To Sudan by Ferry

If I could give anyone advice on a place to travel and feel the culture and step out of your comfort zone a little bit, the Sudanese Ferry (24 hours) from Aswan to Wadi Halfa would be it. This has been one of my most favorite parts of the trip so far. We had a convoy to the ferry terminal when we arrived at the ferry we had to walk our bikes through the xray and carry our bags. Obviously, I would get a flat tire at this point of confusion. I had a lot of helpers and this made it better than my flat on the road, at 98 km but the tire is still a struggle to change. I found the problem though, there was a tiny nail in the tire which I think has caused both of the flats I had. I went all year with no flats, only to have two within a week of the trip starting. Everything got sorted, we got our bikes on the ferry and then loaded up. All the riders and bikes had to be loaded on the ferry at 11am for a 6:30pm departure time. A funny concept to have a bunch of type a personalities who enjoy riding hundreds of kilometers a day, sit on a ferry that isn’t moving for 7 and a half hours!! The tour had reserved all the “first class” cabins on the ferry (22 cabins = 44 people) but we are a group of 74 with staff so they divided the rooms by age. I opted to avoid the “possible” bed bugs and cockroaches that are inevitable on ferries and I slept on the deck. Some people checked under their mattresses in their cabins on the boat and there were a lot of cockroaches so they slept in their tents (unset up) ontop of their mattresses. I was glad with my choice, although some people had some issues with locals trying to cuddle up with them on the deck. I enjoyed being mashed into a few square feet amongst the locals and refrigerators and the tonnes and tonnes of boxes that everyone carries aboard. It was amazing to see the sunrise from the deck and to hear the locals drumming into the wee hours of the night. Everyone slept together with tiny bits of room to jostle around when needed. It is kinda like the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry that you can set your tent up on the Solarium, however, you are mashed in with 200 other people and boxes and other things. Crazy fun adventure. The last few days have been pretty relaxed since Luxor with our distances very manageable Luxor-Idfu (116km) Idfu-Aswan (118km) then the convoy to the ferry 17km and today when we get off the ferry we only have to bike 5km to our camp in Wadi Halfa, Sudan. Then we only have three more riding days until our day off in Dongola, 150km followed by a second 150km and 119km. So far the 3km that I had to get picked up for because it was too dark is the only bit I haven’t rode. Frustrating I am doing so well and that happened on the second day, but I just keep moving on hopeing that I can achieve EFI- 3km. I would be happy with that. I am still trying to get a handle on getting enough calories. I am eating an average of four chocolate bars a day in addition to two power bars and four meals and still feel hungry all the time and feel my body wasting away. I think it will continue to be a problem so I just eat as much as I can get into me which is more than I have probably ever eaten in my lifetime.

It is 9:30am now and we are still on the ferry. Probably will not be into camp until much, much later. They will probably unload the ferry in the opposite order than loaded, which means that the bikes and riders will be the last off. We also know the Sudanese immigration is a bit of a gong show. We had to line up late last night as the immigration doctor walked up and down the row of passengers and pushed a thermometer in each of our ears to make sure we were not sick and then moved onto the next guy, same thermometer, not cleaned in between. It gave me the heeby jeebies a bit but I guess in the long run stuff like that will only make my immune system stronger.

10 days in (feels like a lot more). One country done. Challenging my body everyday. Many new friends. I love this trip.