I felt refreshed today, physically and mentally. As I walked to the Internet cafe the town was like a completely different place. Tuk tuks had come from nowhere, there were more people walking around and lively stalls appeared back on the pathway.
I had a slight issue with the Internet unfortunately in the form of, there wasn't any. The network was down apparently and they had no clue when it would be back. I didn't really want to wait around all day for something that may never appear and more importantly, I couldn't really afford to.
I decided to leave it and it will be probably end up in me staying longer in Khartoum. A lot was resting on Khartoum but I've been in worse situations than this so far on this trip so I wasn't worried.
I headed back to the hotel, said my goodbyes and jumped on Nigel. I felt happy, felt strong, today was going to be a good day. I left at 10am exactly and cycled into what would be my most "out there" section of riding for the whole trip. The Nubian Desert was an unknown entity for me and its not guaranteed how long it takes to cycle through if you have bad weather. I was planning for 5 days, that's what Beet and Duncan had said.
It was a beautiful day and the tailwind soon took me far away from Dongola into the desert and what can only be described as the final resting place for Camels. There were loads of them scattered around in the thick sand either side of the road. The road still ran along the Nile but quite a way away. There were small villages as always lining the Nile every 5 or 10km so I was rarely in the middle of nowhere but there didn't seem to be anybody around but that may have been due to my rendition of total eclipse of the heart. That may have also been what finished the camels off.
Almost everybody that drove past or that i rode past today, waved. All but one young lad that I waved at and he gave me the biggest frown of the trip, i felt well and truly burned, surely he didn't hear my singing as well. I didn't really need lunch as i had the most syrupy sweet stranded thing from a shop in town but i stopped constantly for water. I made one extra stop to buy some noodles and other than that I was pushing hard the on the bike and loving it.
I hit 100 miles well before sunset and as I got to around 103 I spotted a nice little bed next to another water shelter. This shelter was more of a house. Two brick pillars supporting wooden beams with straw on top. The walls were made from wet sand that the beams were sunk into. This was a proper African house, if it rained, it would be a proper airy African house as I could crumble the walls with my hands.
Along with the African house came many African flies. I am going to take something positive from the African fly and I'm going to harness their ability to never ever give up. They don't get the hint that they're not liked but thankfully they do disappear somewhere come sunset.
A few people came and went as they finished work and got a quick drink on their way home. I helped push a couple of guys out of the deep sand and met the family that go around filling up the clay pots of water (I had wondered how they fill them up!) other just passed through as I I wasn't there.
Nothing much happened but I really enjoyed today and I made good ground despite a late start. Same again tomorrow please as the journey continues...
Just as I finished my blog, the water filler family came back to offer me dinner and a bed so that has warranted a blog encore. I was already set on my camp bed so I declined their offer which I hate to do because I don't know how they'll take it. I made sure I said thank you more times then was necessary so hopefully they'll be okay with rejection.
As I write this final thought the loudspeakers at the mosque are calling out for final prayer. I quite like the thought of public announcement that you can hear when you're just walking along the street or in my case, sleeping in it. The town cryer didn't seem to last but I think more people would like to be in the know and if interesting facts and information were given I think more people would appreciate it. A good example would be as I'm walking to my local shopping centre from home, the loud speaker could inform me that there was sale on at TK Max, Jeremy has lost his cat and it was going to rain in 20 minutes. Therefore i could keep an eye out for the lost cat and pick up my pace so I didn't get wet.
It would have to be interesting information with some added quirkiness but I think it could catch on.
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