Day 10 - Stage 9 - Aswan to Desert Camp (145 km)

Sunday: A long day of cycling, but we were blessed with a strong tailwind, especially after lunch,  which made the ride more enjoyable, even with such a long distance to cycle.

04:00 We awoke relatively early at the Adams House Camp, it seems that both of us just can't sleep past the 4am mark (old habits die hard). But it does give us plenty of time to get ready for the day's ride. 

06:00 Coffee & Tea at 6am, with breakfast usually at 6.15am, and we are on our bikes between 6.45 to 7.00am at the latest. 

07:00 We left Camp and were greeted by a great morning sunrise, the sun rising above the Bridge which spans the Nile River at Aswan.

This morning's sunrise over the Nile River at Aswan

Breakfast at Adams House camp

TDA Kitchen at Adams House Camp

Today's ride was a long one, with lunch at 75km, situated at some arbitrary Bus Stop, where we made ourselves some sarmies (sandwiches) with the local 'Egyptian Mystery Meat Roll' (which Wynand had sourced from one of yesterdays Coke Stops). 

The final Coke Stop was at the 124km mark, where a cold coke was quickly consumed, followed by a cup of coffee, with the locals in attendance. 

Lunch time at 77km into the ride. Judith enjoying today's mystery meat sarmies

Last Coke Stop at 124 km mark

Drinking coffee with the locals at the last coke stop

The ride ended at 145 km, in the middle of nowhere,  close to a small  Coffee/ Tuck Shop, just off the road, in the the Desert. 

The erecting of tents was quite challenging, due to the strong wind coming off the desert, however a lot of the riders managed to get them up, with a little help from other riders. 

Today's Desert Camp

Riders pitching their tents and fighting the desert wind

Stage 9 Notice board on Arrival

'Team Carbo-load' had managed to source some relatively cold beers and a strategy meeting was held in the Coffee Shop to discuss tomorrow's ride. The meeting was generally well attended and some new members were inducted into 'Team Carbo-load', but purely on probation.

Team Carbo Load Strategy Meeting on Coffee Shop

Murray (Muzz) a Kiwi living in Australia, also celebrated his 60th birthday today, and was greeted with a birthday message at the lunch truck, and presented with a chocolate cake, baked by Chef Errol after dinner. The cake was greatly appreciated by all in attendance, and our best wishes go out to Muzz.

Murray's birthday greeting at the Lunch Truck

Once dark, a bonfire was lit, and a hearty time was had around the fire, before the campers  retired to their tents. 

Tomorrow is another long day of riding, 152 km, ending in Abu Simbel, where we will be having our second rest day, before leaving Egypt and crossing into Sudan.

Cheers,

Mike T

Bonfire time in the Desert

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Day 0 - Tomorrow we start!

Had our final Briefing Session in the morning, also discussed tomorrow's first day on the road (Stage 1 - Cairo to Fanar de Luna) it will be a relatively flat 136 km long ride. 

Check out our Stage 1 Notice board (at the end of this post). This is how we will be kept well informed during our tour. 


Briefing was relatively short, so we managed to arrange a trip out to Saqqara Burial Site, where the first stepped pyramid was built (currently under renovation) and we explored a few of the burial sites led by our Tour Guide, Ronda. 

South African Group at the Saqqara Burial Site

Saqqara Burial Complex

Restoration of Stepped Pyramid in progress

In the afternoon back at the Hotel, the TDA Group went out on a short 20 km fun ride, it definitely wasn't much fun, the Cairo traffic is horrendous. Fortunately there were no incidents and much ducking and diving was done around the large trucks, taxis, small cars, tuk-tuk's, motorbikes, horse carts and pedestrians. Never mind the potholes, broken glass and speed humps, a taste of things to come!?

Early evening, we all had to take our permanent bags (the bags we are to use on our off-days) as well as our spare tires to the Main Truck to be loaded, one bag down one more to go.

Loading of our permanent bags, onto the Main truck

Tomorrow is the official start of the Tour, breakfast is at 5am and then we'll load our 'daily' bag into the truck. Afterwards, off to the Pyramids at Giza for a group photo and then off we go.

Heading South for the next four months....

Cheers, 

Mike T

Notice boards, including the breakdown of Stage 1 tomorrow...

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TDA - Arrival in Cairo

The eight hour flight to Cairo which left on Monday evening was fortunately rather uneventful, and we landed at Cario Airport in the early hours of Tuesday morning. At the Airport we managed to collect our 4x 23kg bags and were ecstatic that our two bike boxes were waiting for us at the odd sized baggage pick-up area.

Ramos the Hotel Representative was at the Airport to welcome us and organised a taxi to transport us with all our luggage and bike boxes to the Cataract Pyramids Resort in the Giza District.

Arrival at Cairo Airport

At the Hotel after booking in, we were greeted by our first TDA Bulletin Board, a daily feature which will be part of our experience for the next four months.

The First of our Daily Bulletin boards

Tuesday was taken up with us unpacking and assembling our bikes, with Leo the Tour Bike Mechanic checking them out to see if they were mechanically sound after their flight to Cairo. Unfortunately the rotor for the front disk brake on Judith's bike was bent rather badly and had to be replaced, but all's well that ends well.

Bike Assembly

In the evening we had an informal "Meet & Greet" where all the riders who had already  arrived in Cairo, met up with each other and all of the TDA Crew over drinks.

On Wednesday we had our first official TDA Briefing Session, where we were officialy introduced to the TDA Crew, and we're briefed and informed about the many aspects of the Tour. There were however two issues I was not in agreement with, these being; Fridges are not there to keep riders beers cold and vehicles are not to be used to buy or collect beer for the riders. It seems other plans will have to be made relating to these issues.

We were also informed, that due to the current political climate in Egypt, it has been decided by the organizers, that all the overnight Desert Camping Sites, are to be replaced by hotel stay overs! Something I am definitely in agreement with. 

The TDA Crew Members at the first of our Briefing Sessions

The rest of the morning was taken up with a trip by taxi to the nearest Bank, to exchange US $ for Egyptian Pounds, as well as purchasing an Egyptian cell phone Sim Card to use for data purposes. 

Wednesday evening was spent at the Pyramids & Sphinx, watching a Light and Laser Show with fellow South Africans, Liz Morris from Cape Town (who is being accompanied in Cairo by her husband Tim) and Kyle, also from Cape Town.

One of the three pyramids of Giza

The Sphinx

So all is well this side. Tomorrow, we start cycling.

Cheers, Mike T

TDA - Cairo Schedule

Breakdown of our Scheduled events... (January 19th - 13th)

►Tuesday Jan 10th

20:00 - Informal meet and greet for staff and riders

► Wednesday Jan 11th

09:00 - TDA Rider Meeting Part 1 (approx 1.5 hrs) *
13:00 - Bike assembly in courtyard (till 15:00)
16:00 - Fun optional bike ride to Sukhara Pyramids

► Thursday Jan 12th

09:00 - TDA Rider Meeting Part 2 (approx 1.5 hrs)
13:00 - Bike assembly in courtyard (till15:)
17:00 - Baggage inspection, loading permanent bags

► Friday Jan 13th

05:00 - Breakfast
06:00 - Leave hotel in bicycle convoy for Pyramids

* The meetings on Jan 11th and 12th are mandatory.