Ghadames to Ghat

Saturday 26th November. We got up early to prepare for the 600km desert stretch down to Ghat. The light was quite spectacular and gave John the opportunity to try and make picturesque the rubbish outside of Ghadames. Rubbish seems to be a general problem along road sides in northern Libya. The guides had to do various paperwork with the police in town and we had to do various shopping for our four day desert drive. John resisted the temptation to buy a camel’s head from the butcher. The figs on a string I bought turned out to have meat in them anyway. It was then about midday before we left Ghadames. The guide led the way, and at the start we pretty much followed the route L2 in Chris Scotts guide. Because of all the rain there was one patch of quite slippery, clayey mud in the generally stony desert – Hamada. There were interesting table top and conical mountains around and we headed through a valley before stopping for lunch. At lunch I was pleased to find what looked like two desert melons, which when I checked in my Collins Gem SAS survival guide turned out to be wild gourds. Our guide said they were not very nice. Soon after lunch we found a dry wadi full of these things. We headed on to what may have been an old oil exploration site. It had a tall mast, but didn’t give my mobile any signal. We headed a more south easterly route here, away from the Chris Scott route. We then found a second shrubbery patch for that nights camp. The first one was already occupied. The stars were great and we saw the milky way and had a bit of a debate amongst ourselves about which one was Venus. We thought we could see the glow of the moon rising in the west, but it never rose. Instead it must have been an Algerian gas well, one of a number that line the border. It was pretty cold and the first time I’ve worn my gloves.
Sunday 27th November. The Dutchies were having problems starting their car which was quite worrying for them. This was quite worrying for them until they found an immobilizer switch that had been pressed which they never knew they had. We got going to arrive shortly at a border post, about 30 km off our route and from the Algerian border. John checked that he could take photos. The border man had 3 Toyotos, but none of them had tyres. An impressive array of solar panels though. Our guides said there would be others doing circuits of the area. The border man gave us some tea, but it was a hit heavy. Ramadan handed over some paperwork. At lunch John found an interesting lump to climb. We headed on before reaching the dunes later in the afternoon. It wasn’t long before we were stuck and digging. And sure enough Steve and Lucas also had a go at getting stuck. We reached a suitable camp spot and I think the desert guide was despairing. He doesn’t speak much English, but does have a Man U baseball cap. Ramadan, our guide who can’t drive was telling us that the driving was easy because of the recent rain. The guide never changed his type pressures through the route, but with the extra weight we were carrying, we needed to change ours. The desert guide, a very little guy that can’t weigh much more than 6 or 7 stone sleeps outside by his campfire every night. (pictured collecting firewood). George found a very big bird to play with, but I think the bird was having the greatest laugh watching George chase it up the dunes.
Monday 28th November. The day started with a very steep dip off a dune with no warning, and continued in roller coaster fashion. The Dutchies got stuck first and there continued pretty frequent stops with digging. Even the guide got stuck once, but he got out pretty easily. The scenery then changed to wider expanses with softer sand. Our car was struggling towards lunch with over heating so John decided it was time to stop for lunch. It was pretty hot. We have no air conditioning in the car and John thought he would go one better – he’d turn the heating on!! This was to help cool the engine apparently. The afternoon got easier traveling on salt pan/wadi floor type areas. We just headed back into some dunes at the end of the afternoon for a camping spot. The best setting yet. It was quite an exhausting trip up the dunes this morning. We found out from Ramadan that the desert guide has a brother in an Algerian jail for driving over the border, so sounded quite a good reason not to go there! Chris Scott’s book indicates that it is acceptable to do this short detour into Algeria, and a lone tree at the border is pictured in Michael Palin’s book
Tuesday 29th November. Another day driving in the sand! The guide had planned to make it to Ghat, but this was too far for us. We were only getting stuck more towards the end of the day and coping with the changes from hard to soft sand. With the sun setting we decided it was time to pitch camp. Another good spot, not quite as spectacular as yesterday and I’m glad I took the time at lunchtime in the hot sunshine to wash my hair as this is our 4th night in the desert!
Wednesday 30th November. It took a good 2.5 hours to get to the tarmac road and it was a particularly dusty escape. We then said goodbye to the Arkno guide that was with the Dutchies. He appeared a pretty good guide. We continued with our little desert guide in his own vehicle with our guide Ramadan. The mountains along the 100km road to Ghat were quite spectacular in their jagged formation. We were also looking out for Jebel Idinen – the mountain of the spirits where we were warned not to leae our car so it wouldn’t disappear.

