Home » Egypt » Cycle to the Summit Part 10 - Aswan to Dongola

Waiting for the departure of our ferry. First contaact with the Sudanese buracracy. A three day crossing of the desert. Becoming well practised in the art of punture repair. Spending many nights at the greatest campsites along the Nile. Finally arriving in Dongola to stock up on supplies.

Cycle to the Summit Part 10 - Aswan to Dongola

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

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and tomatoes. A young boy was adamant that we should stay at his house that night and helped us to get supplies for the next three days. We had gathered quite a crowd in the end and we were loaded up with no less than 10 kilos of free dried dates. Toby lost it completely at the site of ice cold cola, -he went off to buy one for himself and came back brandishing five in total. He was dumbfounded when everyone refused the beverage, his face contorting from shear ecstasy to pure shock. He downed two, Owy drank one and he returned the other two in disbelief. We rode that afternoon in a small sand storm before finding some shelter in the dunes. Our stove had been playing up since Wadi Halfa, and tonight we gave in and borrowed Al's superior MSR model to cook our food. The food was prepared in the tent in an attempt to keep the sand mixing with fresh salad and rice. The scorpion who turned up late for dinner made a lasting impact on our sleeping arrangements. We had been sleeping on our mats in the open throughout the desert, but from that night on it is either in the tent or in our mossie nets, well at least for one night. The tents proved very little use against the swirling dust and we woke in the morning under a thin blanket of sand.

10th to 15th February - Abri to Dongola 40km; 49km; 45km; 59km; 42km

We wound our way through numerous small towns along the Nile as we made our way to the next large town, - Dongola. At one lunch stop our water filter stole the limelight, as everyone wanted a go at pumping. The crowd fought for the control of it; children were sent to get more water to pump and each villager did his best to out-pump his rivals. Some 15 litres later the novelty had worn off and after sharing a bucket of tahini, peanuts and dates, we rode off well fed and watered. We found many great campsites but the ultimate camp spot was right beside the Nile nestled in under the date palms. Toby resorted to croc-spotting using his bike ...