Cycling through Egypt seemed relatively easy to most of us—good roads, not too hot yet, and lots of tailwind most of the time.

“Not as hard as it was made out to be,” I thought to myself just this morning, “there’s no reason why I can’t make EFI all the way through Africa . . .”

Then we crossed the border into Sudan, and—as if we’d entered an entirely different world hundreds of miles away—things have changed instantly: It’s hot here! Last night, I still cuddled inside my sleeping bag. Now, after sunset, I’m sitting half-naked in my tent and still feel hot.

And it’s not only the temperature that has changed. Our so far loyal friend, the wind, speaks a different language too—a language that we haven’t mastered yet.

“From now on, you’ll need to work in teams to push through the wind together,” Tallis reminded us. And as regards the heat, “it’s best to take it easy and not race,” Helen advised, “heat stroke is a serious matter. If you feel hot, rest in the shade,”—easier said then done in a desert devoid of vegetation and civilization.

For the first time on this tour, I’m a bit worried about the coming days. Cycling just a few kilometers with headwind seemed like a never-ending spinning session to me this afternoon under the burning sun. Doing this for over 100km has not yet made it into my concept of mission possible. Strategy: No more messing around in the morning, get out of camp early and try to reach the next camp before the water in my bottles starts to boil 🙂

Stage 11: Abu Simbel (Egypt) – Wadi Halfa (Sudan), 70km

Road & traffic condition:

Great tarmac, hardly any traffic through the desert.

Weather:

Hot!

Culinary highlights:

TDA is not allowed to cook onsite in Wadi Halfa, so we got dinner from the local tour agency—excellent big plates with heaps of chicken, beef and fresh veggie salad—yummy!

Group highlights:

Crossing the border into Sudan! The motto of the day was “hurry up and wait.” We had to be there on time, but how long it would take us to cross was out of our control.

After early morning breakfast, we left in a convoy at 6.15 for a short ride to the ferry terminal.

The female riders caused quite some attraction amongst the local police, who constantly asked us for photos.

The ferry departed more or less on time just after 7am, and gave us an hour to relax while crossing over beautiful Lake Nasser.

After clearing through Egypt immigration, TDA provided lunch while waiting in no-man’s land—that helped to kill time.

Then we processed into another waiting lounge and got more forms to fill in. One of them gives us a permit to take photos in Sudan, so we better keep it with us at all times. There also is a police fee to cross into Sudan (522 Sudanese Pounds), but TDA paid it at the border as a lump sum which also helped speed up the process.

When it was my turn at the Sudanese immigration counter, my passport caused quite some confusion. “Austria,” I had written on the form. “Österreich,” my passport said (German for Austria). “Where are you from? Australia?”—”No, Austria.”—”Australia?”—”Austria.”—”Where is that?”—”Europe, European Union.”—”Where is that?”No worries, I like contributing to general education 😉

Then I had a bit of a snooze while waiting, until someone told me to pay attention. Not sure whether it was an hour or two, but I definitely didn’t mind my waiting time.

After our passports had been cleared (and I assume all our bags on the trucks checked in parallel), they wanted to check our bike bags. With the first riders, they went into quite some detail. Painkillers—”What’s that for?” Throat lozenges—”What’s that for?” Energy drink—”What’s that for?” Not sure whether they were actually searching for drugs, or just curious about our belongings.

I am always carrying heaps of medication with me, and expected quite a lengthy process. However, by the time it was my turn, I think our Sudanese support had told them to stop harassing us. “Medication, bike repair, sunblock,” I commented on my 3 bags stuffed with dozens of items. They accepted without further comments.

Once everyone of us was cleared, and had received a sticker for our bags, we were allowed to cycle into Sudan, as a group, one after the other.

At our camp, there was a local trustworthy guy with whom we could exchange money. The current rate in the black market is 16 Sudanese Pounds to the dollar. There were also guys selling us SIM cards: 85 Sundanese Pounds for 1.5 GB of data—not bad!

Overall, I found the whole process of entering and arriving in Sudan very well organized—big Kudos to Tallis and the entire TDA team!!!

Personal highlights:

Getting my breakfast coffee—that I keep overnight in my thermos to enjoy as soon as I wake up—from the local tea & coffee lady.

And what a lady she was! Very polite and refined manners. Being able to make that order & very simply conversation with her in Arabic made me very happy.