Today was the day we moved back North -leaving peaceful Aswan behind. We hopped a cab to the station ready to get the 9:30 train to Luxor. We had had discussions about the train as it was 2nd / 3rd class only and were wondering about its quality. We arrived at the station and went though towards the platform when we were stopped by a policeman who said we could not go on this train. We were then whisked into an office to see the chief - lots of pips on his should...

The day dawned, we were all very sad as the time had come to leave the boat and end our 3 days of luxury. Our last breakfast was taken on deck and we were whisked off. Already they were taking things down on the boat ready to put them into storage - this will be their last cruise for some time.We had a taxi back to Aswan - through a moonscape of quarries and past army stuff guarding the dams. We arrived at our hotel - a bit grotty but it was at least empty and we...

We all had a poor nights sleep - the boat set off at 3:00am as it wants to get to Aswan early I think - then they can release all the staff. Before breakfast we had a stop at 7:00 to see the fortress of Qasr Ibrim (after which the boat is named.) This wasn't that good - just a small set of ruins. We passed another large boat - the only one we had seen on the lake.Breakfast was taken on the covered deck watching the world go by. The scenery is very stark - either ...

We had a leisurely start to the day and decided to take a felucca ride to Scheyl island. Before setting out, we needed to check out a hotel (for next week). There we met 2 other American tourists. They had been to the airport and there were no flights and no trains and had been told road travel is not advisable. Looks like we are here for a while. We found that a felucca trip was off the agenda - no wind so we organised a motor boat and set off to the island. Ju...

We got up early to pack and be ready for a quick departure. We were having breakfast when the hotel manager came up to us and said'I am afraid that you will be staying here a little longer - there have been reports of people getting stopped and robbed on the road to Aswan'. We then had a discussion and agreed with him the best option would probably be to go by train. So gulp down the rest of breakfast, pay the bill and say goodbye to the hotel. We took a taxi to...