Dash for the Desert

Trip Start May 29, 2005

Trip End Dec 17, 2005

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Flag of Tunisia Douz, Tunisia
Sunday, November 27, 2005

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22 Nov, Tuesday
Start point: Ain Draham
End point: Teboursouk
Via: Bulla Regia
Odom(Km): 94.81
Moving(hrs.mim): 5.49
Ave(Km/h): 16.3
Total Ascent(m): 941
Max Altitude(m) 763
Max Speed(Km/h): 52.4

I'm sure the views were great this morning, but all I could see was fog. In Ain Draham lots of people were on the street walking to school, work and going about their business. If this volume of people were to drive then the town would be a really unpleasant place - like many European towns and cities. Unfortunately I doubt they are walking by choice.
First stop of the day was the Roman archaeology site of Bulla Regia and the source of a number of mosaics I saw on display in the Tunis Baro museum. What makes this place different from the many other Roman remains I have seen - at that is many - is a number of the buildings are underground and complete. I have never walked into a Roman house with ceiling still intact until now. To escape the heat the clever Romans built villas with a floor underground. These are not basements or storage but living quarters and contained sumptuous decoration, of which parts still remain. They all have a courtyard that lets in light to the rooms, all had mosaics of which some are still in situ. Fragments of the interior decoration remain and the ceilings are quite high. They are not holes in the ground - water features, running water, private baths, dining rooms, courtyards - all complete and intact. It makes a difference from having to guess what the place looked like by walking around foundations - the rooms are actually there and no imagination is required. There is also the assortment of bath house, forum, theatre, agora, and roads with many of the paving blocks untouched.
After a spot of lunch in the sun, which came out as I toured the site, I powered on through ploughed fields to Bou Salem and made it as far climbing to the top of a range of hills called 'Mts de Teboursouk'. All this way I was chased by dark clouds and once I hit the hills they caught up with me. Camped next to a redundant section of the road in the blustery wind and light rain. Keeping an eye on the air pressure, another great function of the GPS - barometer with the pressure at sea level and a 48 hour plot of previous readings taken even when the unit is off. Needless the say it is on a very downward trend at the moment.

Morning mist over Ain Drahaim

Bulla Regia Roman site

Underground house

With mosaics still there

Theatre

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23 Nov, Wednesday
Start point: Teboursouk
End point: Dahmani
Via: Dougga
Odom(Km): 94.87
Moving(hrs.mim): 6.28
Ave(Km/h): 14.7
Total Ascent(m): 869
Max Altitude(m) 605
Max Speed(Km/h): 50.0

Last night was windy. There was not the option of shelter, that would require somthing like trees - which were not part of the landscape here. The tent held up well and I got a reasonable nights sleep.
I was soon at the archaeological site of Dougga and immersed myself in the ruins. Like Bulla Regia this Roman frontier town made most of its wealth from 2-4C AD cultivating corn. The highlights are the Capitol of Dougga with its 10 metre high walls and intact portico - (that's the flat triangular thing that sits on top of the columns) and the theatre. I spent the morning wandering around taking photos and feeling cold. As I left a few coaches arrived along with some threatening rain clouds. The rest of the day was spent pushing south to the desert and away from the wet weather. Landscape has changed to a more barren setting - yes, dusted with green grass now it has rained, but in the summer I can imagine it being quite bare. The shepherds all wear medieval looking brown capes with pointed hoods to keep out the wind and rain. I keep meaning to stop and take a picture but it is difficult to when being chased by rain clouds - and dogs.
Stopped by the police - they are friendly and just interested in where you are going and why. I start volunteering all the information I was asked the last time I was stopped. You have to realise that their working day is pretty dull and some nutter on a bike is a highlight for them. They asked to check your passport , but its just an excuse to be nosey. I tell them about my route, places I've visited, places I am heading to, ask a few questions and soon they are eating out my hands. I even got escorted to the nearest shop to buy some milk.
Having been stopped I didn't fancy camping next to the road so I headed into a farmhouse and asked if I could camp round the back out of sight. No problem. I was invited to sleep in the house and have food - but I declined as light is at a premium and I want to be up early tomorrow. Also there are the complications of where do I sleep, where do I put my stuff, where is the toilet, what do I do as it has no flush, when do I plan for tomorrow, late night, noise.. the list goes on. Its easier for me to camp in the garden but I can't give them the reasons as they don't get what I am doing in the first place!
They did make me a plate of flat bread, chips (cooked in dripping!), egg and a stuffed pepper. I supplemented it with half a baguette and that was sufficient for an evening meal and it saved an hour cooking and eating a mammoth portion of pasta. Route planned and readied for bed.

