quite an experience, walking up with a hunched back something inbetween a ladder and a staircase in a confined passageway. To be fair though, we had a bit of forewarning that this was likely to be the case from the flustered faces of the overweight tourists leaving as we entered.
After walking around trying to find an internet cafe (and finding possibly the dirtiest such cafe I have ever seen), we went for an early dinner to have some of the local Egyptian koshary. Koshary is apparently a staple food here and is supposedly 'a complete dietary dish containing carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals'. It's pretty cheap too, coming in about 50 pence for a pretty hefty serving. It's perfect food for any cyclist - sort of like a spicy spaghetti bolognaise.
After dinner was a sound and light show on the pyramids where our total lack of preparation for the cold meant that we were all sitting shivering until one of the riders found out you could hire blankets. I was feeling warm enough at that point so I decided to bear it out - it struck me about twenty minutes later and I was shivering for most of the rest of the show.
This morning, after breakfast, we ventured out for a hour long short ride. All went well aside from realising that my cycling computer wasn't working because my front wheel was on backwards. The seat was also slightly hard (it's a Brooks leather saddle which needs to be 'broken in'), which might be the only comfort issue that I can immediately foresee.
A long, traffic slowed, taxi ride to Cairo later, we arrived at the National Museum. A disorganised place, it has some genuinely interesting exhibits (although these are quite reminiscent of my memories of the British Museum's Egyptian section). It seems the ancient Egyptians were obsessed with their afterlife and it put me in a pensive mood about what legacy I'd like to leave on the world. A statue or Tomb would be a bit annoying for the generations after me, and I wouldn't really want it to be pilfered in order to buff up some museum exhibition's contents. Instead, I think I'd want my own Wikipedia page - and not something that would be immediately reverted back to empty disk space. I think it'd involve doing something genuinely interesting so that it would be worth having a biography there for people to learn from. Hopefully it would be useful enough information so that it would stay relevent throughout the course of time.
The other riders are all good fun, many of them also have blogs. Check out the TDA Profiles page to read more about them!
Dinner now, time for more koshary!
Paul B wrote at 9:13 pm on Wed 13th Jan -
Glad you made it out ok, BA are being tricksome by all accounts. Great photos, pyramids always a good place to start - though a friend of mine was asking why you didn't start from alexandria instead of cairo and do the entire length of the continent...
Dave wrote at 12:46 pm on Thu 14th Jan -
Ace dude, I'm almost jealous, but then I realise the pain and effort coming and I feel better :p
as for Wikipage, I like it. I don't know what you'd do to get it, but I promise a concentrated trolling effort to keep the facts of your life 'accurate'.
as for Wikipage, I like it. I don't know what you'd do to get it, but I promise a concentrated trolling effort to keep the facts of your life 'accurate'.
wrote at 3:56 pm on Fri 15th Jan -
The new white taxi's are all metered
johnrosa wrote at 7:15 am on Mon 23rd Jun -
Use the Infocabs management suite to manage your drivers and their vehicles efficiently and effectively. http://www.infocabs.co.uk/
Packing for the Tour wasn't the hardest task in the world but it did require a fair amount of thought. I normally eschew the minimalist strategy when travelling, preferring to have options for every possible contingency. In this case however, with limited luggage storage space available (a 85x65x50cm locker ~ 150 litres of useful space) for four months worth of kit, it was necessary to prioritise.
Clothes being the simplest of all items to pack, I left this until last. It seems that if I hadn't had to take clothes then I would have been nicely under the space limitation. Adding a meagre amount of clothes (just THREE t-shirts, for four months of travelling!) filled out my duffle bags by a surprising amount.
The rest of the space within my two bags was composed of both camping equipment and bicycle equipment. The camping equipment consisted of a lightweight tent, a sleeping bag and thermarest which take a good proportion of one of the bags. This bag also stores most of my clothes.
The other bag contains a tonne of cycling spares (tyres, cables, chains, tubes etc) plus some 'rarely needed' clothes (for example, my swimming costume). It also includes various cycling accessories - such as the rack bag, bottles, lock and Camelbak I'll be taking from day to day on my bike.
My third bag contains my electronics. In the last few years I've gradually acquired more and more camera equipment with each trip abroad (photos here). However, it seemed unwise to cycle along the rough African roads with my D-SLR in tow since vibration would probably kill it slowly. At the same time, travelling through most of Africa is an unmissable photography opportunity. So I've taken both cameras with the intention of leaving the D-SLR in the van when I'm cycling. I decided against taking my wide angle lens and Gorillapod in the end because of the added bulk.
