April 14th Day 11 - Sohag- over 300 miles south of Cairo

Chris's Story

The day starts off early, at sunrise to be precise, as Frank decides to usher in the day by immortalising the sun with a photograph from our balcony. Personally I think he is getting slightly carried away by reading the guide books about Amun Ra (The sun god). I turn over and try to get back to sleep, but Sheik Frank is up and about packing his bags, so I slowly pluck up courage to make that all too difficult first step out of bed. First indications seem to indicate that the fall of yesterday has left only road rash to my left knee, which although sore is bearable. My hand seems to have benefited from the rest and is much better, and no trace of the stomach cramps that nearly crippled me yeterday!

The morning begins well, with breakfast included in the price. We eat a croissant and some bread and an omelet. we then check out and indicate to our secret policeman, which we have had assigned to us every night since we have arrived, that we are ready to leave and ask him if the escort is ready. He says that they are and we throw our bags into the back of the van and leave the hotel cycling our bikes along the main road along the Nile. We had nearly completed 10 miles when the escort truck waved us to a standstill and we were told that we had to await a change in shift as a new shift was just coming on. We wait for about 30 minutes outside the Public security building and eventually a bloke arrives and we are on our way once more. A few miles down the road we arrive at our first police checkpoint and the captain in charge states that it is too dangerous to drive along the intended route by bicycle. We try the usual banter explaining to him that we are Police officers cycling for charity and that we have to cycle the whole route to no avail. Frank then begins to put it more bluntly to the Captain, but the officer still insists that it is too dangerous. I step back and try to analyse the situation and notice that all the police officers in their various uniforms are wearing flak jackets, and have doubled up their magazine clips, and that the usual patrol trucks are now mounted with heavy machine guns on top. I try to communicate my observations to Frank who is the middle of a 'discussion' with the Captain, when all of a sudden an amoured personnel carrier appears mounted with machine gun and all the trimmings. We both look at each other and then simultaneously decide that perhaps we would be better off in a police truck. We load our bikes and bags in to the waiting trucks and we set off with two land cruisers and two Toyota hiluxes filled to the brim with the chiefs of police and soldiers bristling with assault rifles and pistols. Even we get an AK 47 each!!

With our newfound companions in arms we tear down the highway with sirens and horns blaring, nothing like a low key entry into the outlying villages!! we are whisked along at breakneck speeds, and through conversation with the captains we establish that despite what we were told in Cairo by the Tourist police, travel between Al Minya and Assyuit for foreigners is strictly not possible without a guarded escort.

Along the route we see several amoured personnel carriers and heavily armed police vehicles and an abundance of police officers. I begin to think that we have perhaps made the right decision in taking up the captain's offer. We are taken much further than we would have liked to travel, and are eventually left to our own devices at about 40 miles from Sohag. We still however have a police escort of one truck and three police officers, including a captain. These however seem to be much more laid back and are, we presume the equivalent to the rural beat officers we have back in the UK. We strike up a good rapport with one of the captains AMAN SHARIF and we buy all his crew a drink at one of the many stops along the way. He turns out to speak excellent English and is from Alexandria. We exchange email addresses and present him with a Royal Cayman Islands Police Patch. We then pick up our last escort who brings us to our 'luxury' hotel the Meryut Amun. We order the usual tuna fish and bread dinner and settle down for our feast! Note the lovely decor in the bathroom behind me!! Sunset finds me typing up my journal when suddenly I hear a man clearing his throat as if he was directly outside my window!! Then I get a full blast of the call to prayer from a mosque that is directly outside my window! Five times a day muslims attend mosques and fulfill their duty to pray to Allah. The mosque's Imam calls the faithful to prayer using a PA system consisting of a very loud loudspeaker five times daily. I hope that the one at sunrise tomorrow will be slightly tempered for that time of the morning.

My turn to hand over the computer to frank now as he has been patiently waiting for me to finish. Till tomorrow.

Frank's Story

Greetings Mum & Dad, " C " , family, friends , and all followers of our journey.

I don't know where to begin. As I got up this morning and set off I was thinking, today is the day we have NO PROBLEM! Within an hour we have VERY BEEG PROBLEM. At the usual checkpoint I was waiting patiently for the all clear when I noticed that the place was crawling with police personnel. I was approached by an officer who stated it was to dangerous to cycle to Asyuit. I communicated to him through Chris and told him we must cycle. The officer was pleasant enough but told me it was VERY DANGEROUS to cycle as the area was full of Islamic Fundamentalists. It was then that Chris and I noticed the Armoured Personnel Carrier and we decide that it would be wise to get in the vehicles.

We were not permitted to take any photographs of the vehicles but were fortunate enough, during one of our several vehicle changes be in the rear with what can only be described as The 3 Stooges. As soon as I get in, the one on your left in the picture hands me his AK47 and insists on taking a picture, the same was done with Chris. They were then happy to get themselves in the picture. It was a lighthearted moment during quite a tense few hours. During part of the drive one of the Captains pointed out the hideouts of the terrorists and showed drug houses and problem areas. The more he went on the happier I felt with all this protection and the fact that I was inside the police vehicle. As we travelled south I got glimpses of The Nile. It appears that for most of our journey it is just out of sight. I find it quite ironic that for the Egyptians, sounding their horn is a way of life, in many countries it is seen as Road Rage. The driving is chaotic but it also strangely appears to work. It is also amusing to see everybody and I mean everybody stop in their tracks as we cycle by although many people ride bicycles. ( most of them are Pee Wee Herman look-alikes ) Besides the car, the main transport is by Donkey. Today a poor Donkey was not only pulling a cart and its owner, but also towed on the back of the cart was a car. Anybody old enough to climb onto a Donkey has a Donkey. We also seen a gigantic amount of straw being carried along the road by a camel. We say a camel because all we could see were four legs.

