22nd day Khartoum Sudan - 12 days no beer

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Second rest day in Khartoum, not much to do really, did a bit around town yesterday, got on a boat and sailed to the point where the White Nile meets and mixes with the Blue Nile.

The harsh environment that we have been traveling through is starting to take its toll on bits of equipment, zips are getting stuck, everything is covered and impregnated with sand and dust, my video camera has packed up, i went to buy a replacement, but they cant except my card, and i cant draw cash from the bank, so will have to make do with my still camera.

Coolst Bike!

On the other hand the boys at Bike lab will be pleased to hear that the bike has been performing fine, with no problems, i have only had 1 flat tire, and that was on the first day. We had been riding for a week before i realized the young Josh had the same "trick" bars as me. Yesterday i was payed a complement by the lads in the film crew, when they said they thought i had the "coolest bike", and these guys know a thing or two about being cool!

They have been with us right from the start, and made quite an impression, they are very "arty" they are Benny, on camera, his brother Christian on sound, at 18 our youngest member, and Brian, who seems to fill the role of director and stills photographer, and with his laid back drawl, straw trilby and horn rimed glasses, looks like a young Andy Warhol.

They have been employed by Henry Gold, the owner of TDA, to make a film of the tour, and were due to have had their own pickup truck, but it was rolled on its way up from Cape Town, so the have had to do with out it. they have in its place one of the bikes rigged with what looks like a skateboard fixed to a frame on the back, and at times we see Christian cycling with Ben sat on the back filming us. Ben is every where, you never know when he is going to come steaming past, like an express train, keep going until he's just a dusty dot in the distance, then drops the bike and positions himself for a shot of us sweating past, either by standing right in the middle of the road, or hanging from a branch of a handy tree, for that perfect angle. But they are still part of our roaming community, and are good lads, especially as they rate my bike!