I'm taking a netbook because it'll be useful for writing purposes (I find it impossible to write anything significant on paper - my fingers just get in the way) and for backup of photos. The battery will last approximately 10 hours and we have weekly rest days on which I hope to charge it fully. Likewise, I will charge my camera batteries then.
I'm taking a handheld GPS device to provide the location updating that you can see on the Geo page. This runs on AA batteries and each set of batteries lasts (supposedly) 25 hours. I figure this should give me two or three days of usage at least if I was to tracklog all my riding. These batteries should be fairly easy to find on the ground.
In order to keep in touch with those back home and to update my coordinates (we'll see how well this works out), I'm taking a couple of mobile phones. Rather than take my smartphone, I'm taking a basic Sony Ericsson featurephone which has relatively better battery life. I have a solar panel which I can use to charge these via a Powermonkey (this is a self contained supplementary battery which can charge and be charged) - the Powermonkey can also take power from the mains or via USB from the netbook.
Finally, I'm taking a flash based mp3 player since my hard disk Walkman would almost certainly not survive the first month. This represents a cut in capacity but coupled with the ability to swap music from time to time using the netbook, this should suffice. This has a 25 hour battery life and can charge from either the Powermonkey or the netbook.
I wonder how the above reflects on the nature of our generation - that instead of embracing the opportunity to leave technology behind entirely, I've seen the more hostile operating environment as a logistical challenge to be solved.
Addition
Having arrived in Cairo and spoken to some of the other riders, the above chargin strategy seems sound except with one possibly useful addition. One of the other riders has the Solargorilla, this is the more heavy weight version of Powermonkey coupled to a solar panel - apparently it charges his Macbook in about 2 hours. They're quite expensive but for that sort of convenience, it's probably worth it!
Clothes being the simplest of all items to pack, I left this until last. It seems that if I hadn't had to take clothes then I would have been nicely under the space limitation. Adding a meagre amount of clothes (just THREE t-shirts, for four months of travelling!) filled out my duffle bags by a surprising amount.
The rest of the space within my two bags was composed of both camping equipment and bicycle equipment. The camping equipment consisted of a lightweight tent, a sleeping bag and thermarest which take a good proportion of one of the bags. This bag also stores most of my clothes.
The other bag contains a tonne of cycling spares (tyres, cables, chains, tubes etc) plus some 'rarely needed' clothes (for example, my swimming costume). It also includes various cycling accessories - such as the rack bag, bottles, lock and Camelbak I'll be taking from day to day on my bike.
My third bag contains my electronics. In the last few years I've gradually acquired more and more camera equipment with each trip abroad (photos here). However, it seemed unwise to cycle along the rough African roads with my D-SLR in tow since vibration would probably kill it slowly. At the same time, travelling through most of Africa is an unmissable photography opportunity. So I've taken both cameras with the intention of leaving the D-SLR in the van when I'm cycling. I decided against taking my wide angle lens and Gorillapod in the end because of the added bulk.
I'm taking a netbook because it'll be useful for writing purposes (I find it impossible to write anything significant on paper - my fingers just get in the way) and for backup of photos. The battery will last approximately 10 hours and we have weekly rest days on which I hope to charge it fully. Likewise, I will charge my camera batteries then.
I'm taking a handheld GPS device to provide the location updating that you can see on the Geo page. This runs on AA batteries and each set of batteries lasts (supposedly) 25 hours. I figure this should give me two or three days of usage at least if I was to tracklog all my riding. These batteries should be fairly easy to find on the ground.
In order to keep in touch with those back home and to update my coordinates (we'll see how well this works out), I'm taking a couple of mobile phones. Rather than take my smartphone, I'm taking a basic Sony Ericsson featurephone which has relatively better battery life. I have a solar panel which I can use to charge these via a Powermonkey (this is a self contained supplementary battery which can charge and be charged) - the Powermonkey can also take power from the mains or via USB from the netbook.
Finally, I'm taking a flash based mp3 player since my hard disk Walkman would almost certainly not survive the first month. This represents a cut in capacity but coupled with the ability to swap music from time to time using the netbook, this should suffice. This has a 25 hour battery life and can charge from either the Powermonkey or the netbook.
