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

_

Day 9 - Stage 8 - Idfu to Aswan (103 km)

Saturday: Good cycle today, although we did fade a bit at the end and came in with the sweep rider (but still managed to average 20 km/hr cycling time).

The ride through Idfu and surrounds was a bit hectic, a minority of the kids have taken to throwing sticks and stones at the riders, with the occasional ones brandishing and lashing out with tree branches. Its more a thing of children being naughty, than a cultural or political issue. 

However, there were instances today, where the older boys (especially when there was an audience of either young ladies or their own mates in attendance) jumping out in front of the riders.

It happened to our group on a number of occasions during the days ride, fortunately they usually target the last rider in the group, which just happens to be yours truly, and the Egyptian youth are coming off second best when barging into a stubborn 110 kg-plus mountain biker from the Karoo!  Lets just hope it stays that way, and we don't have any major crashes!

Today we crossed the Nile River and cycled on the west bank of the Nile, with only one real disruption to our ride, that was when we encountered a funeral procession, and had to wait for the mourners to reach their destination, before we could cycle past them.

Breakfast at Idfu before the day's ride to Aswan

Briefing session for Stage 9

Stage 9 Briefing Board

Team Treloar on the road again... 

Liz posing with some of the local Egyptian Riders and their families on the way to Aswan

A group of the riders waiting for the funeral procession to reach its destination at the cemetery

Tonight's Camp is situated at the Adams House,  a Nubian Camp on the outskirts of Aswan, where we are camping. At least there are toilet & shower facilities with a clean sandy camp site.

We were fortunate that Tallis our Tour Leader could organize a beer run for us, so Team Carbo-load had their usual meeting after the days ride, to replenish their carbohydrate levels.

Arriving at Adams House the Nubian Camp situated on the outskirts of Aswan

Tallis the Tour Leader doing a beer run for the riders

Some members of 'Team Carbo-load' (AKA Team Recovery Drink)  meeting after their arrival at House Adam.

Stage winners presentation after the evenings briefing

Coffee making demonstration at Adams House Camp

Tomorrow is a long days cycling (from Aswan to a Desert Camp) a total of 145 km. A good part of the day will definitely be spent having quality time together.

Cheers for now,

Mike T

_

Day 8 - Stage 7 - Luxor to Idfu (113 km)

Friday: Since it was the day after a Rest Day, the day's  Briefing was held before breakfast. We loaded our Permanent & Day Bags into the Main Truck, had breakfast, booked out of our Hotel room, and rode off into the sunrise.

Riding off into the Sunrise from Luxor to Idfu

Our next 4 days of riding before the next rest day...

Stage 7 Notice board and the Day's necessary info

The both of us had a great day of cycling. Fortunately, we were joined on the day by Liz Morris our fellow South African, from Cape Town. Her presence was a pleasant distraction and it made the kilometers just wiz by.

Liz Morris (South Africa) cycling with us on Stage 7

We cycled most of the day alongside the Nile River, and after the desert we appreciated the km after km of green farmlands, all irrigated out of the mighty river. 

Agriculture along the banks of the Nile River

The Lunch Stop was on the bank of the Nile River which was a very scenic setting.

Our lunch stop Stage 7, along the Nile River

Nile Cruise Ship sailing down the Nile. (...and as mentioned in my previous post - I think that more people should be visiting Egypt)

Liz (South Africa) enjoying her lunch

Philip Davies from the UK enjoying his lunch and contemplating the meaning of life.

Muzz, Henne and Andy enjoying their lunch too.

Although it was a relatively short day of cycling, we appreciated the coke stops, especially the one at the 106 km mark, where I managed to pose for a photo with one of the Locals' bike. 

I manage to swap my bike for a local's bike at the last Coke Stop.

Seen at the last Coke Stop...
"Hear no evil, See no evil, Say no evil and Do no evil!"

Judith calls a drinks stop at approximately about 100km's into the day's riding

On arrival at the Camp (which is a sort of Youth Park) we found a suitable place to pitch the tent, and I settled down with the obligatory recovery beer, while Judith joined 'Team Yoga' for a quality yoga session.

Team Yoga in action after Stage 7's cycling

Max, one of the Crew members, decided to sleep in one of the covered areas close to us and was pleasantly surprised to find out he had his own fairy lights setup.

Max suddenly realized that the Light Fairy had visited just moments before & organized some bedroom lights for him!

Unfortunately, the Camp lights will not be switched off (Security is very intense) so it will be an interesting nights sleep for us!

Our tent up and ready and lit-up for the remainder of the night...

Tomorrow will be a tough day, with only 103 km, but with 1'340 meters of climbing.

Cheers,

Mike T

Stage 8 Notice board - Some climbing the day's forecast

_

Rest Day - Egypt - Valley of the Kings

Thursday: Breakfast at Rezeiky Camp, then the majority of the riders boarded the Luxury Bus to be  driven to  the Valley of the Kings, where we went to visit the tombs. To get there we had to cross over from the east to the west side of the Nile River.

Road to the Valley of the Kings.

The Nile River looked more impressive than I thought it would, but what was sad and depressing was the amount of Nile Riverboat Cruisers which were floating in the water, idle and without any activity on them. Egypt just doesn't have the tourists it should have.

Tourism used to be their greatest money earner, followed by the fees generated by the  Suez Canal, but there just aren't any tourists around any more!

We arrived at the Valley of the Kings, and our Tour Guide Tony, issued us our tickets.

Listening to our tour guide, Tony.

Judith in front of The Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple.

Group photo in front of the temple at Al-Deir Al-Bahari

Our tickets only allowed us to visit three tombs of choice, so we visited;

• KV 14 Tausert & Setnakht 
• KV 8  Merenptah0
• KV 2 Rameses IV

Judith and I also paid an extra 100 Egyptian pounds each and bought tickets to see KV 62 which was Tutankhamen's, the famous Child King's Tomb. We couldn't come all this way to Egypt, and not see the most famous of all Tombs!

All the tombs we saw,  were most impressive, and it was amazing to see how they were constructed (especially looking at it from a mining and rock engineering perspective).They were developed in relatively soft Limestone which is quite jointed.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos of the outside or the insides of any of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, which was a major disappointment :(

After the Valley of the Kings we traveled to Al-Deir Al-Baharu Temple which is a Complex of Mortuary Temples and Tombs, opposite the City of Luxor, part of the Theban Necropolis, built by Pharaoh Hatshepsut.

Our final destination was the Habu Temple Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III, at Medinet Habu. The Temple is probably best known as the source of inscribed reliefs depicting the advent and defeat of the Sea Peoples  during the reign of Ramesses III.

Inside the Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple.

An-May, Kyle and Charles inside the Habu Temple.

Ceiling murals at the Habu Temple

Team Treloar inside Habu Temple.

Inside the Tomb of Ramesses IV

Ramesses III Defeating the Sea People in the Battle of Djahy.

Looking like an Egyptian...

About 18 of us had a late lunch at the Oasis Restaurant just down the road from the Rezeiky Hotel Camp, although we had to wait over an hour for food (Kitchen went into panic mode!) all was not lost though, as the food was worth the wait.

Lunch at the Oasis Restaurant.

We spent the second night at Rezeiky, had a late dinner, repacked our bags, before enjoying another night in a hotel.

Cheers,

Mike T.

Our rest day's late night beer-shandy and ice creams!

_