No punctures this morning and we got on the road at just after 6:30am. Once again we had the road largely to ourselves for the first few hours of the morning. The tailwind that we had had for the first two days had dropped and was replaced by a gentle crosswind.
For a while the road followed the Nile, passing the palm-tree and mud-brick village lined banks. With the villages came the chance of water and filling our water sacks up proved to be a wise decision when the road slowly veered out into the desert.
By the time we had covered 70km the temperature was rising dramatically, so a roadside rest stop was a welcome sight. A couple of cold drinks each and a falafel sandwich later and we felt a bit better.
There seemed little point in carrying on after our break as the sun by now was directly above and we were nearing the hottest part of the day. Foregoing the rest stop where we could definitely have stayed, we rode down towards the Nile through the village of Abu Sari. Two friendly Nubians greeted us as we rode through and gave us directions down to the river where we could rest.
Settling down under a shady date palm tree, we laid out our kip-mats and tried to sleep through the afternoon heat. The small village was very quiet, with us only being disturbed by two very sweet children. After a brief chat they saw that we wanted to sleep and left us in peace. Despite the breeze and shade, it was still very warm. We planned to sit out the sun until about 5pm and then do a bit more cycling, before finding somewhere to camp for the night.
Leaving at 5pm turned out to be too early as the heat was still stifling as we headed out into the desert. At one point we cycled through what looked like a huge refugee camp, which we have since learned was a gold town. Gold has been found in the desert and it seems that everybody is now heading towards the area armed with metal detectors to try their luck. A large mine has also opened bringing valuable, if dangerous, employment to a poor area.
As the sun started to set, the temperature eased slightly and we started to look in earnest for somewhere to camp. Debs was really struggling as she has not been feeling very well and I haven't been helping much by being snappy and irritable. With nothing but open desert to either side of us finding a camp site with a bit of shelter from the wind was going to be tricky.
Turning a bend, the Nile came once again into sight and with it a small quarry, which proved a decent camping opportunity. We set up camp with the last of the light fading and quickly made dinner.
It has been a very long day in difficult conditions. For the first time in the trip I seriously discussed with Debs about whether we are doing the right thing. Africa suddenly seems like the enormous continent that it is. The whole point of the trip was to challenge ourselves and Sudan is certainly offering that challenge. It seems at the moment, maybe because we have been on the road for so long, that it is challenging our health, mood and relationship too much. I will probably feel differently tomorrow, but there is no doubt that I have reached a bit of a low point. I am very proud of what we have achieved so far, but I can't and won't let it bring us down too much. Still tomorrow is another day!
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