Day 12
Wed 11th
Mauritania
Nouadhibou to Atar
Total Distance 566km
Todays Distance approx 330km
Sleeping Tent Somewhere next to a train track in the middle of the Sahara!
Car
Punctures - 5 (over 2 days) Total - 6
Today and tomorrow we travel across the Sahara desert. For safety we travel in groups of 3 cars and the Trucks with spares and catering will not be able to follow us due to the terrain, so last night we were each given some food and instructions on how to bake bread and set of for 2 days of hardcore adventure! And that’s certainly what we got!
So it starts with 100k of tarmac and then onto sand! The plan was to not stop until we reached 300k, we made great progress and covered about 360k I think and the other English team, Eleanor and Richard collected wood on the way (its hard to find dead wood in the desert!) It was funny to see a tree on top of their 2cv! Later in te afternoon it got tougher and it got hotter! We all began getting stuck ad the sand got softer in the heat. We travelled, for the biggest part, on the train track which was hell for the tyres but less getting stuck (lesser of 2 evils!?) We were driving with one wheel inside the track (the 2cv actually fits perfectly jus inside the tracks but is even worse for the tyres!) Luckily the trains do not pass often but we still all kept alert both ways! Whenever we got a puncture or 5! We were on and could not get off so it was a real rush each time to change the tyre (inner tube) keeping one eye open for the train. If it were to come it would probably of been goodbye to Laura! Thank goodness luck was on our side! In that respect anyway!
Big Thanks to Autotest and Bosch for the inner tubes we thought of you lots over these 2 days! When the light was lost we got away from the tracks and set camp, as were ere setting camp the train passed … wow what a train, this has GOT to be the longest freight train in the world! And because theres literally nothing in the desert (except 20 2cv’s!) you could hear it for miles before and after it passes and then complete and utter silence again! We baked our bread in the sand and ate it in the morning, it was … sandy! And a bit hard but fun to do!