Day 7

This was a long drive, first back down towards Cairo (with a quick backward view to Steven Gerrard (not sure how much you will make out of this) and then around the capital (I am enclosing a view shots of buildings on "business parks" and also on new housing developments to show what Egypt can offer in the way of new buildings).

Then it was soon into the Western Desert, which I presume is the eastern Sahara? Starts off being generally - surprise surprise - sand coloured but can change and change again with different variations in colour and "design". Just the very occasional side track and a bus stop every 10-20 miles, and then suddenly saw a railway signal.

The road surface (two lane all the way) was surprising good and then suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, they were laying new tarmac, with a proper tarmac laying machine - very impressive.

We finally arrived in Bahariya oasis - now a town of some 30,000 people (with colourful flowers down the centre of the main street). There are reportedly many hot springs here, but we couldn't find any. This was our first night of camping (this time on a proper campsite) so, after instructions from Ross, one of our two leaders, we set to and Shannon (my Aussie room mate) and I managed to erect ours without too much difficulty. Good job, as this will be the first of many such nights in the next few months!