Day 15
Sat 14th
Mauritania
Nouakchott to Kiffa
Today’s distance 612km
Sleeping Bivouac
Mileage 69843
Car As before with broken arm also
Punctures today 1 total 7
Yesterday was Friday 13th however it was today for us, we made an early start and just 60 -70km down the road the car lost power, the mechanics quickly caught up with us and we altered the 123 ignition and set off on the road again, the car had been ‘pinking’ (tapping sound from the engine) which it turns out was due to the rubbish quality of fuel, (all of the cars were suffering from this) adjusting the ignition did not completely stop the noise but it did help. Not much further up the road the same thing happened again, this time the mechanics altered the valve clearance and informed us that our oil is too thin. After this stop and loosing literally hours we began moving again. Another Belgian team (Ward and Kurt) travelled with us the rest of today (what patience!) The car was still not running right and began sounding more and more like a tractor but is still running! Because of the technical delays we drove the last part (tarmac) in the dark. This was an adventure in itself! Its turns out this part of Africa is home to suicidal donkeys, cows, camels, goats and sometimes the odd person, who decide to cross the road just as a 2cv approaches. It was a long but very funny afternoon and evening! There are loads of signs of where some of these animals have not been so lucky and their remains lay beside the road, I was really surprised to see so many casualties. We were drawn by singing and visited a school in this area and the teachers were very welcoming and showed us around all the classes this was so lovely we gave them gifts in return.