The Sun and the Moon

There is no doubt that our lives have become pretty basic, centred around food, sleep and cycling. This has been matched by the simplicity of our daily routine becoming based around the comings and goings of the sun. This necessity is compounded by the fact that we often camp in the middle of nowhere with no electricity.

A rider sets out at dawn

Whilst the hours of daylight change slightly as we head south, generally it has been getting light at around 6.30am and dark at around 7pm. This means that we eat breakfast at around 6.45am and set off riding straight after. Depending on the quality of the road and the length of the days riding, we tend to get to lunch between 9.30am and 11.30am, arriving at camp between 12.30pm and 3.30pm with dinner at 5.15pm. Whilst at first these times sounded shocking, we have adjusted to this new routine and generally find ourselves looking at our watches less and less, knowing the times of day by the urgency of our hunger! We don’t miss the call to prayer which woke us up throughout Egypt and Sudan, but it seems to be being steadily replaced by cockerels and other contributors to the dawn chorus.

We only cycle during the hours of daylight, so we are always keen to get moving early in the morning, enjoying the ride while the air is cooler and the sun is getting into its stride. On long days, the lowering of the sun in the sky acts as an incentive to pedal faster, lest it fall dark, we get picked up by the crew and our day’s ride is curtailed.

Sunset

Once the sun sets, people tend to slink off to their tents as without electricity there is little to do but talk, and the day’s exertion leaves our capacity to do this severely dented! Although if you’re feeling up to it there is often an amicable debate involving an American going on somewhere around camp. It is noticeable how on rest days, when we have power, we can quickly revert to the ingrained routines and timings of our normal lives (not least because the wi-fi works better late at night when everyone else has gone to bed).

One of the highlights of camping in the middle of nowhere is the night sky. The moon, especially when full, has been fantastically bright - we’ve had the pleasure of seeing it rise, big and yellow on the horizon on a couple of occasions. We often leave the flysheet off our tent and it can appear as if someone is standing above us with a head-torch looking in it is so bright (Tessa did actually ask the moon one night who it was and what it wanted!). And the number of stars we can see is breath-taking. Often by the time we get up in the morning, the moon has set and the first few minutes of our routine, taking down the tent etc., are done in the pitch black, before the light from the sun starts to filter through and another day begins. 

A bright night under the stars