Day 35: Merowe – Khartoum
Up at the break of dawn after a great night’s sleep, we do a
little exploring of Merowe. First though, I try and ride my bike up a massive
sand hill. I do better than I expected, about three quarters of the way, and I
don’t get stuck! Then, into the pyramids. We’re the only ones there, it’s quite
a nice experience, but I must admit I’ve seen quite a few tombs/temples now and
my sense of wonder has dispersed.
We agree on stopping twice on the way to Khartoum, once at
Gharta and once at Narak. Flying down the road, Rob leading, I see the sign for
Gharta, Rob flies by, I follow and then notice no one else following. I pull
over and wait for Rob, but he’s long gone, so I head back and regroup with The
Others. A quick drink and we head to the temple. It’s a 30km across country
drive, no tarmac, lots of random paths, and some patches of soft sand. It takes
ages, but it’s pretty good fun, completely in the wild riding across sand and
dirt. We lose Rob Roy at some point, and when we get to the temple after about
an hour, it hasn’t been worth it! But it’s been fun, so we set of for the
second temple. This one isn’t far, but it’s across a dried up river bed, and as
we approach my bike starts sinking! Turning away from the river bed, and out of
the incredibly soft sand, I’m OK. But looking ahead, Ray (one of the aussie’s)
is in a bit of trouble. His 3.5t 4x4 is sinking rather than moving, doh. Quick
sit rep, I can’t help, so try and get across the river, and then watch the guys
work it out. Brian ends up towing Ray out, but it takes about an hour, it’s
completely out of nowhere and just highlights how dangerous these conditions
can be. But I’m well adjusted to them now, and am flying along, until I feel
the front wheel going odd, puncture. We’ll make it to the temple, and I’ll sort
it whilst the others look around.
Disastrously, I’ve brought two rear inner tubes, rather than
one front one rear. And it’s my front that’s gone. No worries, I’ve two repair
kits. Brilliantly the first kit isn’t working, but thankfully the second one
does. We’re an hour from the road, I don’t really want to be stuck here, and
I’m parched from working on the bike in the heat, not sweet. But just as I’m
putting it all back together, the guys come back, all disappointed with the
temple! No worries, we head off. And the riding back is fun, firing across the
loose dirt and gravel, Kirsty is dancing and we’re having a great time, yeeee
haw! After what seems all day, we hit the tarmac, Khartoum is a couple of hours
away. Rob Roy has reported in, he’s there already. And we’re in hot pursuit,
for the first hour. Then, whilst pulling back into my lane after passing a
lorry, the front of my bike tucks under, but not quite enough to have me off.
The front’s gone down again, that was close. We’re sixty miles out, I’ll try
and pump it up and drive carefully rather than taking the wheel off again. I do
this three more times before making it safely to camp, but we make it, to the
Blue Nile Yacht Club, high five!
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