My Diary

Tuesday 18th February

6.00 am! Are they serious? Cannot possibly get up let alone cycle, my knees are really stiff after yesterday, how are they going to handle another 115 km today?

We fetch our bikes and are ready to start at 7 am. We're off! We drive through Edfu which is seriously mad at this time of the morning. There are children wandering all over the roads on their way to school dressed in light brown uniforms and carrying books under their arms.There are delivery vehicles, crazy motorcyclists (no helmet of course and flip flops on their feet!) There are people going to work in seriously over-laden cars and animals not at all perturbed by the mayhem around them. This is not laid back at all ....... it's chaotic yet somehow organised and structured insofar as there is no panic everyone knows where they are going and what is expected of them.

All the while to my left the Nile is gracefully flowing providing the life force to support all this activity.

Gradually we pass into more lush, irrigated surroundings ..... more peaceful and beautiful until we see one of the semi wild dogs having his breakfast ..(Don't read this bit if you're squeamish)...he has his head in the rump of a dead cow at the side of the road pulling away at bits of dead flesh! Not for the faint hearted! The sight and smell at this time of the morning (or ever) is not good!

All the while to my left the Nile is gracefully flowing providing the life force to support all this activity.
First stop. Mmmm, top class toilet again!

I set off again. Blimey, this feels like hard work, like cycling through clay yet the road is perfectly dry and solid! Ahhh! That would explain it. A slow puncture .... my back tyre is very low. Not having a pump myself I'm forced to wait with Louise, who is cycling with me at the moment, for the support truck to catch us up. Whilst we wait we chat and I discover that Louise works as a support teacher to a class with children all with learning disabilities. Many of us partaking in this challenge have a connection through work or family with someone with a learning disability.

Many of us ... have a connection through work or family with someone with a learning disability.

We cycle on. 5 minutes later my back tyre is completely flat. This time I need a new inner tube.

By the time this is done by friendly Usa I'm the last in the group. All that is behind me is the rear car. It's tough to carry on knowing you're right at the back with the support vehicle right on my tail. I decide to go for it! I summon up the strength to pedal faster even though the terrain now is very definitely "bumpy" (as Theo would say) ie, hilly (though, admittedly not on a South Wales scale!) I manage to gain some ground and, what a relief, I'm back with the main group.

We're moving into desert now. It's much more barren as we move that little bit further away from the Nile, although the fertile strip of green vegetation and blue Nile is still just visible to the east of me. The sand which is a browny orange colour encroaches over the edge of the road forcing us to cycle more towards the centre of the bumpy tarmac. This isn't a problem though as traffic of any sort is few and far between. Occasionally dusty lorries pass, eager, as they always are in Egypt, to use their horns.

It really is desolate here. The road is cracked from the constant expansion and contraction due to the widely fluctuating day-time and night-time temperatures. Some wickedly huge pebbles (more like boulders!) and the pot-holes make this a fairly uncomfortable ride!

I don't think I've ever been in the situation where between myself and the horizon there has been absolutely nothing, zero, zilch!

Out of the blue (or should I say orange!) a football pitch! Well the 2 sets of goal posts at any rate! What a bizarre sight. Who on earth would want to play football here out in the middle of nowhere?! I stop to take a photo and am suddenly aware that I can see none of my fellow cyclists on the road ahead or behind. On my left and right there is nothing in the way of civilisation between myself and the orange, mountainous skyline. This is a very weird feeling... I don't think I've ever been in the situation where between myself and the horizon there has been absolutely nothing, zero, zilch!

Just as I'm getting used to the solitude a large yellow and white building looms up out of the distance. As I pedal closer the sound of shouting and clapping becomes apparent. I'm getting closer and the sound is getting louder. I can now see that on one side of the building is a set of steps and these steps are covered in a mass of yelling and whooping children all clapping and waving. This would appear to be a school, although there is no evidence of a village where these children can have come from. I feel honoured as the waving and shouting in encouragement gets more voracious as I pass .......I feel really special and the tears well up again in admiration of the people of Egypt. There is a stop a little further ahead and I catch up with those speedy cyclists who have already arrived. As more of the group gets closer we can hear the noise from the school increasing as each individual cycles past it! This country will never cease to amaze me!

I get back on my bike (now known as Pink, due to the bright magenta swansdown tied around the handlebars ..... makes it identifiable as mine!) Oh! Ouch! This hurts! My knees feel like they're broken and cannot bear to push down onto the pedals any more. My wrists feel like they're broken too and, if it's possible, my backside feels like it's broken as well! In fact, I feel wrecked and, what's worse, is the realisation that I've only cycled about 40 km so far and have approximately 75 to go! O.K. so best not to think about that .....just keep going.

Surprisingly as my body gets used to being back on the bike the pedalling becomes easier again and I begin to appreciate the stunning desert scenery around me once more. I catch up and chat to Edwina as we cycle along, it definitely helps to pass the time, and miles, if you have a comrade to talk to. (Thinking about it ....I don't know if "comrade" is a description Edwina would appreciate....although I'm sure she knows I mean in the "cycling" manner!)

