Slept in until 6:00! Easy morning, took care of the laundry, drank too much coffee, then headed for the bicycle clinic and much needed cleaning. Under Omar’s direction and removal of the rear cluster, dissembled that and cleaned it out thoroughly. Thanks to Omar (or Pete?), after using the normal degreaser fluid to degrease and de-grit / de-sand the cogs, tried Coca Cola as well; after seeing how effective that method is, not sure if I really want to ingest more of the stuff in coming days. Broke and cleaned the chain also using Coca Cola as an additional treatment; chain and cluster now sparkling. Looked under the brake / shifter hoods and wished that I hadn’t; full of dust, fine sand; those will need cleaning out during the two-day break in Addis if not the next available rest day. But at least the drive train and brakes themselves should be good to go for next section of this tour.
Went for a long-ish walk through central Khartoum in the afternoon, managing to successfully find the good ice cream place. Found some surprisingly shady streets, as well as an older quasi-residential area. Nice. Also picked up a plastic straw (multi-use!) and a toothbrush at the Mall; then back to room to clean out grit and sand from all the tent and tent fly zippers with said items. Not sure if it’s going to really fix the issue, but I think it’s improved it a little, at least.
Nap.
Missed the Nile river cruise!
Oh well... rest days should involve some rest.