(21) 28 March. At Dakhla!

We awoke this morning with the moon sitting low and shining across the water. For the first time on this trip everything was a bit damp - from sea mist - but I suppose that is the price you pay for the pleasure of camping on sea cliffs.

Our plan for the next couple of days keeps changing slightly: we know the border does not open until 8.30 and we must cross it to sell car. But between the border and Dakhla there is little but 300 miles of desert. Our original plan had been to camp near the border and drive in early but we remembered the small detail of the land mines that litter this area from the conflict over Western Sahara and which have yet to be fully cleared: going 'off piste' is not a good plan here, especially as you get further south. So now it will be a drive into Dakhla and a very early run for the border. Today's drive then would be relatively short with more of the same rocky desert views on this isolated road. Of course, we would always have the joy of police checkpoints every now and again.

We made the journey in good time without any 'infractions' and hence no fines. In fact, apart from the inconvenience, these check points are generally fine and manned by the 'Greys' with whom you can share a laugh. We soon reached the turn off for Dakhla.

Dakhla itself lies at the end of a 24 mile long, narrow spit of land off the west Africa coast. It is quite isolated. Apart from one or two small resorts that specialise in kite surfing, making use of the beautiful white sandy bays and strong winds on the protected side of the spit, there is nothing until you reach the town. We tried to stay at one of these places (which would have saved us a bit of time in the morning driving out) but for various reasons ended up in the town itself. Nevertheless, we drove back there in the evening to make the most of high classbeach resort comfort, great views and to watch the sunset with cocktails! Here we met Freya, an expat who sometimes helps teams like us on this trip (although some of us had heard not quite so glowing reports on just how altruistic that help was). But she was not pushy and was a mine of information on local politics and the region in general, although with a somewhat strange angle on things it has to be said: apparently the police put all the check points in for our own protection so they can monitor our progress through the country and call out search teams if we fail to reach the next one...yeah…right…

Tomorrow we sell the car. None of us are quite sure what to expect but we hear it is madness. It seems to be a bit of an event too as, during our travels in the south,we have been approached by locals in towns asking us if we are heading to the border to sell our cars and pressing us to contact them. Whatever happens we expect the whole process will be weighted against us. Watch his space. 

I’m now off to my comfortable bed and hopefully a good sleep before our 4.30am start.