We have many many pictures covering the next few days. We hope we have captured Sudan for you and you can enjoy the experiene with us.

We had been told to report to the boat at 10 a.m. but after the previous day's experience of sitting there the whole day we decided we would not arrive until noon. However, we were told by Mr Salah from Nile Shipping over the phone that we had better get there before 12 or the gates would close. We shot out to the port in a taxi as quickly as we could and did all the passports and paperwork and finally got on the boat. We fought our way on board over the barge tied up at the side onto which masses and masses of cargo was being loaded. We had booked a first class cabin which consisted of 2 bunkbeds and a chair. It did have an old air con unit which actually worked. We had a reasonably clean sheet and pillow case but the blanket had seen better days, luckily we had brought our cotton sleeping bag liners with us. The toilets were gross with just 2 ladies and 2 mens toilets for all the cabins. These were the usual squatter type which did whiff quite a bit but they must have poured something like kreosote in them to help kill the smell. The sinks however were soon overflowing as muslims like to wash their feet before prayer and used the sinks for this purpose!!!

Up on deck we caught up with the others, John and Jeanette hadn't been luckily enough to secure a cabin and only had a mat up on deck. We also met another English couple there who were doing the journey on a 1954 Triumph Thunderbird!!! We found ourselves a place to sit just outside the captain's door which caused problems throughout the journey as Captain Grumpy suddenly kept getting into a strop and ordering us to move and we had to all stand behind an imaginary line and not move beyond it!! The rest of the deck was so crowded you would literally be standing on bodies trying to walk across plus all their luggage and T.V.'s in boxes they had bought in Egypt.

AFter having been told to get there for 12 we again spent the whole day, baking in the sun standing on deck watching the barge being loaded with the most bizzare things. There were boxes and boxes of all sorts from blankets to twin tubs and spin dryers all just thrown up on top of the pile. Lorry after lorry arrived and it was all piled high with things falling off all over the place. People were fighting down below as they all trampled over each others stuff. We saw the barge with the bikes and cars set off a few hours before us. Eventually nothing more could be fitted on the barge and we left around 6.30 p.m.

We sat up on deck watching the stars and although the others went to the 'dining room' for dinner we gave it a miss and managed with our crisps, pop and cake although not much of that as we didn't want to need the loo!!! We actually slept quite well down in the cabins, which were all crowded with Sudanese with their kids and the women just stayed in the cabins. The actual passenger list for the boat was 600 people and they were crammed into every nook and cranny. We didn't know until later that two previous ferries had sunk!!!

Finally at about 2 p.m. we docked in Wadi Halfa, Sudan and a guy came on board looking for us to help us with Immigration. He did some preliminary work with our Carnet de Passage for the cars and then we had to have an interview with the Immigration Authorities in the Dining Room, where 3 guys interviewed us individually. Off the boat at last and out into the heat of the afternoon sun. We had booked into the Nile Hotel and all crammed into a Land Rover taxi which took us there. A Sudanese lady on the boat had asked us where we were staying and when we told her she said we would not like it. We asked her why and she said 'this is usual'. We knew it was basic but hadn't expected to sleep in what amounted to dorms with sand floors or on roll out beds in the yard. We slept 6 in one room and 4 in the other in our clothes. There were showers which were cold but actually not too bad but only about 4 toilets for the whole place. There were masses of people staying there from the boat as they were all waiting for the barge to come in with their belongings which, like the cars, would be the next day.

The town itself was really just a waiting place in the desert, and had an end of the world feel about it where life just revolved around one ferry in and one ferry out each week. There were several eating places around a central area which were all full with people eating and watching t.v. We ate beans, omlette and what was supposed to be lamb but was really just bones.

We hung around next morning waiting for the barge and to hear from our Immigration guy that the barge had arrived. We finally found out the barge had arrived at around 4 p.m and the lads went off to get the bikes and cars. However, things did not go smoothly and after much bickering with the officials and not much help from the barge unloaders we never got the vehicles unloaded that day which meant another night, in the same clothes, in the Nile Hotel.

Next morning we were up early having green coloured coffee and donuts for breakfast from a street stall outside the hotel (we think our stomachs are hardened to anything now). The lads (and Renchee the South African girl biker) went off again and again after much arguing with the Immigration guy and barge captain the vehicles were unloaded. The planks of wood from the barge were totally inadequate as a ramp and as Peter drove off the planks plintered with the weight and he had to make a quick exit or he would ahve been in the water!!

