Steve and I commenced our homeward run today, albeit a
little later than anticipated. It was
close to 11 o'clock before having breakfasted with Anita, Cath and Richard,
paid the teams bill and said all our goodbyes that we rolled out of the gates
of Luigis Complex for the run up to Soma for the Farafenni ferry. After much
discussion and debate we had decided to go with Julies advice and spurn the
joys of the Barra ferry in favour of the allegedly easier crossing nearly 100
miles up river. It still took a couple of hours to get across to the north
bank but it was indeed stress free and
190 Dalasis a bargain. As was the border crossing from Gambia back into
Senegal, although that we did get charged a "sunday suppliment" of
5000 cfa rather than the correct amount of 2500 cfa, however I can live with
that one!
And so we headed north towards Nioro du Rip as the sun
started its final descent into twilight. It had been a good day and as far as I
am concerned, the most relaxed day of the trip. With the drama queen now safely
back with his carer, Steve and I have already formed a great team of
two... Dinner, cooked by me from the
left over stores was small deep fried potatoes with meat balls, carrots and
green beans... with not a chilli in sight. It was going to be followed up with
pancakes and butterscotch sauce but I'd forgotten to get the eggs so that treat
awaits us a little further on.
As I sit here in the morning twilight it has just started to
rain very gently, nothing to get excited about as doubt it will even lay the
dust on this rough section of road by which we are camped. We are about halfway
between the border at Keur Ayip and Nioro du Rip, so with a little luck we
should be at the Zebrabar tonight ready for the crossing to Mauritania in the
morning.... or the next day, depending on how we feel.
Tonight (Monday) we are back at theZebrabar. An earlyish
start and a trouble free run across Senegal saw us arriving here just before
5pm to enjoy a cold beer and a hot shower, and yes in that order. Both of us
are enjoying the relaxed and hassle free nature of the return trip. We've far
managed to put the world to rights, solve world debt, poverty and put an end to
wars... and that's only day two!!!! We
have again spurned the luxury of cabins in favour of our cosy little tents and
about to enjoy the local fresh caught fish for dinner. Our plan is to pay the
bill tonight to allow us an early start for the border in the morning... but
we'll have to wait and see what time we awake,after all one of the biggest joys
of this trip is the lack of schedule.....
I love it when a plan comes together, ok, maybe we were a
little later than planned leaving the Zebrabar but only about half an hour. So
having not managed to catch Martin last night I worked out our bill and left
the money in an envelope attached to the honesty book. By 8.30 we were tackling our first
hurdle...the Senegalese customs at Diama. Wwas I surprised when he found an
"irregularity" in our paperwork???????? No,not for a second. However I was very surprised
when the guy from the police intervened on my behalf and the customs man phoned
through to Farafenni to confirm that we had taken the C90s out of Senegal. All
in all, an hour and a half is probably something of a record through this
border.
Steve took over the driving as we left the border and as he
had never driven off-road in a 4x4 before he was looking forward to the
challenge. It was great from my point of view to be able to enjoy watching the
vast variety of wildlife as we ran along the piste through the reserve. I've
never seen so many different species of birds in one place before; Egrets,
pelicans, storks and a plethora of others which I could never identify but
loved watching! A whole family of 5 warthogs plus of course the usual cattle,
goats, sheep and the odd camel. The drive itself was thankfully uneventful and
taken at a sensible pace a joyful and relaxed experience compared to the
outward journey where we kept having to stop to wait for a couple of really
slow riders to catch up. As one of the front runners was always Chris who had
never ridden off-road before it wasn't that the pace was fast....
Approaching a police check at the end on the new tarmac road
we spotted a long line of vehicles stopped on the opposite side of the road. On
closer inspection it turned out to be competitors on the Amsterdam to Banjul
banger rally complete with military escorts!!! This was something we had been
offered for the Scoots but I declined it as firstly I still feel that the
threat to us is negligible and secondly that it would cause us problems with
the low speed that we run at. Something that would have been even more of an
issue this year as it is by far the slowest run I have ever done.
