Day 38-44

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MAU 7th - 13th January 2007, Mauritania

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Day Thirty Eight 7/1. Camping ABBA, Nouadhibou, Mauritania
20°54.50'N 17°03.22'W. Miles today 73, Total Miles 4462
The road down to Nouadibou was great, tarred all the way and we found Camping Abba easily. Sweet little place with a few functional loos and hot shower. The crazy Dutch arrived much later. It had taken them five hours, as they had to wait for the border official to have his lunch. After a long and painstakingly slow visit to the internet café, we wandered around town. Lots of men wandering around in light blue or white robes, which to me, appeared to be a right old pain. They keep tripping over them. The women, when you see them, are covered from head to toe in very brightly patterned robes. There are heaps of flies and the temperature is noticeably higher. Will we finally be able to pack the thermals away? Just as were settling down to Pasta Carbonara, (hee hee, we found bacon in the Marjane!) the Rally lot pulled into the campsite. The border crossing took them NINE hours!
Day Thirty Nine 8/1. Camping ABBA, Nouadhibou, Mauritania
20°54.50'N 17°03.22'W. Miles today 0, Total Miles 4462
Decided to stay on at Camping Abba, as we needed to wait for other overlanders to arrive who were also keen to go south and cross the beach and dunes with us. You really need a convoy of at least one other vehicle, as you drive on the beach at low tide and if you break down…..well, the tide comes back in and it's off to sea you go. Took a trip into town to try and find some food. Wandered around the dusty, fly-ridden market and managed to find some good veg. We were in a particularly narrow street and while I was choosing some veg, a donkey with a very heavy cart got twitchy waiting for his owner. He decided he'd had enough and tried to turn round by going into reverse gear…straight into me…who promptly did a full face plant right on top of the veg stall. Quite painful at the time actually, as I was wedged in for a few moments while half the street tried to lift the cart off me and convince the donkey to engage first gear. I actually couldn't stop laughing but felt awful, as I squashed this poor seller's tomatoes! Back at the campsite, no-one had turned up for the beach route. It's the Dakar rally happening in a few days and most people are heading east up to Atar to experience it. Also, there is a tar road now that replaces the beach and dune route so most people not up for an adventure just take that route. After much thought, we made the decision to head to Atar to watch the rally. A pity we can't do the beach route but have heard that the route to Atar is just as exciting and at least it will be a bit more festive. Spent the afternoon chatting to the Dutch, comparing vehicles and a after a comfort bowl of pasta and tuna and the last of the cheese, we were tucked up in bed. Hurrah…No thermals!
Day Forty 9/1. Bush Camp, km195 on Route R2 (Railway), Mauritania
21°17.03'N 15°28.23'W. Miles today 124, Total Miles 4586
Dreamt of bangers and mash last night . Was rudely awoken by the 5am call to prayers. Yup, this has definitely started to lose its appeal. It seems different here, a sort of Karioke, as a whole heap of Tom Jones wannabees wail for about an hour and a half. Bloody awful really, especially as its between 5.30 and 7am. Anyway, we are off to Atar today following the railway to Choum. Had a quick stop in town for the usual essentials: fuel, bread and Coco-cola and after one or two police checkpoints, asking for our insurance and carnet, we were off. The piste turned out to be tarred for the first bit and Rob naturally got bored with this so tried to head off onto the original track. We were soon stuck in the sand but with minimal digging and more tyre deflation, we were out. It was meant to happen actually, as we could hear this humming in the distance, which turned out to be the famous iron-ore train. It fetches up 2.5 km long, which makes it the longest in the world. There are a few passenger berths or you can sit on the roof for free. The driver was most confused as to why we were there and not on the tarred road. We decided to follow his advice and headed back to the tar road for a bit longer. Stopping at a small village to re-join the piste and deflate the tyres a little more and within minutes we were soon surrounded by what felt like thousands of small children demanding gifts. Somehow, we managed to escape after various threats and demands for our furry mascot dog, Brian. The piste after that was pretty good, a little rough, a little bumpy, a little sandy, all the usual but quite easy to navigate, as long as you keep the railway line on your left. Don't cross over it, as there are landmines on the Moroccan side. Excellent! We stopped for the night in a gorgeous spot in the middle of nowhere. I made a batch of onion bhadjis. Gotta get creative with these veg, you know! Ore train
Day Forty One 10/1. Bush Camp, km400 on Route R2 (Railway), Mauritania
21°11.30'N 13°34.47'W. Miles today 123, Total Miles 4709
Had a particularly bad sleep. Perhaps, it was the Larium kicking in but I could hear all sorts of weird noises, which quite obviously was only the wind. Coming from a sailing background, neither of us can really relax when the wind blows strong. In fact, Rob was trying to put a reef in the fly sheet last night! We ended up taking the whole thing down. Weird weather today, kinda cloudy, possible rain on the way. Anyway, had a few minutes with a cuppa tea, a polony sandwich and Jack Johnson on the stereo and just taking all this beauty in. Actually, it had to be on the MP3 player as the stereo has given up the ghost. Clearly way too much sand for his liking. Most of the piste today was dune and sand driving. Quite tricky in places but Rob did brilliantly and was having a blast along with it. We did get stuck a few times, even had to use the sand ladders to get ourselves out. We also passed a whole herd of camels, about 100 in total. Our first spot of serious wildlife! Just after lunch, we spotted the crazy Dutch ahead of us. They too had got stuck. Several times in fact plus a flat tyre. The rest of the day was spent tagging each other on the piste, which by the way, is ALOT sandier than the book makes out to be. Poor old Dino is really taking a beating. Found another super bushcamp for the night near some monoliths. Jut the usual veg curry tonight. I can hear an owl. At least, I hope that's an owl. Bloody Larium! Dutch in the desert