I wonder how the above reflects on the nature of our generation - that instead of embracing the opportunity to leave technology behind entirely, I've seen the more hostile operating environment as a logistical challenge to be solved.
Addition
Having arrived in Cairo and spoken to some of the other riders, the above chargin strategy seems sound except with one possibly useful addition. One of the other riders has the Solargorilla, this is the more heavy weight version of Powermonkey coupled to a solar panel - apparently it charges his Macbook in about 2 hours. They're quite expensive but for that sort of convenience, it's probably worth it!
No comments yet!
No comments yet!
I'm happy to announce that as of yesterday, I managed to get the second of the two visas I need in advance of the trip.
A summary of the countries and their visa requirements:
Egypt - Possible on arrival
Sudan - Need visa beforehand
Ethiopia - Need a visa beforehand
Kenya - On arrival, but preferable to arrange beforehand
Tanzania - Possible on arrival
Malawi - No visa required
Zambia - On arrival or arrange beforehand
Botswana - No visa required
Namibia - No visa required
South Africa - No visa required
Of the two necessary to arrange in advance, the Sudanese visa was the most difficult. I abhor the amount of bureaucracy that is necessary to obtain access to their country. It took several visits to get my Indian visa because I was an informal volunteer (as opposed to volunteering through a formally arranged scheme) and the bureacrats at most embassies can't deal with special cases.
In any case, it seems Sudan is an exceptionally difficult country to gain access to, I hope it's worth the effort. In total, I visited the embassy five times before walking away with my visa. Over summer when I contacted them (being some sort of pseudo-organised traveller), they mentioned it would take three months for the visa application to be processed. After struggling to download the form from their virus infested embassy website, I made the trip in person and dropped off the form.
Roll along to October, approximately two months later and Tour D'Afrique decided to tell us them when to apply for the Sudanese visa. While none of this information was in the registration pack they sent us some time ago, it seems we were supposed to just wait to be told what to do. With their email, several letters of support (one in Arabic) and a magical authorisation number were given. When I contacted the embassy about my original application, they answered with all the enthusiasm of a graveyard shift shelf stacker and told me there was no sign of it. So much for being organised.
On my return to England in December, I called up the Sudanese embassy to find out what the best way to apply was - the lady on the phone said 'it's up to you. Do what you like! It makes no difference to me.' Helpful, neh? I went in person armed with all the various letters of support, only to forget the necessary passport photographs on my desk at home. After an hour of cycling around trying to find a photo booth (which had all conveniently been removed just previously), I rushed into the visa office with minutes to spare before it shut for lunch. At this point the bureaucrat at the desk told me that they required some kind of 'certificate' from the organisation in Sudan which my tour was affiliated with. Facepalm moment, oh yes.
I reread the various emails we had been sent and contacted the TDA office, realising that I had forgotten the magic 4 digit authorisation number. Another long trip into London and I got into the office just after it opened. This time the gentleman behind the counter nodded and told me that, much to my relief, my passport would be ready to collect at 3pm.
This gave me about 6 hours in London to kill, much of which I spent at Condor Cycles, looking on at all the various shiny bike bits they have and buying brake studs for Calamity Jane. After eating lunch with Phil and checking out some of the (superb) exhibitions on at the British Library, I went to pick up my passport. A quick glance through the pages confirmed my luck - I had a Sudanese visa!
The Ethiopian visa I attempted on my return from our family holiday to Mombasa. This was supposedly straightforward but blocked as soon as the lady behind the counter read my form. 'You need an address. An address where you will be staying!', I tried explaining to her that we wouldn't be staying in one place and that the accompanying support letter outlined the route we would be taking. This seemed to irritate her though and she started getting visibly frustrated, 'You please just write on the form where you will be staying in Addis Ababa. There is box for you name on visa form but your name is written on letter to. You do not write to see support letter in box for you name.'
I understood what she was saying and wasn't sure what address to put down, a quick email from an internet cafe, while I was photocopying my passport, to the other group of British TDA cyclists yielded some help and it seems that they had simply written what was on the letter in the box. I did the same, which seemed to satisfy this bureaucrat and when I rocked up at the embassy a couple of days later, she handed me my passport with a smile and wished me a good trip to Ethiopia.
P.S. I'm aware that the titles of these last few posts have been rather dull and will endeavour to improve their creativity as time progresses and the subject matter of these posts becomes more interesting.
