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Above: The Toyota Hilux of Tony Tak and Mick Malhotra Day 12 Agadir to Laayoune We hauled out of the sprawling coastal town early this morning and finally head due South. The main topics of conversation are the forthcoming dunes and the lack of an actual road to lead us through Mauritania in a couple of days time. Few actually know exactly what to expect from the desert in the days to come but imaginations and the anticipation heighten the sense of adventure. Today we have only one test, but a lot of ground to cover and perhaps a last chance to satisfy ourselves that the GPS navigation has been 'cracked' and that we are all ready for anything. Getting lost in the Sahara is not an option. What appears to be a straight line South, for 700 odd kilometres on the map, was actually another interesting mix of different sights and landscapes. More busy little towns, varied desert scenery with increasingly large sand dunes encroaching the road more and more, and our final mountain pass, albeit a modest one. But, most notable experience of all was the sight of the enormous rolling surf coming in off the Atlantic and battering the rocky coastline. With the road occasionally dipping down to near sea level at the attractive coves and inlets, it would easily become a tourist magnet, if it where accessible without having to conduct an expedition to get here. Scattered along the beach are many eerie looking shipwrecks, some completely broken in half, and all rusting away in the hostile environment. After reaching the test section towards the end of the day the rally had been regrouped and so even the vehicles with lower cruising speeds had caught up. If the long day felt arduous in a Totota Landcruiser, auto with air conditioning, imagine the task for Simon and Liz Chance in the Citroen 2CV. They have done loads of long distance rallies in this little twin cylinder car, with absolutely no frills or luxuries, and always happily battle on regardless. The test was a fast, loose service road, twisting and cresting alongside the main tarmac. There where a number of junctions on the way and, those that led back onto the road, where marked off with 'rally arrows'. Unfortunately one of the very first cars apparently ran wide and knocked one over. Even though the track did have route directions in the roadbook this still caused a lot of cars to overshoot one particular turning and lose some time. The last half of the track surface was particularly slippery and the whole area had an odd brown tinge - on closer examination it could be seen that the entire area was covered in a carpet that consisted of billions of dead locust. It was an enjoyable and fun test section except perhaps for Tony Tak and Mick Malhotra, in a Hi-Lux who thought that they may have missed an organisational Mitsubishi Shogun that is at the time control. They unfortunately went up onto the tarmac and back to another Shogun that was merely spectating. Andy Actman and Catriona Rings in the Daihatsu, who are currently the second placed hatchback, fell off the track by missing the corner after one blind crest, and had to beat their way back through the rocks to lose just paint from the bumper rather than actual time. Most impressive result of the day however, was once again the Palmers in their Land Rover. They came in 4th fastest overall and leading 4x4 by 10 seconds over the Johnstons Land Rover. The Stevens managed to get to all the time controls, and put in a good fast run, even after spending much of the morning at the Seat garage which attended to the overheating problem that has been lurking for a few days. The final task of the day has been to find, and bring back enough beer for tonight's stay at our "dry" hotel. |
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