Home » Sudan Egypt » Aswan, Egypt to Khartoum, Sudan (1 March 2002)

"Never forget where you've come here from" </br> Take That

Aswan, Egypt to Khartoum, Sudan (1 March 2002)

Roundtheworldbybike
2005-11-18 10:53:49

Displayed times (last time: )

the dirtiest man I have ever seen, his squalid clothing glistening with grease, fag ash sprinkling from his mouth into the food like an Italian chef lovingly seasoning with oregano, his vast belly a testimony to never having to eat his own vile cooking. A cheap tin tray was banged down on the counter and the dirty man scooped onto it a handful of grey chopped tomatoes, a handful of grey boiled beans, a grey egg and half a (surprisingly orange) orange. I returned to deck to escape the heat and noise and stench. For the canteen was by the toilet, already unrecognizable by that title. A more swilling, reeking, badly aimed swamp of human excrement and excess I have never seen. But on deck the night sky was beautiful.

I met some other cyclists on the boat! Owy, Paul, Ruth and Toby are cycling through Africa to the Earth Summit in Johannesburg (www.cycletothesummit.org.uk). They left the UK 3 months after me and have already caught me up. Their sponsored bicycles, laptop computer, video camera and solar panel make me look very amateur. However their complete inability to decide how to make custard reassured me of their mortality!

Arriving in Wadi Halfa was one of the most exciting events on this journey. Never in my life have I been to such a boring little town, but I was in the Sudan at last!

Before I could begin to cycle I had to register with the police and obtain a permit to travel in the country. This involved being waved vaguely in the direction of many different identical offices in search of elusive stamps, signatures, counter stamps, confirmatory signatures, payments, stapling, bewildered expressions and shiny purple dossiers. Several hours later the trail of offices appeared to dry up: it seemed as if I was free to go.

Befuddled and exhausted I climb a small hill to watch the sun set. The blue waters of man-made Lake Nasser seem to invade this end-of-the-world, needle-in-a-haystack, middle-of-nowhere ...