It's Friday again! As time is running out for Piet he proposed to do the last MTB loop in the area which he hasn't done yet: Wadi Digla to Wadi Hof, "the long way round". As it looked like a pretty long trip on paper only Paul and Marcel signed up. We met at our house and took the fastest route to Wadi Digla, shortcutting the rubbish dump, down on "the steep climb out to the New Ain Sukna Road", up to "the jump" and "the waterfall", where we had a short stop. It was the first day of spring, so pretty warm already (high 20-ies), but we had plenty of breath left to discuss the latest developments at our offices.
From that point on we were on single tracks, past Paul's Point (named after our first casualty in 4 years of mountain biking; minor broken bones in finger and hand), and onto unknown territory. It proved to be a stunning track, through wadi's, up steep slopes (walking!), and the highlight: a breathtaking trail with a magnificient view over Wadi Hof. It really felt like cycling along the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately it was quite hazy, otherwise we could have seen the row of pyramids on the other side of the Nile valley, all the way from Dahshur to Giza. We descended into the Wadi Hof area, followed the wadi bed for a while, and had a long, steep and hot climb out, where we ended up on known territory again: a northern branch of Wadi Hof, close to our alternative meeting point "the house". As it was getting close to midday we upped the speed and cycled back on our home trails, we even had energy left for the uphill sprint finish. After 3 hours 15 minutes on the bike a coke and a chocolade bar tasted pretty good. It is obvious now where we will take Maarten on his farewell ride!
Marcel and Paul having a rest at "the waterfall"
Descending into Wadi Hof
Marcel is enjoying the view of Wadi Hof, "the Grand Canyon of Cairo"
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