After a 4am start, a balloon ride and three temples we were ready for a rest. Fortunately, the remainder of the day was just that. Our little river boat, the Dwa, had set sail for Edfu. We could sit on the top deck of our river boat and watch the world drift past. I really enjoyed this. There was plenty to see along the banks of the Nile. A lot of farming. Banana plantations, corn and several other crops that I did not recognise. Cows were grazing, kids were swimming, people were hanging out in the shade. We treated ourselves to a bottle of cold, white wine and settled back. We just managed to stay awake long enough to discover the buffet dinner in the evening.
We woke in Edfu. The boat had passed through the lock system at Esna during the night. A barrage bridge was built here by the British in 1906 to control the flow of water and limit flooding further downstream. A second bridge and hydroelectric scheme was built in the 1990s. Ships passing up and down the river need to use a lock system to get through the 5 m height difference. At Edfu, we had breakfast at a civilised time and then set off to visit the Temple of Horus at Edfu. To get here we needed to go by horse and carriage. We were told that this was the only allowable way. Not sure how true this is because there were plenty of other types of vehicles around. Anyway, it seemed like fun. The two of us were shown to our carriage and off we went. Only a ten-minute ride. It was fun rather than comfortable.
The temple was very impressive. Built around 200 BC, it features a massive entrance way leading into a mass of towering pillars. To each side are rooms for offering and at the end is the inner sanctum. Every surface is decorated with drawings and hieroglyphs. It fell into disuse with the growth of Christianity around 300 AD and eventually became buried by sand and silt from the river. It was rediscovered in 1860 at which time there was 12 m of sand and several houses on top of it. The architecture of the Temple Works in Leeds was inspired by the Edfu Temple. The design of the columns is a close copy. Like all the temples we have seen, it was hot and crowded. Extremely hot in this case. After an hour we were ready to head back.
First job was to find Abdul, our horse man with carriage number 54. In the event, he found us, shouting and furiously gesticulating when we wandered over to the massed waiting horses. We clambered back on and discovered that the Barney effect was strong. Keith, our friend the amazing Yorkshire dog-whisperer, has a horse called Barney. We went with Keith and Barney in a trap to a pub on the River Humber once. That is a whole other story, but on the way back we noticed that Barney went much faster – pushing hard to get back to his nice field and some food. The same thing happens to Diane when we go out for a walk. We now call this the Barney effect – an increase in speed when you know you are going home. Abdul’s horse trotted briskly out into the road, happy to be heading back. Shortly afterwards a second carriage was coming up fast behind us. Game on. To say we were racing would not really be true but there was certainly some one-upmanship happening. Made for a great trip back. A bit of gentle sportsmanship mixed with dodging coaches and tuk-tuks. Of course, when we got back to the boat, Abdul insisted that we not only pay him a tip but also one for his horse.
The rest of the day was glorious, chilled out cruising up the Nile. A whole flotilla of boats were heading the same way. A few of them under sail. The Nile flows north into the Mediterranean Sea. The prevailing wind is from the north. Without too much technology, you can reliably sail up the river and come back down with the current. This was a significant factor in the development of Egyptian civilisation along the banks of the Nile.
