First section is done !

 Fundraising status: 1680,03€ or 14% reached, a massive thanks for that but please keep on being generous ! If needed the link is here

Stage 3: from Ras Gahreb to El Gouna

KM: 136.3
HM: 322 m
Time: 4:05 minutes
Flat tires: 0
Liter of water: 2.5
Strava link

Stage 4: from El Gouna to Safaga

KM: 81.1
HM: 345 m
Time: 2:49 minutes
Flat tires: 0
Liter of water: 2
Strava link

Despite a rather long distance of 136.3 km, the third stage went extremely fast as we enjoyed again a very strong tailwind.
On the next day, we finished the 81.1 km of the 4th stage in less than 3 hours. This gave us enough time to organize a nice Snorkelling trip for our last day at the the red sea. During these two stages, the weather staid rather friendly with cold nights (7-10 °) and mild afternoons (18-22°).

Stage 5: from Safaga to Police camp

KM: 144
HM: 901 m
Time: 5:55 minutes
Flat tires: 1 + 1 inner tube explosion 😉
Liter of water: 4 + 1 Sprite
Strava link

Stage 6: from Police camp to Luxor

KM: 108.3
HM: 317 m
Time: 3:55 minutes
Flat tires: 0
Liter of water: 3 + 1 Sprite
Strava link

After 448 km in 4 days, most of us were having some heavy legs and therefore stage 5 was seen as a bit of a challenge with its 144 km and a climb of 900 m over 60 km.
And the day started quite badly for me with a flat tire after 120m followed by an explosion of the new inner tube… After a few reparation and almost one hour of delay we (Alex, Jerome, Ryan and myself) could finally hit the road and start the climb. The rest of the day was full of scenic views and despite the length of this stage I enjoyed it to the fullest. We finished at the police camp, our first “rough” camp experience.
The day after was significantly friendlier with “only” 106 km to ride, nevertheless after 5 days of  non stop biking, our bodies are slowly but surely getting tired and we all enjoyed arriving to Luxor, knowing that we will not have to ride the following day.

Camping during the tour

As you should know by now, the standard accommodation of the Tour d’Afrique is a warm and friendly tent. Nevertheless there is some significant differences between the camps we will enjoy during the next months. Basically there is two kind of camps (at least so far) :

1: The 3 stars camp:
The three star camps is either in the vicinity of a hotel or any other public location and is equipped with shower and toilets. Moreover if the camp is located on the premises of a hotel or close to one, there is always the possibility to pay for an upgrade to get a (more or less) nice and comfy room.

 

Nice camp
Very nice camp

2: The “rough” camp:

The rough camp is based far away from the civilization and is not having any toilets or showers…In these camps, if everything goes well we get 2 bottle of water to clean ourselves (btw it is quite impressive to see how much one can do with 2 litres of water) and for the toilets, some shovels are available… These camps will be rough but will give us the opportunity to sleep in some places which would be otherwise not reachable.

A not so nice camp with a great view on the highway...

And here we are, after 700 km, 2620 hm and 24 hours on the bike, the first section is over! On my side, even if my body start to be a bit painful, everything is OK and I’m already looking forward to the next section, from Luxor to Abu Simbel. But it is now time to enjoy a bit of culture and to visit all the amazing places available in and around Luxor (you can expect a few pictures soon..).

And last but not least there is a new gallery here

Fred

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Papa

    23 Jan 2019

    Profite bien de ce jour de repos et prends-en plein la vue sur ces merveilleux sites.

    1. Fred

      23 Jan 2019

      Merci et effectivement la vallée des rois est fantastique !

  2. Kevin

    30 Jan 2019

    Wonderful blog. I just noticed it. Lots of great information.

    1. Fred

      1 Feb 2019

      Thanks Kevin !

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