Waiting
Day Forty Two 11/1. Bush Camp, 20km South of Atar, Mauritania
20°26.93'N 13°06.32'W. Miles today 98, Total Miles 4807
The car is a sandpit! More dune driving. Sahara Overland according to Robert Ford. After getting stuck again and lotsa digging, we finally reached Atar. A sandstorm was setting in and Atar was not the prettiest of places. We were pounced upon and hassled so much that we decided to drive straight out again and found a nice bushcamp near some mountains. Had beautiful weather for sundowners on the roof before the wind kicked in. We decided to sleep in the back of the car, which was cosy. No luxury of a mattress though. Weird corn beef hash for dinner. Monolith camp
Day Forty Three 12/1. Auberge Bab Sahara, Atar, Mauritania
20°31.12'N 13°37.22'W. Miles today 136, Total Miles 4943
With the sandstorm kicking in, we headed into town and tried to find some food. Not much around to buy really unless you are into big lumps of meat tossed into the back of a pick-up. The bread is pretty yummy here though. Once again, we were hassled beyond belief. What is it with these people? The children are especially bad, screeching "Cadeux!" at every opportunity and helping themselves to whatever is on your dashboard. Guess it has something to do with the immense wealth of the Dakar passing through here. Went to check out the overlanders haunt of Bab Sahara camping, which was nice but pretty full due to the Dakar rally. The Dutch were there so we decided to drive to the ancient caravan town of Chinguetti for the day and then return to the campsite via the spectacular Amogjar Pass to watch the rally coming in. Silly thing to do really as the sand storm was well underway and we couldn't see a thing. The route and scenery were pretty special but our vision was a little blurred due to all the sand. Chinguetti, which is the seventh holiest city of Islam was weird. I can only imagine it wouldn't have looked quite so ghost town like if it hadn't been for all the sand. We visited some old libraries, which house ancient dusty 11th century Islamic manuscripts. Very special. The Amogjar Pass was amazing but the piste was very rocky at times and hard going. I had to guide Rob over the boulders. Not a Dakar car in site though. We eventually found them as we pulled back in Atar. They were all clearing out the fuel stations. Good thing we filled up this morning otherwise we would have to wait three days for more fuel to arrive. Stayed at Bab Sahara, which is actually a cool place. They had bumped their prices up for the rally, which was annoying but the atmosphere was pretty festive. We found another South African couple driving to Cape Town doing a route pretty similar to ours so I am sure we will meet up again. Have also met the funniest English couple, Matt and Safi, driving to Ghana in a 2CV, which they paid 90 quid for. What a laugh…they are very entertaining. Bless him, he got his numbers mixed up in French and ended up buying a 10kg bag of peanuts! Safi has been fantastic in managing to sneak peanuts into every meal so far so the bag is finally diminishing. Atar


Amogjar pass
Day Forty Four 13/1. Auberge Sahara, Nouakchott, Mauritania
18°06.15'N 15°59.85'W. Miles today 263, Total Miles 5206
Have to drive to the capital of Noukchott today to get our visas for Mali. Took a detour around the Dakar Rally camp. It's absolutely HUGE. A whole city set up in the middle of nowhere with aeroplanes, tents, trucks, cars, bikes and hundreds of people. Way too much testosterone for me. Including myself, I counted seven women. Security didn't seem to be an issue and we managed to sneak our way into the food tent. Oh my word, they were eating bacon and eggs with pancakes too. I am sure we could have got away with getting some but there were no sausages so I wasn't up for the challenge. We had to get going as it's a long, very boring but tarred road to Noukchott. Six hours later we pulled into the welcoming Auberge Du Sahara, where we could camp in the car park. They have a funky roof terrace where you can sit and escape from all the sand. Shortly after, the Banjul Rally lot pulled up, including the ambulance. Poor guys were looking particularly dishevelled. Having got stuck in the sandstorm, they had lost three cars in the desert and were now all crammed into the remaining four cars. "Sorry guys, there's no beer here" I broke gently to them. "Mate, I've been stuck in the back of an ambulance for two days. I'm happy with some cold water" was the reply. Well, that puts things into perspective! Five minutes later, Matt and Safi arrived, their 2 CV still going strong, although the back window keeps falling in! Rumour has it that the Café Bruxelles up the road does a mean cheeseburger and chips so we all headed up there for a feast. Wonderful evening with good burgers. Highly recommended. It's Sunday tomorrow, so we'll just hang out here doing the internet thing and checking out the market for provisions (and watching out for donkeys) and then get our visas and head for Mali on Monday. There's a French store here selling cheese for exorbitant prices. But have decided that life's too short to go without cheese so am gonna have to blow half a days budget on two small blocks of Gouda and some Camel cheese. Now, if only someone had got my hint about buying me that sausage making machine advertised in the back of the Good Food magazine for Christmas……we could have had camel sausages! Daker rally

Dakar rally

2CV
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