James: We have finished our first day on the bike in Egypt! The ride was about 125 km and it was done by 1pm after a 730 am start. The roads are flat and we were going along at between 25 and 30 km/h. Most of the ride was amongst green fields in the Nile valley along the eastern bank but the road did take us out into the industrial part if desert as we got closer to our destination Beni Suef. For most of the ride we had locals cruising up next to us in their cars,motorbikes or auto rickshaws all smiles with their hands permanently on the hooter! It was good fun but it got a little disconcerting when the guys hooter sounds like a police siren and we are well aware that the police like to escort cyclists along the Nile valley! We did go through one police check point but the cops were just lounging in the shade! The only dodgy part of the day was a kid who threw a stone at Mark hitting him on the thigh. Good practise for the stone throwing hooligans of Ethiopia, nevertheless we have vowed to give the next one a RPK...don't worry about the acronym, it will hurt!
It took ages to find a hotel or fondok as it is called in Egypt. Our Arabic is limited which does not help either! We were eventually directed to a place overlooking the Nile which costs the equivalent of £15 with an en suite bathroom. We are sure we can find cheaper and next time we will turn up our noses at this luxury but the view is great and the shower is hot! I have attached some rather poor iPhone photos below. The proper ones will be coming soon!
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