No matter how hard I try not to, I obviously have preconceptions about the places I’m passing through based on things that I’ve heard: e.g. Istanbul is a massive busy city where cycling is to be avoided at all costs and Serbia is fairly broken. In most cases, my opinion changes within no time at all.

Edirne, the first city I stayed in in Turkey, is a perfect example. Well, not exactly, because I had no idea at all about what to expect; all I knew was that it was the first settlement you get to in the west of Turkey, and assumed it would be about as exciting as that description makes it sound. Upon arrival, it was immediately clear that that wasn’t the case, as it had a fantastic lively centre with some beautiful architecture. Sometimes, however, the change is not so positive.

Today I’ve spent the whole day in Dahab, due to the fact that I need to catch a boat from Sharm-al-Sheik, it’s an expensive place to stay, and the next one is five o’clock tomorrow afternoon. So, I’ll leave in the morning to ensure I arrive in time. Upon my first approach to Dahab yesterday, I thought I had an idea what to expect; having had a quick look on the Internet, it was described as a “backpacking mecca” and all kinds of weird and wonderful things, cultivating an idea of a bohemian mixture of shacks and beach huts.

It turns out that it is anything but, and I initially put that down as a reason not to recommend visiting it. That has now all changed.

Everywhere I go, it doesn’t matter at all where I am, it only matters what people I stumble across. And, here in Dahab, I’ve met a fantastic group of people who have thoroughly looked after me, even with the guys from Mirage Divers (I think that’s what it was; either that or Mirage Diving) taking me on a little SCUBA dive into the Red Sea today, which was nice. Completely by chance, I picked the Dolphin Camp to stay in and it was from here that everyone kept on appearing, as I was plied with wine and salami followed by steak by the Newcastle United-supporting manager.

I’ve no idea where I’m going with this, I’m afraid. Doing nothing today – well, other than the dive – has left me completely shattered and my head is all over the place. Essentially, DO come to Dahab, but don’t if you’re after a week of “doing absolutely nothing”, as the guidebooks all seem to suggest it is ideal for. If you want to come and do a bit of diving and enjoy a lively atmosphere by the sea, it’s a great place to go. If you want to do nothing, you’re better off in Tarabin, just north of Nuweiba where I was the other day.

Who’d have thought I’d start giving out travel advice during the trip?

Next chapter: “Is Sudan a good place to go for a honeymoon?”

Well, you never know!

For this part of the trip, I’m having to play a rather canny tactical game in order to avoid being stuck in both rubbish and expensive places. A handy side-effect is that I’m getting to take a couple of days off. If all goes to plan, it’ll be great. If not … well.

Trying to find accurate information about travel around Egypt is difficult. Actually, that’s not quite true; it’s near on impossible. Rather unusually, for the next week or so, I have two bits of public transport to catch, and I hope they go to plan.

Having spent yesterday relaxing just north of Nuweiba, I set off this morning with two possibilities: get to Sharm-al-Sheikh – a journey of 175km – by four o’clock, or just get to a point somewhere in between. Two factors led to me choosing the latter: not quite responding to my alarm clock when it went off, and the initial climb; well, it was probably more the waking up, but the climb merely confirmed that it was the right decision

I actually wasn’t that lazy – I was on my bike comfortably before nine o’clock – but that made it very tight to get to Sharm in time. After an initially comfortable three-mile ride along flat roads, I was confronted by a bit of incline. After every turn, there was a bit more of a hill. Then a little bit more. Then a little bit more again. This went on and on until I’d covered over ten miles, going further and further up a hill while appearing to get no closer to the top. It took me over two hours until I reached the summit.

From there, however, it was fantastic. Pretty much downhill all the way, and in the next two hours I covered about 35 miles, taking me all the way to Dahab; not quite enough to get me to Sharm on time, but plenty to give me a relaxing afternoon by the sea. I didn’t quite appreciate how relaxing it would be at the time.

Normally, when I arrive somewhere, I search for the cheapest place that looks vaguely habitable to stay in. That is if I’m not staying in my tent. In Dahab, I took the same approach, and ended up in Dolphin Camp. After settling myself in and going for a wander up and down the promenade, I spotted the Internet sign in the camp and took myself to the office to get the necessary password. I didn’t return until about 10 minutes ago, many hours later.