Berber Graneries and Ghadames

Thursday 24th November. At about 3 or 4 in the morning it started pouring with rain. Unfortunately it was still doing this at 8 in the morning when we realized the sun was not going to be there to dry all our camping stuff. Most of us had left wet weather stuff at home as a bit unnecessary for our sahara journey. Even some wadis started flowing.
We traveled for about an hour before visiting one of the fortified berber granaries. This was in a town that sounded something like Gasrihajj. It wasn’t on our map or in the guidebook – footprint from 2000 which has been quite basic and looks like it could be developed a lot further. This confused our guide as when I asked our guide the night before where we were camping, he’d scanned the whole of north west libya, southern Tunisia and eastern Algeria to find where we were. But I was confident we were still in north west Libya. I think his confusion was heightened by not being able to find the place name.
We continued on in the rain for another couple of hours until the spectacular hairpin bends upto Nalut and took a sharp left to a nice hotel overlooking the old berber settlement for a coffee, before exploring this area. We then drove another hour and took the rough camping option again, driving off the road across to some dunes. It was still raining, but a good setting.
Steve found some of his whisky in an old coca cola bottle. Our guide is also partial to fairly heavy measures of whisky. A sip of John’s glass was enough for me to warm the throat, but after half a wine glass Ramadan got up to get some more. I stopped him saying none of us were drinking any more. I didn’t want to see all the whisky drunk before we’d got to cold Algeria.
Friday 25th November Ramadan heard Robbie William’s CD in our car this morning and indicated that at the border he would like to put it in his pocket. Just in case I hadn’t understood this he explained to me fully. I’m worried that John may find it difficult to part with Robbie, although he’s beginning to warm to the idea, chuckling as he’s imagining Ramadan singing along to Robbie. We had a coffee stop in Darj, where I took Gadaffis billboard picture and Barbara and I had the added excitement of seeing some camels pull in to the petrol station.
We arrived in Ghadames by early afternoon. John and Steve went to do car oil changes before our next big desert drive while the rest of us went exploring the old town of Ghadames. No one lives in the old town, but it is a UNESCO world heritage site. We wandered around quite a maze of old walls around the palmerie before we ended up in the central whitewashed buildings of the central old town. We’d wandered quite a way before we saw a man painting the entrance hall of his old house and he invited us in for a look round. He explained that there are four tribes in Ghadames – Berber (which he was), Taureg, Hausa and Garamates. The women traditionally painted the houses before they were married, mainly in red with some yellow and green, but he was trying to copy the traditional style and doing very well. The old down has no services with ash being traditionally thrown down the toilet. He has had an Italian family staying in his house, although there are no services. It certainly had a far superior character to many Libyan hotels. Up on the roof was the kitchen and where the women spent all their time, but with the houses so close together it meant the women could quite easily communicate with each other. In the summer when the men also went up to sleep on the cool roof, they had to duck so they didn’t seen the women of the neighbouring houses. He also said that Ghadames was bombed during the second world war. We continued wandering around the old town, quite a long wander, past the football patch and irrigated areas. It was lucky we had Lucas with us to help us find our way back.
That evening John was spotted by a Dutch couple. These were the people who had contacted him on the Sahara Overland forum about joining us for the crossing from Libya to Niger. They’d taken 28 hours to cross from Tunisia to Libya. They were a day late for meeting their guide, but they already had Libyan Visas. However the border police would not let them through without a guide. When contact was made with Arkno, they diusowned them for being late and didn’t trust them. So they had to spend a night in their rooftop tent in the Libyan border area. Fortunately the next day a senior border police official got involved telling Arkno, they had to provide a guide for the Dutch tourists. This was then the same day we crossed and he may have been worried about having a couple of Dutchies camping in their rooftop tent again as Gaddafi was passing through. This made John feel better as it appears in Libya there is still no option but to have a guide.
The Dutchies, Michael and Karin had a different guide booked in Ghadames for the desert driving before Niger who would be far more familiar with the area than our guide Ramadan. So we organized to join up with them. The new guide has his own four wheel drive car and could put Ramadan in there with him which was a relief for Kathy and Steve to get their space back.

