Day 19: Sharm to Cairo...

Time for the 300 mile slog to Cairo now, it’s going to take prob about seven hours. We’re just waiting on the Roberts to arrive, so I fill my time sitting by the pool and reading. It’s pretty hot though, so a few dips are required.

Jonesy’s a little later than expected, but that’s cool, we head off. I’ve made a bit of a mistake on my sprockets, these new ones lower the gearing of the bike. This makes Kirsty better off road, and more responsive, but too buzzy on the motorway (not to mention thirstier). 55mph is a comfortable cruise for me, but Rob wants to push on, so we up it to 60-65. It’s a long boring ride, it’s great taking in the countryside, but we have been along this road before. There’s  a tunnel under the Red Sea/Suez Canal that we cut under, we get stopped by the army check point. Once the realise we’re just tourists, they quickly let us through, and into one of the closed off lanes, sweet! We buzz through the tunnel, Kirsty’s loud exhaust booming off the walls and reverberating about, and continue our slog.

As we approach Cairo, traffic starts to thicken, and we’re quickly at a standstill. Well, actually we’re not, the traffic is, we’re flying up the hard shoulder with the other bikers. We quickly realise that Cairo is an absolute traffic disaster. Solid traffic everywhere like you could not even begin to imagine. Unbelievably, I’m so grateful for the Red Route in London, congestion charging, public transport, town planners and everything else that makes London such a relatively easy place to navigate. I don’t even know why people get in cabs here, they just sit stationary.

Actually, by the time we reach our hostel, it’s late, and we’re tired. But tomorrow, we’re sure to see some pyramids...