Why this ride
A 377 km round trip from Cairo - roughly 6 h in the saddle. The stops in between: Wadi Al-Hitan and back through Wadi Al-Hitan. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cairo long day · Wadi Al-Hitan
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 377 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 40
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cairo
Cairo is a city that makes sense of every superlative you have heard about it. With more than seven million people in the city proper and many millions more in the metropolitan area, it is the largest in the Arab world and one of the largest in Africa, and its streets are a river of cars, buses, donkey carts, bicycles and pedestrians, all moving at once to the music of horns.
Read the complete Cairo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cairo is where the day begins. Next is Wadi Al-Hitan.
2. Wadi Al-Hitan
Forty million years ago, this arid corner of the Egyptian desert was a warm, shallow sea, and the creatures that swam in it left their bones in the sand. Wadi Al-Hitan, which means Valley of the Whales, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Fayoum depression, inscribed in 2005 for what it reveals about one of the great stories of evolution: the transition of whales from land animals to fully marine creatures. The sand and rock are littered with the fossilised skeletons of early whales, among them the Basilosaurus, a long, snake-like predator that could grow as long as a bus.
Read the complete Wadi Al-Hitan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wadi Al-Hitan comes up 87 km in.
3. Wadi Al-Hitan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wadi Al-Hitan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
174 km in you reach Wadi Al-Hitan. Next is back through Wadi Al-Hitan.
4. back through Wadi Al-Hitan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wadi Al-Hitan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Wadi Al-Hitan, late in the day. Next is Cairo.
5. Cairo
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cairo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Cairo. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cairo to Wadi Al-Hitan
Cairo → Wadi Al-Hitan is 174 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Wadi Al-Hitan to Cairo
back through Wadi Al-Hitan → Cairo is 174 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.