Lunch was the ubiquitous cheese triangles with half a banana
each; boy do we know how to live !!!! Nightfall saw us neatly back at the same
wild camp we had used on the way down, meaning that in spite of only running at
around 45 to 50 mph we have covered exactly the same distance as had taken us 2
days on the way down. We dined well on
Spam fritters, saute potatoes, carrots and sweetcorn, which Steve declared to
be the best meal of the trip so far ! A nice cold beer or even a glass of red
wine would have gone down nice with it but this is Mauritania, dry country!!!!
Hopefully today will see us across the minefield and into
Western Sahara where another night of wild camping awaits us. We have a little
over 200 miles to the border so as long as we have no problems along the way it
shouldn't be too much to ask to get through the border before dark. The trip is
turning into a bit of a Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance type trip
with Steve and I discussing and exploring a whole variety of issues and topics
which makes the time simply fly by!
Hmm, i guess it was the 'no problems' that did it!!! We'd
had a really good run, arriving at the Mauritanian border at around 1.30. We
simple flew through the formalities and headed off into the mine field. We had
swapped drivers a bit before the border as it is easier for me to jump in and
out of the truck at the various border control points,so Steve took us
carefully across no-mans land to the Moroccan side. First couple bits, police
and immigration were no trouble then it all sort of stalled... Initially I was
sent back and forth between offices and then we were directed to the huge
vehicle scanner. Having got into the queue,we were then told to reverse back as
lorries were going through in both directions ???? So we sat and waited .....
and waited.... and waited... Well TIA we kept saying ! But it soon became
apparent that everyone else was also waiting... and waiting... and waiting...
we watched as the little red light on the scanner went on off, an on and
off....well you get the picture! Yes, the bloody thing had broken down. Every
time they switched it on it tripped its generator! For 4 hours we watched as
time and time again the same men went back and forth trying the same thing each
time like some stupid comedy, until eventually they actually realised that it
wasnt going to run so sent us on our way... although not without a couple of
last minute visits back to the customs offices. Four and a half hours after our
nice early arrival we finally left the border, fortunately, still in daylight.
So now we are camped about 20 miles north of the border next to he ruins of a
small building on a rather rocky bit of land. Dinner was once again managed
sans chilli and our digestive systems and taste buds are slowly beginning to
recover !!! An early night a cold biting wind is whistling around our tents,
will hopefully mean an early start as we head north through the disputed
territory of Western Sahara tomorrow.
Yesterday we broke the back of our homeward journey.
Accompanied by the sounds of The Eagles, Van Morrison, Simon & Garfunkle,
et al we ran virtually the entire length of Western Sahara, over 500 miles in
our 12 hours on the road. How much easier it is to get 2 people packed and
moving than 9! I'm still the first up with kettle on and often first cup of tea
drunk by the time Steve stirs, but I love sitting and watching the eastern
skies slowly explode into a myriad of fabulous colours as dawn breaks once
more. As we are generally snuggled into our tents quite early even getting up
at 6am is not a chore. We are now at the Le Roi Bedouin campsite once more,
just above Layouune where we dinned on lemon
chicken tagine last night with a nice bottle of red wine. I slept very
soundly !!!
Today we plan a fairly leisurely start to our morning before
heading on to Tan Tan where will try briefly to obtain a couple of parts we
need for the lighting on the truck and trailer. To be honest I'm not too
concerned as I'm sure we will get them in Algeciras before our run up through
Spain. Once through Tan Tan it's on to Guilmim before turning east and the
southern desert area of Morocco. It's an area neither of us have ever been to
before and it will be good to get away from our outward route for a while. We
are hoping to make a big loop around and tackle the Rif mountains from the East
as we run back to the port at Tangier Med.
At the moment it's looking as though we may make the
Santander crossing in time for our booked crossing on the 30th November but
we'll have to see what the next few days hold in store. With us both now
feeling a lot fitter than a when we left The Gambia we are really looking
forward to doing a bit of exploring both on and off road. With my asthma now
subsiding at long last I'm sleeping much better and Steve's stomach also seems
to be getting over his chilli poisening so he is eating better.
