Yesterday was the big outing: Beejo and I in the desert. It nearly didn’t happen. Disaster struck as Beejo was about to be put into the car and Mr S suddenly noticed it had a flat. I guess quality control wasn’t an issue for the tyres either - they looked fine, so they must be… Luckily we happened to have a friend’s bike upstairs, so we borrowed one of its wheels and off we set.

We arrived about 6.30 so weather had cooled substantially from the afternoon’s relatively cool-for-recently 34.

After the initial hill, things evened out somewhat and all we had to do was follow Mr S. Mr S, being the super cyclist and generally fit guy that he is, was on a bike that urgently needs a gear transplant and still had to keep his speed down in order for Beejo and I to keep up.

The desert at this part, just outside Cairo, consists of soft, orangey, crumbly rock. Beejo discovered that over time this rock has become sandy in places - providing tough cycling for the novice who strays a little off path.

Nevertheless, a great wee adventure, which ended with a view of sunset over Cairo for almost the entire return journey, made all the more enjoyable by being downhill!

After a little R&R and a bit of a clean to remove desert dust, Beejo will be ready for our next outing, hopefully this afternoon.