Incase you forget which country you are in or what the president looks like

Dougga Roman remains

Holding it all together as usual

The communal cr@pper

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24 Nov, Thursday
Start point: Dahmani
End point: Sbeitla
Via: Ruins of Sbeitla
Odom(Km): 98.44
Moving(hrs.mim): 4.55
Ave(Km/h): 20.0
Total Ascent(m): 551
Max Altitude(m) 860
Max Speed(Km/h): 45.4

Wow, was that a cold night... It narrowly topped the ones in Slovakia for chill. Without the stove to keep the tent very toasty indeed when unpacking and getting ready for bed or getting up and packing then I would have given up camping long ago. The only thing I thought after waking up and checking the temperature inside the tent (1 DegC) was I should invest in a pair of woolly socks and fix the hole in the tent near my face where I stabbed the inner tent about a month ago. Another unforeseen difficulty was packing away a tent that is frozen ridged. The poles froze to the tent and once they were free, collapsing them was difficult as again, the joints had bonded together with ice. The rain seems to be over but the starry night are not conducive to a warn nights sleep.
I set off and waved goodbye to the owner of the house I camped next to and picked up a very fierce tail wind that blew me with little effort to Sbeitla. By normal standards I estimated a full day of cycling followed by a night stop and visit of the ruins the following day. Because of the developing north westerly I arrived at the archaeology site just before 13.00 - lucky it blew in the right direction!
Sbeitla is famous for it well preserved Roman temples and had echoes of the capitol at Dougga. The three temples were built around the 2nd centaury side by side. The stone used is native to the surrounding geology and highly prized as it is the closest colour to gold you can get. I toured the site reading plaques, identifying the main sites and hunting photo opportunities. A fine destination of you ignore the fact it was rather too cool for a sunny day. Gloves, jumper and jacket required.
Once finished it was 15.00 and I had a number of things to do before I continued - buy a pair of woolly socks for one. I discovered a back street auberge that was 5TD or 2 pounds for a room for the night. Perfect - I used it as a base, purchased some woolly socks, fixed the tent, phoned home and had a rather pleasant meal in a restaurant near by. One of the staff or owners kept me company and I had fun speaking French - putting into practice my spoken French lessons I had been listening to all morning.

Olive pickers

Roman ruins of Sbeitla

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25 Nov, Friday
Start point: Sbeitla
End point: 16.5Km SW of Gafsa
Via:
Odom(Km): 130.68
Moving(hrs.mim): 8.02
Ave(Km/h): 16.3
Total Ascent(m): 451
Max Altitude(m) 509
Max Speed(Km/h): 36.1

Cycling in Tunisia is great providing you have a thick skin and are good at dodging stones and rocks. Theft and abduction are not even on my list of worries - its boys from the age of 10-17 who do their best to kick you, knock you off the bike by throwing stones or kicking footballs and nearly always shout a torrent of abuse at you. If there are girls or adults around then you are safe, but if you have more than 3 boys on their own then more often than not they will attempt one or more of the above. It all boils down to the fact they and Tunisians in general don't understand why you don't hire a 4x4 and travel that way. Explain to them that the work you do in the UK provides a great mental challenge, but often a physical challenge is needed to complete the picture. Just knowing your capabilities and to be able to say to yourself "I can do that" is the driving force. Indeed, people in Europe actually pay to go to a gym where they lift things that don't need lifting, run on machines that are stationary, cycle on bikes that go nowhere just for the pure as simple fact they are trying to achieve some sort of goal. "But why do that if you get paid for sitting down". No empathy. No understanding. With boys, seeing something like a foreigner on a bike provokes an attack reaction similar to the dogs. Its a good reason to wear the cycle helmet!
It is my conclusion that although the folk endure hard work, hot climate and many other hardships, they would much rather be sitting in an air-conditioned cafe drinking tea and smoking the sheesh all day - and who can blame them.
Today was a day devoted to distance. The terrain has transformed to a drier barren terrain and after Gafsa I was transported to a different place altogether. Red mountains rising up either side in the distance and flat, red earth with clumps of weed underfoot. There is very little else to it than that. The area is dusted in a white deposit, imitating snow or ice - which is the reason the town of Gafsa has grown so big - phosphate mining. Throughout the day a stiff breeze was against me, sapping my energy. My hope is that once I reach Tozeur, I will be carried the 90Km across the salt flats in half a day!
Stopped off at roadside eatery for a snack in the afternoon and asked what kind of meat they had. I soon felt rather stupid as in a pen next to me was a sheep, bleating helplessly. I'll have that one. No shortage of camp spots, due to the shortage of people around and hence nobody to upset.

