Anyone who needs more than one suitcase is a tourist, not a traveler. - Ira Levin

1 March 2020, Gare du Nord to Chami, 13.1km
Hotel d’Or UM1,200 (R480)

Not a very productive day… AND Charl had a flat…
It was chilly when we awoke, and very windy. We dressed and packed and got on the road intending to shop in Chami, just 10km away, for fuel for our Trangia stove and a couple of cans to eat with spaghetti just in case we cannot make it to beds and restaurants on this, the last leg to the border.
Today the wind was strong enough to lift sand, gusting it in sheets across the road, filling our ears and mouths and noses and eyes with it. Not even our wrap-around sunglasses can protect our eyes. Sand fills the air, turning the whole world creamy pale. Sand obscures objects, populating the world with uncertain images, with mirages.
Passing trucks, travelling in either direction, have their own weather pattern; they create wind. When they do so in a real wind, they create hazardous conditions for cyclists. When a strong wind is blowing from the side, in this case from the east, you have to lean into it slightly to stop it blowing you into the road and potentially into traffic approaching from behind. In a strong wind, you cannot hear traffic approaching from behind, so you have to assume always that it is doing so. This makes riding against the wind doubly tiring, not just physically, but mentally. When a truck passes you, you suddenly feel as though you have been yanked into a vortex, into a whirling dryer, in the desert accompanied by a pail of sand. Lots of buffeting, lots of dangerous wobbling about. Stay alert, arrive alive!
When we reached Chami, it is not entirely surprising we decided to call it quits. We were not tired after just 10km or so; we were miserable. Sandblasted and miserable.
Our hotel is not a budget option, but has aircon and hot water and a sit-down western style loo. These things qualify it as decent. I’m not sure what the small cockroaches under my pillow qualify it as…
We lunched on bread and butter and honey, the bread lying open and much-handled as it always is in Africa, and have ordered meat tagines for dinner at our hotel restaurant. The restaurant is unattractive, though the chef is not - hope his food matches his charming personality and smile. Along one wall of the restaurant are partially enclosed cubicles, carpeted and with thin mattresses on the floor. Outside each, one or two pairs of shoes of those taking a nap inside…

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…