P.P.S. Did you know Ethiopia is the land of coffee?
P.P.P.S. I understand that post scripts are redundant with modern computers but I like them anyway.
A summary of the countries and their visa requirements:
Egypt - Possible on arrival
Sudan - Need visa beforehand
Ethiopia - Need a visa beforehand
Kenya - On arrival, but preferable to arrange beforehand
Tanzania - Possible on arrival
Malawi - No visa required
Zambia - On arrival or arrange beforehand
Botswana - No visa required
Namibia - No visa required
South Africa - No visa required
Of the two necessary to arrange in advance, the Sudanese visa was the most difficult. I abhor the amount of bureaucracy that is necessary to obtain access to their country. It took several visits to get my Indian visa because I was an informal volunteer (as opposed to volunteering through a formally arranged scheme) and the bureacrats at most embassies can't deal with special cases.
In any case, it seems Sudan is an exceptionally difficult country to gain access to, I hope it's worth the effort. In total, I visited the embassy five times before walking away with my visa. Over summer when I contacted them (being some sort of pseudo-organised traveller), they mentioned it would take three months for the visa application to be processed. After struggling to download the form from their virus infested embassy website, I made the trip in person and dropped off the form.
Roll along to October, approximately two months later and Tour D'Afrique decided to tell us them when to apply for the Sudanese visa. While none of this information was in the registration pack they sent us some time ago, it seems we were supposed to just wait to be told what to do. With their email, several letters of support (one in Arabic) and a magical authorisation number were given. When I contacted the embassy about my original application, they answered with all the enthusiasm of a graveyard shift shelf stacker and told me there was no sign of it. So much for being organised.
On my return to England in December, I called up the Sudanese embassy to find out what the best way to apply was - the lady on the phone said 'it's up to you. Do what you like! It makes no difference to me.' Helpful, neh? I went in person armed with all the various letters of support, only to forget the necessary passport photographs on my desk at home. After an hour of cycling around trying to find a photo booth (which had all conveniently been removed just previously), I rushed into the visa office with minutes to spare before it shut for lunch. At this point the bureaucrat at the desk told me that they required some kind of 'certificate' from the organisation in Sudan which my tour was affiliated with. Facepalm moment, oh yes.
I reread the various emails we had been sent and contacted the TDA office, realising that I had forgotten the magic 4 digit authorisation number. Another long trip into London and I got into the office just after it opened. This time the gentleman behind the counter nodded and told me that, much to my relief, my passport would be ready to collect at 3pm.
This gave me about 6 hours in London to kill, much of which I spent at Condor Cycles, looking on at all the various shiny bike bits they have and buying brake studs for Calamity Jane. After eating lunch with Phil and checking out some of the (superb) exhibitions on at the British Library, I went to pick up my passport. A quick glance through the pages confirmed my luck - I had a Sudanese visa!
The Ethiopian visa I attempted on my return from our family holiday to Mombasa. This was supposedly straightforward but blocked as soon as the lady behind the counter read my form. 'You need an address. An address where you will be staying!', I tried explaining to her that we wouldn't be staying in one place and that the accompanying support letter outlined the route we would be taking. This seemed to irritate her though and she started getting visibly frustrated, 'You please just write on the form where you will be staying in Addis Ababa. There is box for you name on visa form but your name is written on letter to. You do not write to see support letter in box for you name.'
I understood what she was saying and wasn't sure what address to put down, a quick email from an internet cafe, while I was photocopying my passport, to the other group of British TDA cyclists yielded some help and it seems that they had simply written what was on the letter in the box. I did the same, which seemed to satisfy this bureaucrat and when I rocked up at the embassy a couple of days later, she handed me my passport with a smile and wished me a good trip to Ethiopia.
P.S. I'm aware that the titles of these last few posts have been rather dull and will endeavour to improve their creativity as time progresses and the subject matter of these posts becomes more interesting.
P.P.S. Did you know Ethiopia is the land of coffee?
P.P.P.S. I understand that post scripts are redundant with modern computers but I like them anyway.
Panna and Brij Shah (Beijul's family) wrote at 5:16 pm on Wed 13th Jan -
Hey well done!! Excellent!!
Will try to keep in touch daily.
Go for it Sunil!!!
God be with you. Brij says Jambo.
Cheers.
Will try to keep in touch daily.
Go for it Sunil!!!
God be with you. Brij says Jambo.
Cheers.
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