Finally we left in a convoy to cross the desert at 1.30 p.m.. The first 17k or so was tarmac on and off but eventually we hit the desert proper and there was no road just tracks in every direction our route for the next 4 days. We managed to cover 65 miles on the first afternoon with great difficulty it was either corrugated road, very very bumpy nearly shaking your teeth out or sand. The cars didn't really have any problems but the bikes struggled and we had a couple of falls that afternoon. We made camp in the desert at 5 p.m., built a fire and had good food that night as we had bought meat and stuff in town. We even had home baked bread again. We had to watch out carefully as we had been warned in town that there was a pack of hyenas out in the desert so had to watch that we didn't stray away from the fire too far!!

We woke up at 7 a.m. and were on the road by 8. We were the back marker and we got split up badly that morning as the Triumph struggled with the sand and we had to keep jumping out and pushing them. We went over one rut much too fast and managed to damage the roof of the truck where the camper bounced on it causing a big dint in the cab roof. Were were driving along the side of the Nile through tiny villages where the locals would all wave as we went through or crown around staring at us if we stopped. They are the most amazing, friendly people. They are very curious and quite shy and just stand back watching but quite a few of them speak English if you speak with them and shake their hand. Curiously they all have really cold hands and skin, their inner thermostat must run on a different temperature than hours as we were all dripping in sweat most of the time, especially the poor bikers with their helmets and gear on as it was often 40 degrees in the afternoons. By 5.30 we had only covered 96 miles and as Renchee had a bad fall we decided to call it a day and make camp where we were all in bed by 8 p.m.

Up at 5.30 on the road at 7 with the first fall in the first half hour and then an hour later the Triumph had a punture. Stuart and Natalie in the Land Rover left us that morning as they had a deadline to be in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. By lunch time we had not made much progress and John and Jeanette left us as they have to be back in the U.K. by 29th January and couldn't afford the time to hang around so that left us and the 3 bikes. 70 miles that day and in camp that night the lads had to do repairs on the Triumph which had suffered some damage to the frame after hitting a rock in a fall. Poor Denise had to sit in the back of the camper in 37 degrees with no windows open otherwise the place would have been covered in sand as was the cab of the truck.

The final day was only 60 miles to Dongola which would bring us back to tarmac but it was a hard day as the ground was mainly sand and Rencees bike kept stalling plus we had to drive through a sand storm. We finally reached the tarmac and what a welcome sight it was and the last few miles into town were a breeze. We made it to Dongola by 4 p.m. and crossed the Nile on a ferry. We couldn't find a campsite as the area was too built up and we would have been the star attraction so we had to ride out of town for a while, eventually camping by the side of a police checkpoint.

We left the bikers the next day as we wanted to take a different route to Khartoum. We had to go back across the Nile on the Ferry only when we got there they wanted some kind of paperwork from us that we didnt have. We ended up at the Immigration Office and Police Station for 1 and a half hours trying to sort it out. We eventually got the paper and crossed the Nile. We had been assured in Wadi Halfa that a 300k stretch of desert road was now tarmaced and off we went for 100k breezing along at 80mph. All of a sudden the road ended and we spent the next couple of hours dodging road works on and off the road they were constructing. We had two ferry crossings that day (luckily no papers required) and camped alone in the desert where we was a scorpion and I was keeping my eyes out for hyenas. Next morning we crossed the Nile again on a ferry with just donkeys and goats and finally arrived in Khartoum some 500k from Dongola having had no shower or change of clothes for 7 days!! It is so dirty and sandy that everything you put on was filthy within an hour or two.

On arriving in Khartoum we managed to get the truck and camper washed as they were covered in sand and mud which was baked on everywhere. It took the guy one and a half hours to clean it. We also found a Nissan Main Agents where we booked the truck in for servie. We were greeted like royalty by the Directors who want to interview us and take pictures for their newsletter.

The Blue Nile Sailing Club in Khartoum is mentioned on many overlanders web sites and we have seen lots of pictures of it. We arrived there about 5 p.m. and the 4 bikers Charles and Renchee and Denise and Clive were already there. We had been told the place was horrible and dirty but to us it was bliss. The showers were cold but heaven after the desert and we had burger and chips from a burger joint!!!

We are now catching up on jobs, doing washing, getting visas and shopping and generally having a rest. One of the bikes is broken so they are trying to fix it. Clive is a bike mechanic so should manage it.

The journey was a fantastic experience and we have now crossed one of the worst roads in Africa. Apart from the damaged roof the only other damage we suffered was all the things in the fridge bounced around and the eggs broke dripping onto the floor which cooked because of the heat in the camper!! We din't know how Ewan McGregor got on but our bikers would have struggled alone as they didn't have much food and carrying enough water was also a problem

Sudan is an amazing place and it has been a truly wonderful experience so far. I hope having watched it on T.V. you can visualise the journey but the hardest part was finding the way as there were hundreds of tracks sometimes defined sometimes not. We have our GPS with us and have been lucky that Charles loaded it with 'Tracks for Africa' which is a detailed route which other overlanders have covered, without which we would have been well and truly lost!!