Although I hadn’t asked for a wake up call, mr Gamal took it upon himself to give me a call at 07.00 as I had told him the evening before I wanted an early start. I haven’t used an alarm clock for years, and always wake up 5 minutes before the time - almost to the second, so I was ready to go to the rooftop restaurant for breakfast, when he called.

A bit later the bike was packed and ready, and all that was left was paying my bill. Mr. Gamal tried to persuade me to stay one more night, which I would have loved to, but I needed to get on with my trip. I have a little something for you, he then said, and pulled out a beautiful mask of Tutankhamun, which he handed me. What a gesture - I will really miss that lovely and gracious hotel manager at the Hayat.

”Get your motor runnin’ - Head out on the highway - Lookin’ for adventure - And whatever comes our way  - Lyrics from the the song to the movie Born to be wild ! (I love it!).

Well, adventurous the day certainly turned out to be. I started my trip from Giza south towards Luxor, on a minor road running along the eastern side of the Nile. I quickly found out that progress along this road would be very slow. The Egyptian authorities have already long ago stopped putting up signs with speed limits. They have done something much more effective. For every 300-800 meters they have put down some serious speed bumps, which forces you to slow down completely and carefully pass the bump. Over a stretch of 50 km you would pass hundreds of bumps - annoying, exhausting, hard on man and machine and getting you nowhere. I decided to move over to the western side of the Nile, and take the Western Desert Road. 

The Nile sure is impressive. On the one side of the river only a kilometer or so away you have nothing but desert. Move a bit closer to the river, and everything is lush and green, with farmers tending their fields. Countless canals have been dug from the river, and irrigated vast tracts of land for farming. It’s hard to imagine the importance of this river, which I will still be following for hundreds of kilometers into Sudan. There is also huge pollution in many places. On the drive along the river I passed a dead cow laying next to the river, and a bit later a dog tearing into a dead goat. Death on the Nile!

Moving on to the desert road it didn’t take long before I was stopped at a police checkpoint. Passport check and I could move on. Only about 20 km later I was stopped again. This time I was asked to park the bike, and join them in their office. They got my passport, started phoning and checking their computers. This went on for almost an hour, when they finally gave permission for me to move on, but only under police escort. They asked me where I was going, and told me to follow their car with four armed guys in the back, and two in the front. We drove for 50 km and got to a point where another police vehicle took over. After a couple of hundred kilometers like that we  were very close to the city Sogah, where I wanted to stay. The last 10 km I followed a high ranking officer in his patrol car, with lights flashing and sirens blaring when he wanted the traffic to move out of his way. I was led to a hotel that they had chosen, and asked when I wanted to leave the hotel in the morning, and where I was going. The police arrived about 15 minutes before I had told them I was leaving, and we started the trip towards Luxor in the same way as the day before. Because of the waiting time at some of the checkpoints where a new crew took over, the 250 km journey to Luxor took almost 10 hours, instead of 3.

Hardly any of the police officers speak any English, and I couldn’t get a proper answer as to what was going on. All they said was: The situation in Egypt is very safe, and we just want you to enjoy your stay and be happy. I have since checked the internet, and found that there are others who have experienced the same. Apparently the Egyptians are a bit paranoid about the safety of tourists, and don’t take any chances. Rather safe than sorry, and that is just fine with me! I must have been in contact with at least a hundred officers in the last two days, and without exception, they have all been friendly and helpful, frequently offering me tea and water, or even food. Wanting to know everything about the bike, what it cost, how fast it goes, how old I am, and have I really driven it all the way from Denmark.

Tomorrow I will be using public transport to see the sights at Luxor - Valley of the Kings, Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple, so at least no police presence that day.

Sunday I will continue towards Aswan and Sudan, when we will see if I am still worth escorting.