Desert is traditionally supposed to be yellow or orange sand. Gritty and with definate particles. I'm guessing this bit of desert has been around a bit longer and the particles have been ground more. Think of grey flour and you are close. There is no substance to it. If you compact it, its still loose and soft. And this is what we found ourselves bogged down in up to the axles at 8am, with our tight schedule.

My first job at dawn was sorting out the rancid toilet. We think the barge crew had broken in and soiled it, so it wasn't too pleasant. So, to find myself shovelling dust and sweating profusely all before breakfast, was not. The ideal start to the day.

Ian tracked down a farmer with a tractor. He tried to tow us out, failed and returned to his dust farm. Our sandboards, which had doubled up as bed and settee bases were forced under the wheels, where they cracked, splintered but finally, after 2 hours, enabled Bill to rip the bus out of the soft dust and park it on some firmer dust.

We piled on, dragging boards, shovels, chains with us then Bill treated us to some hard core overlanding at speed. This was of course contrary to his nagging of yesterday, but it is apparently how they advise you to drive on Top Gear. We'll forgive him his rally driving and 3 prangs though because it got us out of the dust and on to the firm, velvetty smooth, new, black tarmac in good time.

With whoops of joy, survivor photos and excited chatter we started cleaning dust from inside the bus, reinflated the tyres and set off at high speed. Our mood was deflated a little as the tarmac ran out 4km further and Bill drove us in to an area of loose sand and got us bogged down again. Luckily there was a nice chap with some road making equipment to drag us out and 40 minutes later we hit the proper tarmac. We were through and on our way again ! That track must surely rank as some of the most ludicrous terrain possible for bus travel.

So, with half the day still left and brand spanking new tarmac under the wheels, we were off, at speed, across the desert then south towards Khartoum. All of us filthy, dusty, sweaty and willing to exchange family members for just a few minutes of hot, steaming running water, soap and a towel.

I made do with a bucket of green Nile water and a strip of hand towel. It was a start.