Home » Egypt » Cycle to the Summit Part 9 - from Cairo to Aswan

We leave the bustle of Cairo to pedal along the Nile for Luxor, Aswan, and the ferry across Lake Nasser to Sudan. The ride is spectacular - the river is lined with palm trees and subsistence farmers wave as we speed past on the smooth roads. Upper Egypt is still considered a bit dangerous for tourists (a legacy of the Luxor massacre), so we are escorted by police wagons as far as Luxor, where we have to take a night train to Aswan.

Cycle to the Summit Part 9 - from Cairo to Aswan

Toby Hammond
2006-06-25 19:11:53

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running alongside the Nile, and pumped into long channels which run between the fields. For the most part, small generators are used to drive pumps, -these have clearly replaced donkey-driven rotary wheels, which scooped water up in four quarter-circle buckets, and now lie redundant in the fields. We did see one still in use, being driven by a donkey walking round and round in circles. There are also small iron hand pumps to draw ground water, and even a few wooden framed 'Shadoofs' - really just a bucket on the end of a levered pole. Small white herons wade in the irrigation ditches, and in the larger canals, we also saw what looked like black and white kingfishers diving into the water.
Hundreds of people wave to us from the fields as we pass - children streaming out of mud brick buildings and running alongside us in excitement, shouting "hello, hello". Another popular greeting as we whiz by is "whatisyourname"' (a statement, not a question) and one boy surprised us with "Hello my love!".
At a chai-stop on Tuesday, beaming kids gather round as we slurp the sweet tea. Ruth goes to take a photo of them, but before she can, an old man rushes over and without explanation starts to whack them with a plank. There definitely seems to be a feeling that kids should be kept out of the way. On other occasions we've seen policemen pull out their belt and chase the gathered children down the street - though it all seems to be taken in good humour.
Bicycles are big in Egypt. Luckily they are sturdy models, as they get used for transporting panes of glass, gas bottles, whole families, and even a kitchen sink on one occasion. We see lots more women washing clothes and pots in the river - the men seem more preoccupied with smoking sheeshas and playing dominoes.
In El Minya we stay in a decaying, English built hotel for less than £1 each, but the toilets are revolting, and the shower cold. This is made up for when we meet Marion, a kind American ...

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