Crazy driving league

1. Libya North Coast. Like a computer game driving challenge. Cars overtake through any gap possible. Near Tripoli there are two lanes each side of the road, but routinely 3 are squeezed in, 4 is attempted and not at low speed. Junctions are not taken by indicating in advance, but by cutting across at an 80 degree angle from the outside lane and breaking quite hard in front of the inside lane car continuing straight. There is no hard shoulder type area, but often there is an area of sand 50 metres wide before shops. If the road gets chocker, this is used for overtaking – see piccie. It is also generally used for driving in either direction which makes us slightly nervous on the main road next to it. The driving is one thing that the Libyan’s have kept from the Italian period and embellished. Road signs are a particular challenge, all being in Arabic. For the westerner the only place easy to attempt is the airport as it has a plane picture. We’re wondering what has recently been signposted over 1000 km from Tripoli. The ‘leader of the revolution’, Muammar Al Qathafi, is pictured on a number of roadside billboards adjacent to a map with Libya shining out of Africa. The number 36 is also on a lot of roadside signs reminding everyone that it is 36 years since the revolution. The Arabic sign in the central reservation may be a more toned down one of these. On a more sober note, our guide Ramadan was a passenger in a car accident in Libya this year which is why he is missing quite a number of teeth. The female tourist next to him died.
2. Italy. Both Land Rovers were cut up just after we exited the France/Italy tunnel and 3 lanes narrowed to two.
3. Tunisia – compared to Libya, a piece of cake. There is the usual problem of cars with no lights
4. France

Most popular portrait

1. Ben Ali, Tunisian President. He was everywhere, in all the hotels, bars, and offices.
2. Dillon the Bloodhound – Dillon at Dougga is now even the laptop screensaver.
3. Gadaffi. On the big roads around Tripoli, on big and small billboards, at the border, most towns and in big hotels, he’s there. Oh and he will be on John’s belly now he has the T Shirt.
Once I'd taken Gadaffi's picture at Darj, others wanted their picture taken too - 3 truckers passing through. Then there was the added excitement of spotting camels at the petrol station.

Toilettes

1. Roman latrines at Sabratha. John felt quite at home!
2. WCs at Café Sahara, 30 km into the desert from Douz

Tripoli

Monday 21st November, we braved getting into our cars again to try and find the Niger Consulate/Embassy for visas for Lucas and Barbara. This was tricky enough even with Ramadan making a number of phone calls as the guide book certainly does not see this worthy of listing. We then parked up in a central car park near the green square which seems to double up as a camping site for camper vans. Not my idea of a campsite! The main museum in the castle is unfortunately closed on Mondays, but we wondered around the medina, saw inside the Gurgi mosque and the Marcus Aurelius arch. Wandering around the medina was very easy – no hassle at all, and although not quite the character of Fes’s medina, it did mean that you had a good chance of finding your own way out! John, Barbara and Steve went for a longer wander and brought us back some good food and John was pleased with the pictures he got of some kids in the medina. A young girl took a photo of her little brother, and she was so excited at seeing the digital image of her bother John had to prise his camera back out of her hands. Cashpoints do not yet seem to have been established in Tripoli. There seems to be only one and this was temporarily offline, so it was quite a relief to go in and get some Libyan dinars later.
Ramadan took us to meet his family, wife, three daughters and one of his two sons. The son is studying to be an architect and his eldest daughter is studying English at an Institute. We enjoyed some of his wife’s great food. Chilli spiced meat and onions and sweet prune baklava like pastries.