We were then abruptly removed from the vehicles and told it was safe for us to continue our journey by bicycle. As we only had about 40 miles to Sohag it was a pleasant enough ride with no further problems. The police escort was a lot more relaxed and you could see the difference as you passed through each village. It was then into another TOP QUALITY hotel and tuna, cheese and bread for supper. Tomorrow we are to head for Quina, about 80 miles south but that also has a tainted recent history so we may push another 40 miles further to Luxor, it will all depend on our escorts. They will not allow us to camp anywhere in Middle Egypt, I believe they will be happy once we are in Luxor .

Even though we have only been away 11 days it feels like an eternity. I have already seen the beautiful scenery, dangerous regions and poverty stricken villages. I look forward to Luxor and The Valley of The Kings with all its historical sites, but most of all my poor backside could do with an extra days rest. Until tomorrow, be safe .....

April 15th DAY 12 - Luxor

Frank's Story

HAPPY EASTER Mum, Dad,Peter,Gill,Paul,Joanne (and clan) " C " and all my family and friends reading.

Well, we made it to Luxor, but not the way I had hoped. After another night of tuna and bread I retired at about 9.00 pm. Besides the horde of mosquitoes in my room I slept until 9.00 am. I looked out my window and as usual I could see a bunch of police officers milling around. I packed up and headed down stairs. I was in quite a foul mood this morning due to lack of food, slight bout of flu and the pain in my you know what. As I loaded up my bike we received the usual grief, PROBLEM MISTER, YOU NOT CYCLE . I left the talking to Chris and he informed me that we could not cycle until we get to Luxor. We then spent the next five hours being escorted by several different police vehicles until we got near to Luxor at which point they let us out and said we have no more problems, which thankfully means no more escorts. I spent the day in the rear of the trucks with the bikes as it was safer for me not to talk to anybody for a few hours. Travelling through middle Egypt has been an absolute nightmare which I would not recommend anybody to do unless they travel straight through by train. It is an area were there are few tourists and the ones that do travel are escorted away as soon as possible. Experience wise, I believe I got to see the REAL EGYPT.

Luxor, a beautiful city which I am enjoying. We arrived too late to travel to the sites but that is for tomorrow. Today we had nice walk on the Nile and I bought a few prizes for my family and friends. I should have some photos for you to see tomorrow. Until then..

Chris's Story

Firstly, I must apologise for not updating the page yesterday, but we were experiencing technical problems with the laptop. I have now rectified the situation and it will hopefully be back to normal again. I am writing this from the relative luxury of my hotel balcony which is overlooking the Nile River with a splendid view of the ancient necropoliis of Thebes. In the hills in the distance are the valley of the kings, valley of the queens and tombs galore. The most famous of course being Howard Carter's discovery - Tut ankh kamun. This is in stark contrast to our experiences yesterday when trying to get here. Frank has already covered how are plans were thwarted by the authorities once more. So we now face the reality that almost 200 miles of our journey have been erased from the total. A situation unfortunately unavoidable due to the current political tensions within middle Egypt. However, on a more optimistic note, the journey from now onwards should be trouble free and not subject to any change in schedule.

As I was traveling yesterday with the police escort, we encountered several officers from the various districts along our route. Once more the common theme seemed to be that the officers were from Cairo, whilst the lower ranks were from the provinces. Once moe the officers were extremely hospitable and extended us every courtesy. We traveled through changing landscape, beginning with the wheat fields outside Sohag, which blended into sugar cane plantations, further south. Through one of the villages we passed a large celebration was underway, and the officer in charge indicated that it was a large Christian festival, and it dawned upon me that it was Easter Sunday! The main square was full of traveling side shows and stalls, and small children were running around with brightly decorated, festive cone hats.

The Nile road crossed from the west to the East of the Nile at Nag Hammadi, and we continued along an unfinished road with steep cliffs of the river valley as a backdrop until we reached the outskirts of Luxor. The last escort we received was obviously in a hurry to get us there and return to his duties as he hurtled down the relatively new highway road at 140 km per hour!! I shut my eyes and hoped for the best. The escort dropped us off outside Luxor and we cycled the last few miles into the town. Seeing the Nile was a welcome sight and seeing a hotel that had a comfortable bed was an even better sight. I was up at 6:30 this morning, and so rather than face the abuse that I was sure to receive from Sheik Frank, I slid out of the room and took the advantage of an early breakfast and then decided to watch the town wake up. I had a stroll around the docked Feluccas and Nile Steam boats, and then wandered amongst the street stalls and the merchants that were setting up for their days work. I came across a throng of people on the main station road who had obviously just disembarked from the train, and were disseminating into the city to their respective destinations. I then returned to the Hotel to see if Sheik Frank had emerged from under his nocturnal cocoon of blankets, but I should have known better. He still resembled a mummy in its sarcophagus. So I promptly let the rays of Amun Ra enter the room and lo and behold a string of curses and abuse came forth from within as the Sheik soaked up the rays of a brand new day.

Today we are going to visit some sights and will hopefully have some good pictures to share with you later. Until then Bye

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