Four of us were up early again, to climb the holy mountain for (yet another) sunrise - this time across the Nile from the top of this sandstone butte. Perhaps the even better part was the way down - rather than risk the so called path, we ran and slid down the massive sand dune that covers one of its sides. Great fun. Then into the truck for a long long drive eastwards away from "our river" across the vast Baiyua desert. Some may find this boring, but I loved just absorbing the sheer enormity of the distances involved (Sudan is after all the largest African country - over ten times larger than the UK). With the black tarmac stretching into the distance ahead of us, most of this desert is an endless sea of golden yellow disappearing into the far beyond, with the occasional distant sandstorm partially obscuring the even more distant ranges of hills (maybe even mountains?). What vegetation there is is the occasional very dusty green scrub, with clumps of seemingly very desiccated grass. It was so hot that we had our picnic lunch under the canopy of a (closed) filling station, sitting by the fuel pumps.
We were due to bush camp along the way, but one of the many police checkpoints told us that this was forbidden and that we would have to press on until we reached what was in fact the next day's destination, the Sudan Red Sea Resort. Easier said than done as the road deteriorated badly so travel was slow, and then one checkpoint decided that we did not have the correct stamp on our papers. Nearly two hours spent in the sweltering heat of a black late Sudanese evening, with us all dripping from head to toe - we were sustained by Karina and Rose buying some very welcome biscuits from a nearby stall. We finally got to bed at 01.30. If there were any more fruitcake left, Ross would win it hands down for all his driving.
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