From there, I was provided with beer, wine, conversation, offers of free accommodation (always gratefully received!), an offer of a free dive and many hours of relaxed enjoyment, culminating in the most perfect meal of steak and potato wedges I’ve had in a long time. Why could I allow myself to indulge in such an evening of decadence? Well, I’m having a day off tomorrow again, but for very good reason.

After a bit of investigation, it turns out the ferry I need to catch from Sharm to Hurghada doesn’t leave on a Sunday, meaning there would be no point arriving tomorrow, especially as accommodation in Sharm is very expensive. So, rather than spend a day wasting money in an expensive resort town, I’ll waste it here instead before heading to Sharm early on Monday morning to catch the ferry that afternoon.

If all goes to plan, that’ll give me a couple of days and a bit to reach Aswan, where I can get my visa for Sudan and catch the ferry to Wadi Halfa – the only way to enter Sudan from Egypt. I think that the ferry leaves on Saturday, but it may leave on Monday – exact details are hard to find – but, either way, as long as I arrive on Thursday morning it should be all under control.

You may notice that there are a number of “should”s in this blog. As someone pointed out to me the other night, that’s generally the way I work. Nothing is definite until it happens. Then I know if it comes together or not.

This time I really hope it does!

I think that today would qualify as the laziest day I’ve had in a very long time. While I’m not actually a fan of doing nothing at all, you’d never have guessed it from my level of activity over the past 24 hours!

Days off are vital during this trip, not so much for my physical wellbeing but more for that of my mind. Well, what’s left of it anyway. I decided that I’d take one in Egypt, one in Khartoum, one in Addis Ababa and then whatever others are forced upon me by visa delays. The Egypt one came today.

Unfortunately, I’m now a little bit concerned about any impact it may have on my travel over the next week. During my passage across this country, I’m going to be taking two ferries: one is the only way to get from Egypt to Sudan, by crossing Lake Nasser; the other is a ferry from Sharm-al-Sheikh to Hurghada (cutting off a little corner – it perhaps could be described as a mild cheat, but I’m allowed one, aren’t I?!). Finding out accurate travel information about them has proved near on impossible.

Having trawled the Internet, there’s a chance that the ferry from Sharm may not leave on a Sunday at all, which would probably be the day I arrive there. That is unless I put in a huge 175km day tomorrow to arrive by five o’clock in the afternoon. I’m yet to decide if that’s viable or not. But that would only cause a 24-hour delay. The next would potentially be a bit longer.

There are no land border crossings between Egypt and Sudan, meaning the only way to cross (other than by air) is to catch the ferry from Aswan to Wadi Halfa, a boat that leaves just once a week. Perhaps it leaves on a Monday, perhaps it leaves on a Saturday; at the moment, I’m really not sure. Before I can get on it, I also have to sort out my visa for Sudan, a process that can take anything between 90 minutes and two days (or never).

That means that I really have to arrive in Aswan by Thursday morning at the absolute latest, or I could be faced with a whole week of delays, sitting around at the bottom of Egypt waiting for the boat to return. I’d rather avoid that, to be honest.

In the morning, therefore, I’ll have a decision to make: ride like a lunatic through ridiculous heat and over fairly hilly terrain, or take things gently and hope that my onward plans are not affected. Which one I go for will probably depend on my reaction to the alarm clock. Based on past experiences, I don’t have the swiftest response.

I am, after all, an intrinsically lazy person. So, we shall see.

(Sorry for a lack of pictures - I was too busy doing nothing at all. It’s very tiring, you know?)

I’ve reached Africa!!

Well, sort of, I suppose. I’m currently in Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula; does that really count as Africa properly? And, in a massive shock, I seem to not be making a mistake I usually make over and over again: I’m stopping somewhere that’s really nice.

However, just to balance that out, I’m also making slight plans in my head, which I know from my experience is bordering on suicidal. From here, I have two days’ cycling to Sharm-al-Sheikh, from where I shall jump on a little boat over to Hurghada. Then I will have three days’ cycling to Aswan, at the top of Lake Nasser where I need to sort out a Sudanese visa and catch the once-weekly ferry into Sudan.

