Day 14
Fri 13th
Mauritania
Atar to Nouakchott
Today’s distance 486km
Sleeping Campsite
Mileage 69477
Car Managing well! bent rear arm and still no fuel gauge
Punctures today 1 Total 6
Another day of tarmac today and would you believe we got another puncture! Other than this the day went well. When we arrived at the capital Nouakchott it was dark and really busy on the roads. They say London’s traffic is bad, that’s nothing compared to Africa! It was a free for all and you really have to push your way in to get anywhere. There was a man in a fluorescent jacket who its assumed was a traffic warden but this was debatable! The cars in Mauritania are not dissimilar to what we would see in a scrap yard, they drive with no lights as they are smashed, bucked wheels and dents all over, in fact the only thing that seemed to work on ever car was their horns! Everyone beeps at everyone, often it seems for no reason? We had to quickly adapt in order to get anywhere! It was crazy but extremely good fun!

ok ... so that should keep you going for a little while, I'm forever grateful to my fellow competitors for updating their blogs as i know many of you have been following thiers too and i will thank them for this (thanks nik)
its hard to get time to do much other than drive, navigate, eat and sleep (plus remembering to take pics - which is hars as we are moving most of the time) and then when it comes to writing the blog i cannot think what else you would all like to know so feel free to add suggestions, let me know if you wanna know anything!
I still have to update you from 13th to today and wil do this asap, Apperently the tracks get a little easier from now... we will see!! this is the hardcore edition after all!!

thanks for your comments guys see you all real soon, missing you all loads but missing a good ole English fry up more!!!!

x

Day 13
Thur 12th
Remainder of the 566km to take us to Atar
Sleeping Campsite
Mileage 69158
Car - In need of repair! - Bent rear arm, no fuel gage (nether a real problem) broken starter motor - loss of power when lights are turned on!
So we paced up camp as soon as it was light and set off for another long day, the sand was softer today. We began running low on fuel supplies as did all of the teams so we arranged (through the organisation) to buy some off the black market (a little more expensive but we had to get out of the desert, day 1 was ok but we had enough by day 2 - this really was hardcore!) we gave 2 of our jerry cans to a local in his 4x4 and hoped he would return! Which he did! Unfortunately the English and Dutch teams we were travelling with went ahead so we were ‘adopted’ by 3 Belgian teams (who we had travelled with a couple of times before) (Bekke and Koen, Joris and Kristof and Peter and Tanya) They are a great group and although the day was hard they all kept in good spirit! We had a good laugh and worked together to get all 4 cars through. We began having problems starting the car fo from about 2pm til we arrived at camp at about 8pm we could not turn the engine off! Because the light was fast fading a local (who got the fuel in his 4x4)) offered to lead us through a ‘short cut’ so we could make up some time and although the Sahara was a great experience none of us were sad to leave the desert behind! In addition to not being able to start the engine with out a push we discovered that if we turned the light on we would loose some power to the engine. So the last part of our off road journey today was completed by driving between the Belgian cars using their light and holding a torch out of the window! … the Sahara adventure truly did not stop til we reached camp!! It was a lovely camp site this evening owned by a Dutch man who was really welcoming, we had dinner (sheep) which we ate at a table with proper plates and knifes and forks! (ahh the little things!) Then we worked on the car. The problem , we revealed, was the starter motor, which after stripping down and cleaning the bushes we had it working again and had solved the problem. I also repaired our many punctured inner tubes this evening! So we were ready to fight another day!

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!

Day 11
Tue 10th
Morocco / Mauritania
Dakhla to Nouadhibou
Todays Distance 380km
Sleeping - ABBA Camping site
Mileage 68804
Car - Good - Bent rear arm
Punctures today - 0!
Today we cross the boarder from Morocco to Mauritania. The boarder crossing went very smoothly as Brigitte and a couple of others from the organisation arrived hours before the 2cvs and worked their charm to ensure all was ok for or arrival. Crossing from the Moroccan to Maritanian boarder there is about 5k of no-mans land. I have seen pictures of this on TV etc, theres a track through and we were advised to always stick to the track as there are land mines! The blown up cars on the sides of the track highlight this also! Needless to say we were very cautious and made it through with no problems. When leaving the Mauritanian boarder you can notice an immediate change, Morocco is not particularly clean but Mauritania is really dirty, there is rubbish everywhere (mainly plastic) and it really smells, Its defiantly a noticeably poorer country. However the people are all really ‘smiley!’ (I think they like the cars!) Some people warned us that they were not the nicest of people but everyone we met here was lovely (perhaps we were just lucky) We arrived in Nouadhibou at about 2pm and went into the town to get some fruit and a wrist watch for Dad, I asked a local lady (in my ‘bestest Mauritanian’ accent … un watchy?!) and she took my had and lead me through various market streets , 1st to a man repairing watches and then onto someone selling watches … success! All the way she was chewing on a stick, laughing and saying, Deux Chevaux (2cv) English! She was really funny! Dad meanwhile was desperately following us through these streets in the car!
After shopping we returned to camp and removed part of the roll cage as it was agreed by ourselves and the mechanics that this was not needed and therefore unnecessary weight, so our it came, Don’t worry though we are still sufficiently protected if we were to roll over … which we wont!!