213miles/343km
Due to the speed bumps and police checkpoints, we were travelling on average at only 30mph/50kph, but we knew we would reach Luxor by nightfall. By now in the journey we were both becoming extremely capable of overtaking, which is commendable considering that in that having a right hand drive and driving on the right makes overtaking large vehicles very difficult as you can’t see past them without pulling out completely, and the blind spot to the left is very exposed.
At one stage on a single carriage road, we were overtaking a Tuk-tuk, which was overtaking a donkey and cart, whilst on the other side of the road, a minibus was overtaking a lorry. The number of near misses had extended past the digits of both hands, but the only accident we witnessed was a motorcycle crashing into a man riding a donkey.
We arrived in Luxor, found a hostel and once again chilled out for the night taking advantage of the happy hour on the roof terrace knowing we only had a few more days before we entered Sudan, a country where alcohol is forbidden.
Day 36
190miles/306km
We spent the morning touring the impressive Temple complex at Karnak, before heading over to the west bank of the Nile to see the rather unimpressive Colossi of Memnon.
We had read that travelling between Luxor and Aswan as a foreigner was only permissible when in convoy with the police due to terrorist attacks in the past targeting western tourists. It appeared though that this ridiculous system has been stopped, and we passed through each police checkpoint with no problem, at each one expecting to get stopped and escorted along the road.
On arrival in Aswan we tried to find somewhere to camp to no avail, but we did manage to get a game of football on the go with some local kids in the village where we were looking for the camping ground. Final score: Team Nathan 4-4 Team David.
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