Today we carried on our descent from the mountains that we aborted last night. As we are getting on so well as groups we also mixed the cars up a bit; one of the Irish guys went with Sue and I travelled with the other in their car so we could work on some songs for the entertainment around that night's camp fire.
We reckoned we still had some 9 miles to go to Knob but at least the s-bend descent had finished and we were more or less level. Sue actually achieved 50 mph over a wide, flat, moonscape-like plateau towards the end of the descent.
From Knob we headed on good road to Zagora where we would then head west into the desert 20 miles north of Algeria and along a track that we understood to be solid, if not tarmaced. At some point between Zagora and the next town some 80 miles distant (Foum Zguid) we would drive off into the sand and set our camp. But first we made a garage stop. Our car needed an exhaust repair after a hit in the previous hour or so; one of the Mercedes needed its sump plate re-welding and the other needed a couple of bolts replacing. After sorting this and making the obligatory diversion to local carpet stores (always at the insistence of the locals) it was a visit to the souk where we bought food including half a lamb and various spices for a desert BBQ. Unfortunately we were to be disappointed again in our aim for the day.
Here are the things that we failed to appreciate: there would be a horrendous wind blowing sand wildly across the road in the first part of the journey (so camping was out); after only a few miles the sand would end and become jagged rock (so camping was out); and in a number of places the rough hardcore road would disappear, having been swept away by water at some time in the past, and we would have to follow tortuous diversions to rejoin it. We had also not reckoned on getting two punctures on one of the Mercedes, which slowed us further. We decided that, assuming we did not find ourselves trapped out for the night, we would have to press on all the way to Foum Zquid. Our progress was slow and it was now getting late but ten miles from the town things took a more positive turn: instead of rough hard core, requiring slow and careful driving, the road became smooth tarmac which we could really belt along. So the plan changed again. In general we needed to get west as fast as we could in order to get to Dakhla to sell the car while at the same time balancing this with the need to make the best of the off road routes in this part of Morocco. We decided to press on along what what was now good road to the town of Tata, a good launch point for other routes, and hopefully somewhere we could get a shower to wash off the sand that the day's events had blasted into our bodies.
So we rounded off the day with a good fast night run to Tata some 90 miles away getting there at 9.30pm and finding a half decent hotel (except for a few water problems). Everyone headed for dinner in a local restaurant other than me, who stayed in having caught some lurgy. Then it was bed and the hope of reaching the desert tomorrow.
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