Monday, 03 January, 2011 --- Day 03

ET PRAETERAE CENCEO CARTAGO DELENDA EST

Stats
Start at TUNIS End at SOUSSE
Day dist: 143.51 kms
Riding time: 6:38
Avg speed: 21.6 kms
Max speed: 40.5 kms
Beg day odo: 15.7 kms
End day odo: 159.3 kms

Was up by 8:00 went downstairs for breakfast and then played on the internet. As you very well know, having access to wifi is a temptation. After that I tidied up my stuff in the panniers, left a few things I wouldn’t need at the hotel for safekeeping, and hit the road. It was 10:30.

I had printed internet instructions on how to drive to Sousse but as I realized, these instructions were meant for a car and were using the highway, which I couldn’t and shouldn’t take. I soon found out that what I needed was GP1 the old highway that was almost running parallel to P1, the official highway. That would mean extra miles, but this is what I’m here for. Besides GP1 goes through towns and I would have access to whatever I needed.

Locating GP1 was not that difficult. My first new intermediate destination would be Hamam Lif.

On GP1, exiting Tunis


The road out was not pleasant at all, w/ some exceptions, of course.


As you may have noticed on the picture above, the clouds are heavy. I was running a constant risk of being soaked to the bone as there were no places to take cover.

One cannot deny that some people around here are artistic.


At 17.5 kms, I arrived at Hamam Lif and drove through town


I started feeling raindrops falling on my helmet. I made a quick decision. I would ride on and hope that it would not rain, if it did, then I would decide how to deal w/ it when it came. As it turned out, my good luck was that the rain was ahead of me and moving faster than I was riding and I could not catch up w/ it. That was the case through out the day. There are advantages to driving a bike and not a motorcycle.

I went through another town, Gombalia, and rode on. After Grombalia I stopped to refresh myself w/ tangerines.


The seller quoted a price and then when I gave him money, he returned a little less (the equivalent of 50 cents.) I did not make an issue, took the tangerines and started eating them on the side. It appears that the tangerine seller felt bad for what he had done so that he approached me as I was peeling the tangerines and offered me a big orange saying that this was a gift. I thanked him and put it away, to eat it later.

Finally I arrived at Bir Bourekha, my first intermediate destination


where I stopped for lunch at the exact spot you see above. I had covered 60 kms already and the question raised was: should I consider this to be enough for the first day of biking after 4 months and call it quits, or forge ahead? If I did continue, the next stop would have to be Sousse. I proceeded into town and asked at a gas station how far Sousse was and was told that it was 60 kms away. It was still before 15:00 and the die was cast. I would continue.

The never ending road


Sheep on the side of GP1


I kept biking but on the side of the road I noticed the milestones indicating different distance than what I had in mind. I ignored them in my mind and decided that people know better than inanimate things. After, however, I had ridden 20 kms and was crossing a small town I stopped and asked the authorities, that is, a policeman, who told me that Sousse was 65 km away. Unfortunately, this quotation was in agreement w/ what the milestones indicated. The cop went on to welcome me to Tunisia and exhorted me to be careful of the drivers on GP1 that can be craze at times. He was a very polite man. I rode on.

The never ending road


I rode on, but as I had started feeling tired I took frequent stops. In one of those stops I just lied against a tree trunk. As I was resting a car stopped and the driver addressed me in Italian. Even after I told him I was not Italian he went on in Italian. Fortunately my Italian was enough to understand what he was saying. Apparently he had lived in Italy for a number of years. He told me that he bikes himself and asked me if everything was OK. I assured him that I was fine. He insisted saying that if I needed water or food he could provide. I thanked him and told him that I had everything I needed. After wishing me good luck, he repeated what the policeman had advised me, that is, to be careful of the drivers, said goodbye and left.

I rode on. As the night was falling I felt reinvigorated and rode faster. Probably the fact that the slight uphill had turned into slight downhill contributed to that change of mood. About 18 kms before Sousse I got off Spithas and looked for the torch I had and the blinking lights. I readily installed both, who, hopefully, made me visible to the other drivers, and rode on.

Finally I arrived at Sousse at approximately 19:00. As I had seen no signs indicating that I had entered the city, when it seemed that I was in a big town which had to be Sousse, I asked a passer by and he confirmed that I was at Sousse. I started looking for the town center and a hotel. I ended up asking a guy, whose name was Mohamed, who drew the directions on the sand that was on the floor, but since it was still difficult to understand he walked me in the direction of the center. He also offered to put me up for the night. I politely declined. When we arrived at point where he could clearly instruct me how to proceed, he pointed the direction and said I would have to ride for about 2 kms and I would be at a strip full of hotels. I thanked him and rode on. I lodged at “Hotel des Palmiers,” literally the first hotel I encountered.

After I paid at the reception I started carrying Spithas to my room. I was halfway on the staircase when the receptionist caught up w/ me and started sticking his hands into the panniers. I asked him “what do you thing you are doing.” “I must do that” he said, “I must make sure that there is no bomb in the pannier.” I told him that he must be out of his mind. Finally I opened the panniers myself and let him take a look.

After settling in the room and taking a shower, I went out, had a hamburger and a chocolate and then returned to my room. I was deadbeat. I went to bed and was sound asleep w/in minutes.