(19) 26 March. Beach-ed

We have had an interesting day.

We got up, suffered the dawn raid of mossies and as a result decided to set off as quickly as possible and have breakfast on the beach. So we retraced our steps to the coast where our first challenge was not getting down the steep sandy slope onto the beach - gloriously wide and with Atlantic breakers rolling in - but deciding whether we were going to risk not getting back up it later in the day. What the hell, you don't come on a trip like this without being ready to take a chance now and again so we unanimously agreed we would go for it (and unanimously we were thinking to ourselves 'I'm sure the others know what they are doing.'). Our sand driving expert, Robin, set off in his team's Mercedes and proved that as long as we revved our engines to the point where our cars sounded like space shuttles taking off then anything was possible. So off down the slope we all went, four cars in all as yesterday we had picked up another group, and played around on the harder sand near the sea. Ok, it was not as hard as we had thought and we had to dig a couple of cars out but generally we coped. 

We parked up on the sand, went for a swim, had a cooked breakfast and then agreed that we would head off down the beach-line for a few miles, keeping close to the wet sand near the receding tide, the sand being firmer there. Seven miles down the beach at speeds of up to 70 mph. It was great fun. Then we turned round for the return trip. 

Things that tell you that your morning is not quite going to plan: firstly, four out of four cars get stuck in the supposedly harder sand turning round; and secondly, whilst digging one of the cars out you notice the water is lapping round the tyres of one of the others... who said the tide was going out…?

We got one car going and it headed off into the distance safely down the beach to the point where we had started 7 miles along. Some of us were now having visions of the remaining cars being lost to the sea as we dug sand and rammed sand boards and planks under tyres and pushed but only succeeded in getting the cars a few feet on before they got stuck again. So we opted for safety and slowly got each car up the beach out of harm's way where we expected to have to wait for a while before the tide actually did go out.

At this point the gods decided to smile upon us: along the high water mark were tracks made by four wheel drive cars and although the surrounding sand was soft we found the tracks were quite impacted. So we unloaded the cars of as much weight as possible and one by one got them going and along these tracks in the hope they might make some distance greater than a few feet. It worked and all three cars got back to the start in one go leaving six of us to walk back along the beach carrying the unloaded contents. Yes, Sue pulled rank and drove back.

And our worry about getting back up the slope and off the beach? Well that was the easy bit with only one car needing a little help to do the last few feet and which was thankfully given a tow by a passing four wheel drive; it saved us from digging and pushing again.

As a result of today our cars are ingrained with sand, our clothes are ingrained with sand and our bodies are ingrained with sand. And we are tired from the day's exertions. But I am writing this as we now head down the Moroccan coast road making our push for the border to sell the cars. We now have two days to cover over 700 miles so the off road is over and it is now miles of tarmac, desert and dramatic Atlantic coastline. Tonight's stop is Sidi Akhfennir where we understand there is a place that does very good fresh fish.

Post Script. We probably will not be having that nice dinner now as we have been pulled over and fined £60 for not stopping at a 'Stop' sign (in Arabic it has to be said).