Sabratha and Leptis Magna

Tuesday 22nd November. We had an early start of the roman ruins of Sabratha. We were the first people there wandering around. The theatre was very impressive with 3 tiers of columns as a back drop. John was pleased with his paparazzi photo of a Libyan woman and her daughter. The daughter was looking captivated across at Dillon the bloodhound, not the theatre. We tried to find the amphitheatre and failed, but found an underground entrance to some caves which had graves carved out into the sides. The gated entrance had been left open and with a torch you could see skeletons, mostly broken within the stone graves on the floor and sides which had been prised open. I quickly went back out not really liking skeletons, dark and was worried that someone may come along and lock the gate. Meanwhile Barbara admitted she’d always wanted to be an archaeologist, John was in his element in a network of tunnels and caves and Lucas is just a constant explorer.
The Sabratha museum contains some great mosaics. The large floor mosaic contains a whole range of different birds and Barbara was pleased that both her surnames, le coq and lily leaf were represented. John said it would be much more important to have a Brewer – we already spent two dry nights in a country where alcohol is illegal.
We braved another journey across Tripoli to Leptis Magna. We found a hotel which was a bit more officious; they wouldn’t give our passport back until the morning. The evening meal was the best we’ve had so far. This side of Tripoli is an agricultural area. It has been a struggle both in Tunisia and Libya to get meals like the locals. Once they see you’re a tourist you are asked meat or fish (a struggle for the vegetarian Kathy and Steve) which they fry with chips. But here we got Ramadan to negotiate with the waiter to get us the local stuff. The first time we managed this since a local restaurant in El Kef, Tunisia where John managed to order 3 meals.
Across the restaurant was the ‘Bar’ (no alcohol, just non-alcoholic Becks) were a lot of young locals in big 70’s patterned brown armchairs crowded around the TV for Champions league football. Ronaldinio’s goal for Barcelona against Bremen was the most popular. John was just a bit worried that meanwhile Man U could be falling out of the competition.
Wednesday 23rd November. We arrived at Leptis Magna just before the first tour bus. We headed straight to Septimus Severus arch (pictured with our guide Ramadan) and onto the Hadrianic baths (hot, cold and tepid), nymphaeum and onto the Imperial Forum where there are the much photographed medusa heads. At the basilica, two Germans pointed out a stone engraved with MaxBrittanicas and some steps in the roman structure led up to the dizzy heights over the Basilica and view over the Mediterranean. We soon lost Barbara and not long after John, but explored the Old Forum, Market and theatre. From the theatre roof (Lucas and always be found high up on a monument) he managed to spot Barbara. We then went across the beach (nicely silted up Severian port), just avoided the temptation for a swim and our last look at the sea for some time for a pretty exhausting walk to the amphitheatre. Still no sign of John – wondered whether he would crawl out of one of the amphitheatre tunnels. Only Lucas and Steve had energy left to explore. Fortunately it was carved out of the hillside so we arrived at a great view from the top. We managed to find John back at the entrance café and had just settled down to typing the waypoints into the laptop for the route south from Ghadames, Libya. It was quite amazing that we were struggling to find everyone within Leptis Magna and we’re moving on to the Sahara. The good thing about this site is it is also very easy to lose the few coach loads of tourists that there are. We then headed in land towards the Jebel Nafusa plateau after a spot of fruit and veg shopping at one of the roadside stalls. We rough camped an hour or two down the road.
Lucas lit our first campfire from the dead wood around, before we retired for an early night. Thursday 24th November.

