I drifted off into a deep sleep beneath the stars last night. Only a couple of people came during sunrise to pray but I stayed cocooned in my sleeping bag as I didn't want to scare them with a bearded drool face!
I had a friend watching me as I packed away Nigel in the form of a sand rat. I think they are tarnished with the name "rat" but they are a lot cuter then they sound and I did my David Attenborough bit and took a couple of pics of him. I gave him a couple of weird toffee nut things as well that would've probably got stuck in his teeth.
I cleaned Nigel which resulted in dirtying myself but I was hoping his squeaking would stop at least. It didn't, I realised it wasn't Nigel it was the dreaded rack and so annoyingly I don't think I'm far away from getting my third rear rack!!
I stopped after a couple of hours for brunch, I hadn't had breakfast so I was lagging a little and my legs were aching from the off after yesterday. My knowledge of the Arabic numbers would've impressed the untrained ear at the cafe but I think the Sudanese Arabic numbers are slightly different and it didn't prevent me from paying quite a lot by Sudanese standards for some "bone stew" and omelette.
I was happy for the rest though and just like yesterday, everybody that arrived in the cafe greeted me with big smiles and handshakes. "Helloooo white man" was my personal favourite. I had a look at the rack and with a bit of resourcefulness and a nicely shaped rock I've managed again to clamp the support in place for another day at least.
As I was fiddling, all the kids and staff of the school nearby walked out into the road about 20m from me and started cheering. Obviously I didn't have a clue what was going on but a convoy of cars then arrived with police escort and Sudanese flags flying so I assumed it was someone of great importance. I asked someone who it was and it turned out to be the President of Sudan. That is if the guy understood what I asked him and he didn't just nod for the sake of nodding when I said, "is he president?"
I fixed the squeak and headed back on the road in the south direction. I have no clue how far I need to cycle. I know this is the only road I need but there are no signs and everybody I've asked have told me different distances. Therefore despite the helpful km markers I am more unaware of distances and marker towns then I have been the whole ride!
The road has phases of travelling within close sight of the Nile and then it drops away into the desert. It is amazing to see the Nile like a scar of life through the country with lush green bushes and palm trees immediately either side and then baron desert just metres after. The towns all line the green land but there isn't that much of it, they don't seem to have utilised the Nile as much as the Egyptians but I don't think they need to. Sudan is much simpler which is why I think the people are so nice. They are content, they have enough, and so they are happy and percentage wise they are the most laid back and chilled people that I've met.
My delay with the rack meant I found myself cycling in the heat. At first the wind made it bearable but the wind soon stopped and so did my legs. I soon found myself in a physical battle as I had ran out of water, a slight case of de ja vu from Egypt. I do love a challenge but today turned out to be a lot harder then it should've but I eventually found myself a nice truck stop that saved the day after a solid 10 miles with no water and probably around 30 degree heat.
This truck stop was big, it had about 8 or 9 buildings including petrol station, restaurant, market and shacks with camp beds in. I call them buildings but they were all shacks. Corrugated steel, wood, canvas, pretty much anything was used to build them. I found myself in the restaurant and the menu was what's in the pot. It looked good to b fair, and it was. Meat stew with potatoes and this time I had macaroni for afters but a sweet rice pudding macaroni and not the cheese variety I was expecting.
I enjoyed it so much I asked the guy for seconds. He laughed, I didn't, I was being serious. He then realised I was serious and eventually gave me round two. I got the whole lot for less than an English pound, a third the price of my bone surprise that I had for brunch. After dinner I had two options. Do i get back on the bike for a couple of hours till sunset and find another place to sleep or do I find a place around where I was and wake up early tomorrow for some sunrise cycling.
The petrol station had a few camp beds outside and was a little further from the other shacks so I decided to chill out there for a bit as I was pretty bloated. After a while, 4 guys wandered over and I gathered they normally slept in the petrol station where there were more camp beds. None of them could speak that much English but we could act out words and I learnt a few Arabic words by showing them pictures on my camera.
An hour or so passed and more and more cars seemed to pull up beside us but not for petrol, they all just got out and sat around. I thought my decision to go for the quieter looking petrol station was failing into a weekly poker night with all the guys. One man approached confidently, "hello British cyclist" the fact that he knew 2 more words then anybody else gave me the green light that I could probably have a decent conversation with him. I was right, he turned out to be a very helpful contact. He was the secretary to the president of the Sudanese Cycling club and gave me 3 contacts that will help me with accommodation, money and anything else I need in Dongola and Khartoum. It turned out I wasn't at a truck stop either, I was at a gold mine (that explained all the people and buildings) and then he and his friend continued to try and help me with more contacts.
"You're very lucky" one of them said. They didn't continue with why so I asked him, "why?" "In Sudan you will meet very friendly people that will help you" I knew that was true, I was meeting them right then. They offered me a bed and blanket which I excepted and I settled down for another night under the stars.
Again, like so many times on this trip, I had the option to be a recluse and ride off to find a quiet spot or hang around with the chance to meet the locals. I met more than I bargained for but they turned out to be a great help and Sudanese hospitality is keeping the bar nice and high.
In keeping with my trip also, a hard ride resulted in a good ending. Hopefully tomorrow I will get both things right!
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