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Into Morocco |
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Entered Morocco today. It took 3 hours and cost 3 packs of Malboro and 20€ to get in. Nasty buggers! The weather is good and warm. Marakesh is our traget destination for tomorrow. Soon we will be in the Sahara! We are travelling with teams 5107 (Irish Peugeot 408), 5140 (British Golf), 5145 (British Landie) and 5109 (Dutch Trooper). We have 4 days ro reach Dakhla, some 2000km to go...
Küdi (SMS) |
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Village in the Atlas
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Thanks to the border guards...
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A few teams
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Campfire
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Mike and Al
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To be or not to be...
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Don't Know Where |
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Very nice day travelling through Morocco but very slow going. Didn't reach our target by 250km. Split up from the others as they didn't like the hotel we choose (ark back road, many kids and no other eu people...). They will have to get used to Africa soon, things are a lot worse in the south. We will meet up with them on the road tomorrow. The Sahara is the target! We and the vehicles are in a perfect mood!
Küdi SMS |
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Been here before
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Atlas I
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Atlas II
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Another Long Day |
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Reached our target! The weather was a bit cold and wet but not too bad - should be be better tomorrow. First off road section today. We are at the border to the Sahara now, only the High-Altas to cross. The car has started to use fair amounts of cooling-water and bike is showing first signs of usage. But nothing to worry about. We're travelling in the old convoy + team 5128. The mood is brilliant! Tomorrow we should reach the Sahara!
Kudi (SMS) |
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Straight road I
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Straight road II
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Pete & Woody
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Atlantic coastlne
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Dead locusts
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Welcome to the Sahara
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Repairing the waterpump
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Andy the head banger
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The Road
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First dunes
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The Trophy
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Through the desert
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In Mauretania |
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Unbelivable, but we made it into Mauretania! Now we have no doubt to make it to Banjul - only another 1500km or so to go (im not mentoning that it will be the most difficult kms of all ;-) At least we now know what the C in PDC stands for...
The first day in the Sahara, from Agadir to Layounne in the Western Sahara, was nice but sometimes very cold, especialy when we crossed the High Atlas. That was the 24th. Our Christmas present was a broken waterpump on the Mercedes... 2 hours, 2 packs of Marlboro, 90 Euros and a small bottle of Whiskey later it was exchanged and we were ready for the desert. Good luck the Mercedes vans are the most common transportation vehicles in this region :-)
Next morning we had to pay 10 Dirams for a guy who wached our car through the night (of course we didnt ask him to do that :-) but all in all, Layounne was a very positive experience. Very impressing how these guys know to improvise... 90km after Layounne did a PDC Beetel brake down with a serious engine problem (hole in one piston). It was decided that they want to try to tow it to further on, to see wheter there is a garage by the road. The bigest car standing next to it was our Mercedes... We found a garage in Dakhla, that was 450km further south. Andy was declared to be a hero :-)) Another point worth mentioning was that we had to bribe a police officer on the road who wasnt willing to let us pass because we were towing the Beetel...
We had a day off in Dakhla, just hanging around and dooing nothing expect a service to the Yamaha. It started to wind heavyly in the afternoon and it was pretty cold so we went early to bed to be prepared for the next day - border crossing into Mauretania.
The first 350km fro, Dakhla to the Mauri border were easy going and every bikers dream: Through the stunning desert, through a slight sand storm, tailwind, like gliding through a dream, somehow unreal. Very nice experience! (And new speed record for the bike: 130km/h..)
Crossing the border was a real adventure. This meant to cross a 8km wide mine field. What we did was that we followed the instuctions we had (there are no signs or any other signalation whatsoever, the locals are removing it to be able to get payed for guiding). We ended up in sand barrier over the road exactly there where we were expecting customs into Mauri. Well, never mind we thought and diged a path into the the barrier. After passing that point with about 15 vehicles (we were reminded to the Camel trophy) a couple of military guys appeared and ordered us to return to the begining of the minefield and to take a different path. Finaly we passed the mine field 3 times, sometimes without a clue wheter we were on a path or wheter we were in the middle of the mines... Mauri customs were easy, they didnt even check the car and only the official tax had to be payed.
Were now in Nouadhibou, a 150k inhabitants town near the border with Morocco, having another day off. We havent been able to send or receive SMSes ever since Agadir, thats why there was no update till now. The first i,pressions of Mauri are imressive, it starts now to be the Africa as one imagines how it should be.
The best part of the journey is now in front of us: 3 days offroad in the desert, following the coastline down to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauretania. That will include 70km beach pist, the highlight of most West Africa journeys. It will be a guided tour, we engaged a guide for our small convoi of 6 vehicles: 5107 (Peter and Nick, Peugeot 405), 5109 (Mark and Koos, Isuzu Trooper), 5111 (Andy in the Mercedes), 5116 (Kudi on the Yamaha), 5140 (Mike and All, Golf) and 5145 (Regie and Holy, Landie).
There will probably be no message in the next few days. No worries, were all in best mood and are realy looking forward to what the desert will show us... And yes, just to nake you geleous: Its now about 25C and sunny ;-)
Kudi, from Cybercafe in Nouadhibou |
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Dead Beetel
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Bit packed
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Rider Dreams
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Sunset in Nouadhibou
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The border wall
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Through the mine field
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Desert Burnout
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Playing in the dunes
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Beach camp
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PDC repairs
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Dunes Crossing I
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Ceremony
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Do you want to buy it?
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Tea break
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Dunes Crossing II
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Survived the desert |
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Greetings from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania! Nearly drowned the van in the ocean today (will explain more later).
Happy New Year!
btw. It's 25C here ;-) |
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A bit of sand
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The convoy
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Landie
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A bit damaged
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Planing
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Swimming in the sea
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No comment...
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On the beach
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Being stocked
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