01-Mar-2004 -- On the morning of March, 1^st Stefan and I set off from a fly camp south of Jamāliyya in the Nile Delta to try and get to the confluence of 31N 33E. Armed with a map, a camera and of course a Garmin we headed eastwards through the delta passing fields of rice, corn and wheat until we arrived at the Suez Canal. A toll of 2 Pounds allowed us to cross the impressive Mubārak Bridge spanning the canal. The contrast between the two sides of the canal could not be greater, lush green farmland to the West and arid wind blown desert to the East.

We took the road to Sinai passing through a number of military check points, whose guards were more than a little interested in where an Englishman and a Romanian would be travelling to, and why. Our combined limited Arabic did little justice in explaining the reason for travelling to a Confluence point but they all allowed us to pass just the same.

As we drove through the inaptly named town of Bi'r al-`Abd ("The Servant's Well", but not a watering hole to be found anywhere), the Garmin beeped and told us that we were 1.7 km from the point. After trying most of the tracks within the town we found one that appeared to go in the right direction and took us to within 350 m.

A brief walk across the rolling sand and we arrived at our goal. Marvellous!!!!