El Kef, Tunisia to Tripoli, Libya

Weds 16th November. After a day’s driving from El Kef through not over spectacular scenery so I read my books we ended up at the Tamerza Palace hotel just as it had got dark, which was a splurge and exceeded all standards so far. For our bank balances sake, we can’t do this for the next few countries to come.
Thurs 17th November
The fellow hotel guest included the Japanese, most of who were painting the hotel in the morning, although two decided that the ruins of the old town were more worthy.
We were less artistic and just drank more coffee on the terrace.
Tamerza is one of 3 desert oasis villages close to the Algerian border. It rained for 22 days in 1969 and washed away a number of buildings, so they constructed new towns next to the old. But they’re now reconstructing the old for the tourists to look at.
With 2 engineers we had to have a construction site safety photo of the extension to the hotel they were building below.
From the road out of Tamerza we could look across beyond the last oasis and see the wide salt flat expanse of Algeria.











Further down the road towards Tozeur, we reached Chott el-Jerid, a salt lake. Some of the first Star Wars was here apparently. There’s some interesting more recent artwork to entice tourists to stop and buy a desert rose or clothing. We reached Douz in the afternoon and set up for our first nights camping. The camp site was in the palmerie. The guys enjoyed showing off the camping equipment and setting up the tents which was fine for Kathy and Me!
In the evening we set about preparing for our first desert driving. Route, T2 in Chris Scott’s Sahara overland book, between Douz and Ksar Ghirlane (100km route). Ksar Ghirlane is too small for the north Africa Mitchlen map and the nearest thing is Mont de la Colonne Leclerc. John entered the co-ordinates onto the computer and downloaded them to the GPSs. Steve cooked some pasta for our first camping meal accompanied by two bottles of Chateau Mornag. A Tunisian red wine which tastes quite good, although 2002 is a bit rough, 2003 tastes much better. John drank all of his bottle of dodgy white Italian wine before I suggested opening the whisky for a final drink before going to bed. Only once John got started he though the bottle should be finished which it was, only Kathy staying clear of it. Then John showed he could no longer walk straight and it was time for bed and amazingly he made it all the way up the ladder to bed.
This probably wasn’t the best preparation for the first desert driving and after going to the internet café in town it was after midday before we started to find the first waypoint. At least there was no whisky left in the car!
We managed the 30km to Café Sahara, quite well only going wrong once. Stopped off at the café and tried some pain du sable – quite a heavy bread but very nice. The trip said it would take a full day, but we were making quite good progress – until we hit the bigger dunes and seemed to be following the quad bike tracks. As we got better track round the dunes the sun was setting and the route to our next waypoint still seemed to be through the highest dunes. This is where we stopped for the night. We didn’t have a lot of choice as we were still about 25km short of the destination and after managing to get John’s vehicle level with Steve’s following the use of sand ladders, digging and Dillon’s carpet it was totally dark and time to stop. It was a great spot for camping though. Watching the moon rise over the dunes was spectacular.
Saturday 19th Nov, we completed the route, which wasn’t too difficult when we were following the right route, but still needed the use of winches at times. We reached Medanine ready to reach the Libyan border by Sunday lunchtime. We were rocked to pieces between Ksar Ghirlane and Tatouine, and winched two Belgians in a hire car out of the sand. What became amazing later was how they’d got that far from Tatouine.
Sunday 20th November. We seem to be setting records for longest border crossing times on what are not particularly known as difficult border crossings. We arrived at 11:00 Tunisian time, 12:00 Libyan time and met Barbara and Lucas for the first time. It took about an hour to get out of Tunisia. The small bit of text in John’s passport about the CB and GPS was found, the cars all searched for whisky and the Libyan official brought through for CB and GPS discussion and search of cars. Barbara was able to show off her great range of languages straight away and looked like our best diplomatic representative. The main thing they seemed to be looking for was whisky. I don't know how much they find as they looked at our particularly glaucous looking bottle of olive oil. We unsealed it for a sniff which seemed to satisfy them. Once on the Libyan side we had to wait ¾ hour for our guide Ramadan, from Arkno Tours to help us with the visa applications (you still seem to need an invite to get a visa and get into Libya). Still there’s been a few occasions when I’ve been this late! The car paperwork needed to be done and Libyan tourist number plates obtained. They look quite impressive! John was elected to help with the paperwork for all the cars. Steve was getting a bit worried when John and Ramadan hadn’t returned after an hour with no obvious sign of them. Meanwhile John was enjoying some red tea with the Libyan border officials and Ramadan. I managed to complete my round the world trip with Ewan McGreggor here. It makes this part of the journey seem quite easy – no Kalashnikovs, 10 hour border crossing and he even used the same mapping software – Tourtech. The Libyan officials were fine with the GPS and CB radio. Maybe it was the negotiation from Ramadan as it was surprising that Tunisia and Morocco are more paranoid than Libya, although we later saw that we could buy our GPSs in Tripoli. We then also got a tall young slim Libyan, our tourist policeman apparently. Groups generally seem to have tourist policeman. This one didn’t have a uniform and fortunately no obvious gun, but like other countries with tourist police he didn’t speak English and I only managed to understand from him that he came from Binghazi. With no more seats for him, we put him in the back of our car where with no where to put your feet you have to sit cross legged and there is not enough space for me to sit up straight. None of the police were interested in us, the requirement for a guide or a policeman. Over the border we soon stopped at a petrol station. Ten libyan dinar, less than five pounds, seem to buy you as much as you like! At this particular place they seemed to be spilling it everywhere. There were lots of police on the way into Tripoli, but we were told this was because Gadaffi (or a fuller title for him is preceded by the leader of the revolution) was on his way back to Tripoli from Tunisia. We didn't see him in the flesh though - only on roadside posters. Apparently water costs 3 times as much as petrol.The drive to Libya gave us a chance to experience the crazy driving. We got our first excursion around Tripoli, trying to find a hotel for the night. In Tripoli we got rid of the tourist policeman, following some animated Arabic between Ramadan and the tourist policeman which cost us 150 Euros. Probably way over the top.

