The lights didn’t bother me any in the end I lay down, I went to sleep, end of story. I did need to pee in the night at which point I discovered that we had a police guard and that I was about to pee in their direction from about 10m – figured I should wander the other way!
Yesterday as we’d come into camp we’d seen signs for a campground ahead advertising douche chaud (hot showers) and had been disappointed that we weren’t staying there – it turns out that was the ‘ghost camp’ which the were supposed to camp at, but a. it’s closed down permanently, and b. now more-or-less inundated by the sand dune so we’d camped where we had because there was some shelter from the wind for the kitchen / main camp.
The consequence was that yesterday was 1.5km shorter, today 1.5km longer – the swings and the roundabouts in action – but on the whole better to have stopped earlier yesterday given how tough things were.
We agreed over morning coffee that Canadian Kevin and I would ride out together, that Mateo was going to take the truck to lunch (his back was giving him trouble) and that Australian Kevin would stick with us for a time, but probably ride on his own. Out on the road and the wind wasn’t as bad as it’d been yesterday, but still making things slow going.
As we passed through the town of Tarfaya we dropped Australian Kevin and Kevin and I got back into our routine making solid but unspectacular progress. We stopped to take a photo of the ferry parked on the beach!
We continued on, and stopped again at the point we crossed into Western Sahara – not entirely sure we were in the right spot, but it was at the right distance, so we figured we were there! As far as Morocco is concerned it’s all just part of Morocco so no need for a sign.
Around 60ish km Dominic caught us and we made it a team of three – it took a little while to get a rhythm going, but once we did it helped with the extra person taking a turn at the front. Dominic is also a super-strong rider which makes being behind him something of a mixed blessing – he can pull a group insanely well, but he tends to push the pace and I was finding keeping up with him somewhat challenging!
At lunch we heard that they had brought six people form camp who had set off, but then the dinner truck had subsequently swept three of them off the road, so clearly conditions weren’t getting much easier. Paul and Erwin came into lunch while we were there – like their shirts!
Dominic, Kevin and I set off again and for a while the conditions were somewhat better which helped get the distance done. As we were coming in to Foum El Qued we hit the main highway which improved the road surface and Dominic took off. Kevin stayed with him, but they soon dropped me and I rode in behind them. They were kind enough to wait, and we took a break at a small cafe with Sprite and cake.
Setting off again we were going to take the detour out to the second of the shipwrecks in the coat, but the track looked pretty soft and sandy and we decided ‘from the road’ was close enough.
Although it was quite close to the previous stop we’d been intending to stop on El Marsa as well, but there are so many fish processing plants in the town that it absolutely stinks. We also had the wind behind us for a few km so decided not to squander that and just rocked on through.
As we were leaving town we crossed a conveyer belt coming in from the desert to the port. I didn’t realise the significance of it at the time so didn’t stop to take a photo, but it turns out to be the longest conveyer belt in the world and carries phosphate from a mine over 100km inland to the port.
We took a break at the side of the road 15km from camp at which point it seemed like it was reasonably calm, but on the bike it was still tough going so we kept turning over the lead rider every 500m.
Again camp has come forward a little – rather than being completely ‘out in the middle of nowhere’ as had been planned, the dinner truck is tucked in behind the wall surrounding a cell site to provide some protection from the wind.
There’s no concept of a ‘wired’ phone network in this part of Morocco so there are many cell sites – powered by a combination of solar panels and diesel generators – all within ‘line of sight’ of each other because they are linked in a chain via microwave. When you’re camped below one such tower you get surprisingly good connectivity for the middle of nowhere!
We agreed that today hadn’t been as tough as yesterday, but after yesterday it was tough enough, particularly with, once again, the prospect of another 138km of the same tomorrow. It would be fair to say that I’m pretty much done in after the last two days!
I’ve taken my tent off behind a pile of sand and rubble from the demolition of some previous buildings at this site to be further away from other campers and their nighttime noises and routines, had a bottle shower, rinsed out my kit and am now waiting on dinner and hoping for something more inspirational than last night!
Later: I’m pleased to report that dinner was a significant step up tonight with shepherds pie and salad – very tasty. I’ve also been for a bit of a wander out towards the nearby dunes where there are some pretty cool miniature plants (see photos below).
View from my tent
Selfie of the day
A rather tired looking me!
Riding data
And this is what you do for fun! 😉 I took a look at the conveyor belt on Google Earth – visible from space it seems.