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Sudan - The Facts

Total distance covered in Sudan = 1559km
Total distance covered on 'non tarmac' roads = 793km

Punctures prior to Sudan = 3
Punctures in Sudan = more than 45 (we lost count!)

Sudan is the tenth largest country in the world with a population of 29 million. (Population of Britain approx 57 million)

Most memorable moments from Sudan

Toby - Reaching tarmac after cycling through the desert for 22 days
Owy - Sleeping under the stars in the desert near Akasha, Northern Sudan
Paul - Reaching the hilltop to see the first sight of civilisation after three days of seeing little other than sand!
Ruth - Having my (very knotted) hair brushed by a lady named Affaf in a Sudanese house

Cycle to the Summit Part 12 - Khartoum to Galabatt

Toby Hammond
2006-06-25 19:32:15

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Mahmood invited us to his home and what was for me one of my most memorable evenings in Sudan. As Paul, Owy and Toby sat down with Mahmood, I was ushered off to meet the women of the house. I was introduced to a group of giggling woman, whose faces I couldn't see as it was dark and there was no lighting (quietly wondering how I would be able to identify them in the morning). I had a broken conversation in the few words of Arabic that I had learnt over the previous six weeks and along with some words of English that they spoke, and much gesticulating and writing in the dust we shared many laughs. Tahani showed me to the bathroom, a wooden enclosure with a concrete surface and hole in the ground, where I freshened up by the light of my torch and changed into a long yellow nightdress that she had kindly leant me. I was given a lesson in washing clothes, Sudanese style, before Tahani gave me some cream to rub into my skin. Finally, to complete the pampering session, Affaf brushed my hair, which proved quite a challenge given that it hadn't seen a comb in several weeks. I fell asleep thinking of the wealth of experiences I had had that day.

11th March 2002 - Gedaref to Doka - 57km

I tried (rather unsuccessfully) to match names to faces in the daylight, but this simply provided amusement for them. After several cups of tea and coffee, I was reunited with the boys and we set off along the corrugated road. For lunch, we sheltered from the sun under a water channel that ran underneath the road and were joined by a camel herder who exchanged some of his camel milk for our bread and tomatoes. Quite a few punctures later we set up camp, watched shooting stars and listened to BBC World Service that was marking the six month anniversary of September 11th.

12th March 2002 - Doka to near Galabatt - 77km

As we carried on along poor roads, we were overjoyed to find a stretch of road under construction that made cycling much easier.
Paul commented that for the construction workers, "…it must be more remote than working on an oil rig in the North Sea". Owy, previously unaffected by illness was struck down with the dreaded bug, although his fast cycling speed seemed to be unaffected. Despite the prospect of beer, we didn't think that our legs could make the border before dark and so spent our last night in Sudan under the stars.

Thats all from me for now
Love Ruth