Thursday 9 January 2014

Would that camel make it to Cape Town?

After some tough negotiations at the Khartoum Camel Market, I decided to stick to the original plan of cycling down, as a camel seems to offer insufficient advantages in comfort or speed to justify its €1.000. But with the cycling coming closer, I am thinking that the camel may be much more used to the desert circumstances than I am...

To get into the habit of cycling through the desert, we will have only four cycling days until next rest day in Dongola on Tuesday; 81, 148, 143 and 140 km. Weather: hot, dry and sunny (not unexpected), more or less flat, tarmac roads, moderate headwind.

When loading the truck, it turned out that all my stuff fits in my locker! Although I think I have not brought a lot of unnecessary stuff, it still added up to two big duffle bags; tent, sleeping bag and mat are bulky, spare parts are heavy. Didn't take much else, except for a first aid kit and cycling wear. Now it is taking one last shower and enjoying one last night in a real bed before we turn to camping without facilities. 

As traffic is crazy in Khartoum, and we are too early in the tour to lose any participants, we will leave town in a convoy; a police car, two support pick ups, two trucks, about 50 riders and the Minister of Tourism of Sudan, supposedly. Don't expect he will be cycling though...