Start at MEDENIN End at BEN GUERDENE
Day dist: 89.00 kms
Riding time: 3:18
Avg speed: 22.2
Max speed: 43.2
Beg day odo: 582.2 kms
End day odo: 671.40 kms
I got up late and lazy. I only had to do something in the neighborhood of 78 kms today. There was no reason to rush. I worked on the netbook, mostly on arranging pictures and preparing the log. At 10:00, I went down for breakfast and then back to my room to pack up. It was the first time so far that I had left the bike downstairs, so, carrying my stuff down was not an issue. I did that and then started wifying. I probably did not mention but one could only wify from the lobby. I wified for more than an hour and after exchanging some conversation w/ the receptionist, whose name was Hafsa, I loaded the stuff on faithful Spithas and hit the road.
The hotel
Medenine
Exiting Medenine
The road was flat and straight and I was able to speed w/o much effort all the time using a high (small) gear. I have no explanation for some things that happen repeatedly during my biking. On other occasions I have to struggle just to bike on a slight downhill. Today the road was flat and at times slightly uphill(I started at sea level and ended up in the mountains,) but the effort was minimal and the speed high. It could have been that there was no wind, for or against, but still this explanation is weak and doesn’t quite cut it. Question to the physicists out there: could it be different gravitational fields?
Refueling stations on the highway
When you roll like that you are happy and you do not care to take breaks so I did not stop for a long time.
The never ending road
One more photo with my new face
The never ending road
The only incident was that when I saw a cop on the highway who was there to stop and control cars, I stopped myself and asked him questions regarding transportation from Ben Guerdene to Tunis. The info I got was encouraging. It appeared that I would be able to get a bus ride out of Ben Guerdene to Tunis that same night. This would save a day of waiting.
The next thing of note was a pack of camels in the arid/desert land next to the highway.
Finally, 12 kms (according to the mile stones) before Ben Guerdene, I took my first stop, having decided it was time to for lunch. It was 17:30
The never ending road
Finally I entered the Ben Guerdene district
and the town itself
It was a rundown place, nothing important, almost a frontier’s town. It was definitely not worth spending the night there. At this point I must make a comment. People in this town and generally people from the Southern part of Tunisia seem to be different people from the northern part. Their facial features are different, they are definitively of shorter stature and of darker complexion. In addition they are visibly more provincial. Their manners do not recommend them. Lastly, this may be just me, the Arabic they speak, sounds to me harsher.
I entered the town at around 16:30 and literally took me one hour to locate the bus depot (gare routiere.) When I found it, it was one mile from the center. People in that town hardly speak any French and did not seem to be able to give any simple directions, including the police. I stopped five times at a police station that was on the way to ask the cops that were outside where the bus to Tunis stopped and got conflicting info each time. Something that should have taken 10 mins, literally took one hour.
Once at the depot the people were very polite and helpful. The issue was Spithas as the luggage compartment was fully taken. The employee at the ticket window had to go to the head of the station who said that I would have to travel tomorrow. Even when I offered to pay extra they said that the issue is space and money. Finally I just stepped into the headmaster’s office myself and told him that I could take Spithas apart and place him on top of the other luggage. The ticket employ rooted for me and Spithas carried the day. The ticket was 28 Dinars for me and 10 Dinars for Spithas, a total of 38 Dinars (€21,) pretty cheap for such a long ride.
I biked back to town to take a better peek and wandered around for about one hour I got something to eat and then biked back to the depot, which I had a hard time finding again.
In the hour and a half that remained I worked a bit on the computer and then had to see how Spithas would be loaded on the bus. I gave a generous tip to the man and he moved most of the stuff from one side of the under the bus trunk to the other to make room for Spithas. I only had to take the front wheel off and the rest fell in place. Thinking that the seats were numbered I waited outside but then it occurred to me as a good idea to install myself in my seat and then come out again. Thank God I had that idea, otherwise I would have ridden the entire trip standing. The bus reminded me of Greek busses in the sixties and early seventies. Not the best environment, and in particular the behavior of the passengers. But who cares? I was asleep for most of the ride and when the guy behind me asked me to raise the back of my seat I refused pointing at all the other seats that had not done so.
We arrived at Tunis central bus station at around 5:00.
CARTAGO DELENDA EST
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