After that, my planning is a little vague, but gives me a day off in Khartoum and a day off in Addis Ababa. That, in my head, is it. Possibly foolish, but I’ll wait and see how it works out. So, with that in mind, I’m taking my “Egypt” day off here, on my first night in the country. And I couldn’t have picked a better spot.

Yesterday, however, was not all to plan. I was all set to catch the daily “fast” ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba (in order to avoid Israel), and was prepared, although not entirely happy, to get ripped off for the full $70 fare. But, on arrival at the port, it turned out that they don’t see fit to provide an ATM or visa facilities in order to probably take advantage of the opportunity to steal all your money.

So, I had to endure a 10-mile round-trip simply to get some cash for an over-priced boat trip. Not the ideal start! After having sat in the dock for a good hour or so beyond the departure time (although, having said that, I’m not entirely sure what that is; I’ve seen 12.00, 13.00 and 14.00 all mentioned), we got underway and crossed the Red Sea towards Egypt.

The same situation was in place at the other end, as we seemingly just sat around for the best part of an hour before eventually being let off the boat, after which I searched around all of the buildings in the compound to try and find the place to get my visa, money and passport back. Everyone directed me to a different place!

But the end was worthwhile. I’m now writing this on the edge of a little camp, with fantastic food and lovely people, and the Red Sea lapping away about 20 feet from me. Do you really blame me for taking a day off?

It was also slightly motivated by the look of the hills from here to Sharm. The Sinai Peninsula is anything but flat!

Finding the time to write the blog while I was doing my row across the Atlantic was easy; it always is when the alternative is much harder work! It was a great excuse to sit back in my cabin and not touch the oars for an hour. On this trip, it’s proving much more difficult.

It’s not as though I have marvellous alternatives for entertainment most of the time. When I’m camping in the middle of nowhere, I have absolutely nothing to do except sweat. But, once I’ve stopped and put up my tent, there’s no way I’m getting back on my bike for the day, so I don’t feel guilty about sitting around doing nothing. Before I know it, the sun has gone down and it’s a struggle to do anything.

I also have to try and find that exact time where I’m in the perfect mood, which is easier said than done. Too tired, and I can’t motivate myself to tap the keys. Too awake and my mind is all over the place. Too hot and I’m more interested in passing out. Too cold … well, I don’t expect that to be a problem from here on in!

It’s astonishing how much the heat sticks around into the night. The last few days weren’t that hot as I was up at a fairly decent altitude going across Jordan, although it’s all relative. Now I’m down by the coast, and will stay at fairly low altitude all the way to Ethiopia, it’ll be blistering all the way. But you would have thought that, once the sun goes down, the temperature would drop to a more comfortable temperature.

Only it doesn’t.

Whenever I put myself to bed in my tent, the first thing I do is start sweating, and that continues for hours. It’s still boiling hot right into the middle of the night but, by the time I wake up in the morning, it seems to have cooled down nicely. Which is why, for yesterday/today’s blog, I’m having a go at writing it in the morning (nothing at all to do with the fact that I was tired and had a comfy sofa to sit in last night).

Somehow, even after sunrise, it stays cool several hours into the day. Which means that, if I’m sensible, I’ll start getting up really early and making the most of those early hours. I’m desperately searching for a reason why that’s a bad idea, but I’m yet to stumble across one.

Today, if all goes to plan, I’ll be catching a ferry across from Jordan to Egypt. This is one of my necessary deviations from cycling, as I have to avoid Israel for Sudanese visa reasons. They know there’s a captive market though: it’ll cost me over $70 for a 1-hour trip!

From there, astonishingly, it’ll only be about five days’ cycling until I reach Aswan, from where I will have to take another ferry to take me across the border into Sudan. That means that by tonight I’ll be in Africa, but before I know it I’ll be in proper Africa. It’s a mildly terrifying thought.

In the meantime, I’ll fill the several hours until my ferry departs Aqaba by enjoying the fresh breeze, comfortable seat and supply of tea, in blissful ignorance of the sweat and tears that will fill the next two months of my life.

I am kind of excited about it though!