After about 5km Edwina puts in a spurt of speed and I fall behind and get a chance to absorb the atmosphere of Egypt around me again. Must be honest, it all looks pretty similar to me now, the orange sand, then more orange sand and then ...oh yes...more orange sand!

I feel grubby and knackered and not entirely well! I can't feel my toes and every push down on the pedal is killing my knees..

Mmmmm ....the appeal of the desert is certainly waning. I'm now really hot, I feel grubby and knackered and not entirely well! I can't feel my toes and every push down on the pedal is killing my knees, I feel sick and I really want to get off this s**ding bike and be somewhere else! I'm actually glad I'm not cycling with anyone else as I couldn't bear for anybody to see the grimaces! I MUST remember to take on enough water.... thank goodness for this Camelback!

Keep going, keep going, KEEP GOING! It can't be far to the lunch stop surely? This bl**dy road is going on forever! Finally! At last I see a familiar "Adventure Tours" face. I'm waved off the main road and down a sandy, bumpy track in the direction of the Nile. I can see a collection of parked bikes in front of me. Yippee, I'm here! I stop but can't actually get off my bike, I seem welded to it! My legs and arms won't function properly!
When I do make it off my bike I'm relieved, in some warped, sick way, to find out that a lot of the others are suffering similarly. Apparently the temperatures are abnormally high for this time of year and it's making crossing the desert particularly hard. Knowing this fact I'm actually quite chuffed with my efforts of the morning. It's a real achievement to have completed 65km in these conditions.
I stick my head under the tap and let the cold water run down my face. Oh what bliss! Such a simple thing ..... but pure pleasure! Time to eat, but not too much and time for a welcome ice-cold coke to top up my sugar levels.

Am humoured to see that at this stop the door to the toilet is actually an old plastic table cloth just tacked on to the frame! The pattern is a sort of retro, circles pattern ...quite nice actually (as toilet doors go!).
Everybody is glad of the rest and the associated shade. Some of us still look fresh as a daisy, Fiona, Glen and, of course, Theo and Phillip to name but four! Some of us look not fresh at all! Poor Kate is suffering and needs the assistance of Julia (our lovely cyclist Doctor). Everyone looks really concerned for Kate and I, for sure, am thinking "there but for the grace of God go I."

We are on the road again, back in the blistering heat. It's 33 degrees apparently and feels hotter because of the reflective qualities of the sand. People, not surprisingly, are dropping like flies and need to travel in the support minibus. I can sense that these individuals are disappointed but these circumstances are exceptional and we all have our health to consider.

I persuade myself that every metre I travel is a metre closer to today's finish.

I feel pretty tired but resolve to try and keep going. I persuade myself that every metre I travel is a metre closer to today's finish. In this way the distance slowly melts away. I cycle for a while with Gary, who is a great support. And then with Justin and Helen who are absolutely fab. Justin even gives me a push for a little while ...It's lovely not to have to pedal momentarily.

It's getting quite blowy now and this makes life harder as we seem to be cycling against it. Then a very strange thing happens, something which is a bit scary but one of those experiences I wouldn't have wanted to miss for the world .....A sandstorm! It's truly mad and not a phenomenon I'm familiar with in South Wales!

An Adventure tours truck ahead indicates an additional water stop. I take the opportunity to douse myself in water to cool myself down and in an attempt to get rid of my coating of sand. (I feel as if I must look like I've been coated in breadcrumbs similar to a chicken nugget or the like!) I will not get off my bike here for fear of never being able to get back on it!

The desert route continues .... it is becoming tedious now! Jo asks what we would normally be doing at this time on a Tuesday afternoon at home and I realise that I would be in work wishing away the hours 'till it was time to go home. It's at this point that I realise again what a fantastic opportunity this all is.

The inclines nearly kill me now but I'm determined to keep going. Finally the scenery starts to change, It's getting greener now and less barren looking. This has the strange effect of almost refreshing me. We pass the new Aswan bridge complete with snipers and then, thankfully the road seems to level out a bit and the surface is more even as well. I feel re-invigorated as the final stages seem within my grasp. I'm thinking of a wonderfully cleansing shower and a welcome glass of cold wine ....... this keeps me pedalling faster for the next couple of kms!

The sun has dropped right down now and I feel a burst of energy (I'm a convert to Dextrose tablets!..........Sascha reckons we'll all be "Dextroholics" at the end of this week!) I pass through villages with wandering camels and shouts of encouragement, this pushes me on and I feel like I'm flying round all these bends in the road now. The end is in sight and then all of a sudden I'm there ....I've finished!

I'm knackered, emotional, dirty and aching but .... wow.....what an achievement! We travel across to the East Bank by small launchers which have our bikes lined up on their tops. The relief on peoples faces is clear to see and the sense of achievement you can almost smell (at least, I think that's what I can smell!) When I get in that eagerly anticipated shower later I'm a little disappointed to find that most of what I thought was sun tan actually disappears. The desert sand had given me the most amazing colour of skin, not unlike the shade of American tan tights! But my cheer leader look was, sadly, only temporary and most of it has now disappeared down the plug hole!