The road to the desert

My first camel I saw was being filled up with unleaded

This is more like the hot and dry climate I search for

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26 Nov, Saturday
Start point: 16.5Km SW of Gafsa
End point: Tozeur
Via: Tozeur
Odom(Km): 89.21
Moving(hrs.mim): 6.06
Ave(Km/h): 14.6
Total Ascent(m): 528
Max Altitude(m) 216
Max Speed(Km/h): ???

Another icy start to the day. I didn't realise it was so cold until I turned off my tent central heating and started to pack it away - but it was too late, I only had two pairs of socks on and a third woolly pair packed away. Off I set through very featureless landscape until the town of Tozeur. Most of the traffic on the side roads to Tozeur were transporting dates collected from the palmaries for sale in the more northerly towns in Tunisia. I had to buy some so I stopped at a sorting point and handed over 1TD, or 40p - I got 4 kilos of dates - so much the bag couldn't fit into any of my panniers so I bungeed the onto the back for ease of reach. After eating a kilo I though I better stop - and good choice because boy, did they give me the sh!ts. I decided to stop in Tozeur and hired a bungalow for the night on the campsite for 9TD, or about 3 pounds 50p. Now with a base - and a toilet, I set off to visit the medina - or old town centre, and got an impromptu tour of the best sites. Then to the palmary, one of the larger ones in Tunisia to see where the Christmas dates come from. Next a park with a view over some of the palmary from a rock. The wind was still blowing a stiff south westerly which kicked up too much dust to see anything of interest. Then to the museum and then a hunt for food. My favourite by a long way is a chickpea soup / casserole with bread - called lablabi. 1TD or 45p and it makes a meal fit for a cycle tourer.

View from my tent in the morning

My first wild camels

but I was warned - just incase they came leaping out from behing a tree or somthing.

Tozeur, last town before the desert

Guess what is in season??? Dates!

A chance to stock up on local goods

Interesting use of brick

Two kids who pestered me to take their photo - then after doing so they demanded 2 dinar. Luckly I know Arabic for "Go away", which did the trick. Guess which one was the ring leader; its not hard!

Trees laiden with juciy dates

View from the rocks

A dusty sunset

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27 Nov, Sunday
Start point: Tozeur
End point: Douz
Via: Douz
Odom(Km): 134.11
Moving(hrs.mim): 6.55
Ave(Km/h): 19.4
Total Ascent(m): 497
Max Altitude(m) 68
Max Speed(Km/h): 44.1

have been looking forward to today. This is when I cross Chott El-Jerid, a 5000sq km salt lake that has no water for most of the year - only thick crusty layers of salt and flatness as far as the eye can see. You have probably seen it on TV, its the place where Luke Skywaker contemplates the two suns in the film 'Starwars'. The road starts near Tozeur and runs for 70km on a causeway 2 metres high. It was not boring in the slightest. I had my MP3 player, the road to myself and a stiff tail to push me along at a speed of 30km/h with no extra effort. I packed extra water and lunch but the whole thing was over in 2.5 hours. The journey was broken up in three. The first was a photo opportunity in the middle where the salt stretches like ice as far as the eye can see. The second was being passed by a jeep / truck I recognised from the campsite in Tozeur. The Swiss couple stopped further up and we chatted for 15 minutes. The third was another photo opportunity, not by me but a jeep of 4 journalists from Poland. I posed for a few photos and they asked me to cycle slowly past which I was glad to. I asked them to send me the best few. One gentleman in particular was interested in my travels as he himself had done some touring around Lithuania.
Then through dusty villages with little traffic on the through road. There were only a few people going about and the business of transporting the picked dates. Stopped and made another dent in my bag of dates but I limited myself to 50 as after my previous loss of self-control led to loss of bowel control.
Arrived in Douz, toured the town an cycled south to the beginning of the desert. I soon stumbled across the 'stadium' where Michael Palin did his camel racing. Beyond that was desert. No golden sand but I was standing on the last town for some considerable distance.
Met up with the Swiss couple at the campsite and got ready for bed.