The nights are much colder now than on our outward journey
so my sleeping bag is being zipped up fully for the first time on since leaving
home but the days are still very hot although sometime with a stiff cool breeze
As it sit here typing this the sky has just exploded into a
huge red fireball lighting up the underside of the morning clouds in an almost
florescent orange as the sun awaits it's moment to burst upon us in it's
display of dawn splendour. A magnificent sight to behold!
We had another good days run today, marred only by Steve
picking up a 70 euro fine for jumping a hidden stop sign in Tan Tan. He had
slowed right down at the junction but to be fair the wheels probably didnt stop
and low and behold a gendarme just happened to be lurking behind a rather large
tree just around the corner. I tried the indignant Brit abroad routine but to
no avail so we paid up meekly and drove away very slowly....
We ran up to Guelmim and then started looking for a camp
site. Steve found a few in the guide book that sounded a bit dire and then
spotted one that sounded better but in the wrong direction. By now it was about
4 pm so we decided to take a look even though it was some 9km down a piste.
Wow! after a fantastic drive through
some small hills we finally found Fort Bou Jerif campsite and hotel and
what a find! In a spectacular location sat the best hotel and restaurant of the
trip so far complete with swimming pool and best of all lovely hot showers....
Before dinner, whilst Steve sat and read, I wandered off for
a walk and found the actual Fort from which the place takes its a name. A huge
complex which i assume to be from the French Foriegn Legion, not very well
preserved but interesting never the less if only for its sheer scale. Dinner
did not dissappoint, home made soup followed by beef brochettes served with a
lovely fresh tomato salad and finished off with a slab of rich chocolate
cake..mmmm!
This morning when I
awoke it was to the first rain we have seen in over a month... very light and
gentle, but still very wet! We are quite near to the coast so the hope is that
we will lose it as we run inland this morning towards Zagora. Tonight it will
be back to wild camping, hopefully somewhere on the piste a bit before Zagora
but we'll have to wait and see what transpires on our run across. First we have
to pack away our soggy tents and do breakfast which if it follows the form of
last nights dinner won't disappoint...
Back on the road once more our first port of call was the
fort itself. I had walked down to it alone yesterday evening but was happy to
pay a return visit to enable Steve to have a wander around the majestic ruins.
It was back along the 9km to the road before picking up our route across the
base of Morocco, or at least what would have been the base before they annexed
Western Sahara which has almost doubled the size of what was already an
enormous country. Our plan was to cross to Zagora and then Erfoud by the lowest
practicable roads, be they surfaced or piste, stopping wherever we happened to
find ourselves just before sunset each evening. Then to head north to the
eastern end of theRif mountains if time allowed before crossing to Spain on
Thursday morning. We reckoned that should give us just enough time to cross
Spain in time for our Ferry on Saturday afternoon from Santander. Which is why
we are now camped just outside Foum Zguid !
Oh well, WiFi just doesn't want to play ball on this trip.
Coming out of Zagora this afternoon I was thumbing through the campsite
directory and spotted a site which boasted WiFi, only toget here to discover
that the internet througout the entire area id down...Ho Hum!!
Another spectacular drive through and over the mountains
today, most of it on piste rather than tarmac. The driving wasn't difficult as
none of it was at all technical, although it would be very different after
heavy rain as we crossed and re-crossed a river numerous times and some of the
climbs would also be very slippery. But it was great fun, even thiugh we were
both wishing we were on two wheels rather than four. Arriving in Zagora we
spotted a small cafe restaurant as sat down to salad and tagines. We were soon joined by another couple of toubabs
in the form of an Australian couple who were on a four month world tour after
recently retiring from work.
From Zagora we ran up the Draa valley which is supposed to
be one of the "must see" sights of the area, but I must confess to
have been a little disappointed as it simply didn't stand comparison with what
we had driven through earlier in the day.... However tour buses are not exactly
known for their offroad capabilities so to your average package tourist i guess
it is a bit special! Tonight we opted for the soft option of a camp site with
the promise WiFi, cold beers and hot showers.... Hmm, that'll teach us! Not
even 1 out of 3 was to be had...
Sorry about lack of photos (again !) will post later
Tonight back at Midelt campsite with temperature about 25c lower than when we were here on the way out.... Think it might be thermals in bed tonight but trying a nice bottle of red anti-freeze with dinner which may help to keep out the cold.....
