Reporting from Cairo at the end of Day Ten

Day Ten turned out to be one of those days that will remain in most crews memories for many a year. It's a fact that when everything is easy and days pass without a challenge the memory fades but when there is a problem to overcome that's a little out of the ordinary we'll relive the tale again and again. Today was one of those days..... And, the Nile Trial reached Cairo, the Nile and the Pyramids.

Our run from Marsa Matruh to Cairo was a little under 500 kms. There was a mid distance relaxed lunch halt at a very modern and exclusive marina resort. Either side of lunch two test sections where on the agenda.

The first test section of the day was over a hard baked dirt track that had changed a little since our route survey was carried out some time ago. The crews had a series of pre-loaded GPS waypoints to follow and with a couple of slight route instruction amendments given to the crews as they arrived at the start this test would best be tackled as a slowish technical exercise in GPS navigation.

Best suited to the slightly bumpy conditions was the modern Nissan Pathfinder of Roger Allen and Maggie Gray who covered the test twenty seconds quicker than the Volvo of Romao and Maria de Sousa. In an uncharacteristic fifth place on the test the Broderick's Nissan arrived at the finish along a tarmac road from the opposite direction to the normal route losing a minute to the first placed car.

In the short run from the test finish to the marina lunch halt we turned a little off the main road for a passage check and time out to visit the Alamein museum. There are many relics from WWII on display. Tanks, guns and other military hardware including the rather beaten up remains of British fighter plane are arranged outside the museum buildings. Inside a series of rooms are divided according to nationality. The displays provide an excellent and terrible idea of the vast scale of the wartime campaigns across North Africa.

After lunch came a short little test that had rather ominously been given the name Sandy Road on account of the generally sandy nature of the area. It wasn't a difficult test to navigate but there was a short 200 metre section that would test the endurance of many crews. It's not clear who was the first to get stuck. What is clear is that several following crews did not react quickly enough to the sight of stranded cars ahead in time to stop on firmer ground before becoming stuck themselves. A few crews managed to push and shove their cars through the soft patches but several had to wait to be pulled out. The good news for those involved was that on such a short section the test maximum penalty was only 10 minutes so the affect on their overall score will not be as severe as it might have been.

Mindful of the fact that he is running in modern 4x4 vehicle, Roger Allen said…. "I don't expect much sympathy, but from the test start I had the Nissan in four-wheel-drive and a few metres in the car died and would only limp along". It seems likely that something in the Nissan's computer brain put the car in limp mode.

Another car to suffer on the Sandy Road was the mighty Itala of David and Karen Ayre. We haven't caught up with the exact cause but the Itala has a bent front axle and a broken wheel. The car arrived very late at the hotel on the back of a flat bed truck that had itself become stuck in the sand. David is confident that he can fix the problems during our day off here in Cairo.

It's sad to report that another car to reach Cairo on a flat bed was the Vauxhall that finally cried enough. Geoffrey Cook had been driving the car with great care but it seems likely that the series of vicious speed bumps on the approach to many junctions proved too much shock to the already weakened transmission.

A couple of cars with less serious problems are the Duster / Agger Lotus Cortina with a broken engine mount and the Robinson / Freeman Morris 1800 with gear selector problems. Our day off is going to be a busy one here in the Mena House hotel car park.

There was yet another car to arrive on the back of a truck. This one was the MG Midget of Nigel Freeman and Richard Dorman. They have a blown head gasket and even though they don't have a spare the ever helpful local enthusiasts are sure that if a gasket can't be found there are people here in Cairo that came make a replacement.

With a huge smile on his face and even considering the day's difficulties Nigel Freeman remarked as he downed a beer in the bar of the sumptuous Mena House hotel…. "That was just the best day ever…".