Day 76 Tuesday 01/12/09

We left the town early on quiet roads and prepared for a long day of driving east. Our aim was to get past Cairo and on to the Sinai if possible. The roads were quiet and of a better standard than Libya and by late afternoon we were past Cairo (luckily finding the ring road to avoid the city centre).

It was dark by the time we neared Suez and driving was very difficult. In desperation we pulled onto the front of a roadside cafe and asked if we could camp there for the night. The staff were very friendly and helpful and we found out it was their opening night. We had some coffee and a meal and were then shown a loft space (above the Gents toilets) and told we could sleep there for the night.

At 11pm, when it looked like all the customers had gone, we retired to our unusual bedroom. The cafe stayed open all night and thanks to the constant sound of the TV, a squadron of mosiquitos and the lights on all the time, we all got very little sleep!