El Kef and Dougga, Tunisia

Tuesday 15th we headed out to the roman site of Dougga. Very impressive roman ruins, complete with theatre, Masoleum (which the British stole part of for the British Museum and the French re-built early last century - bottom, right of picture) and the Capitol building (top left( which were all very striking as we approached the site.


We were the only two cars parked on the south side of the site and there was only one group of French archaeology group walking around the site. There were several arched entrances to the site, numerous temples, bathhouses, cisterns, roman roads (curved around the hilltop, not straight( and a brothel. This was set high on a hill with a view over neighbouring farmland. Some local kids were wandering around the site collecting olives from the trees. We tried some earlier but they were really bitter, but maybe these ones were not quite ripe.

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On the way back to El Kef, we stopped off at a town for our first small shop of bread, tins and fruit before heading back to El Kef to relax in the hotel for the rest of the afternoon. The Hotel beer was a bit too cold – frozen actually and I couldn’t drink it as fast as the icy beer was rising out the top. Now off to find El Kef’s internet café, wander round the city walls and Kasbah and find a restaurant for a meal – just one!
Arabic keyboard is an interesting challenge together with using a blogger en francais

Genoa, Italy to Tunisia

Saturday 12th November. We headed south across the foggy plains to the mountain pass full of bridges and viaducts to Genoa glowing in the bright Mediterranean sunshine. It was only about 13:00 but we headed straight to the port both John and Steve itching to get there. But it was about 5 hours to the boat left. I ‘m always keen to try and see a bit more and a trip down the coast to Portofino compared to the port activities appealed more to me. There were already about 20 vehicles there. Cars Africa bound full inside to the brim with only just enough space for drivers or any passengers and covered packages on the roof, uniquely shaped. Also a few 4x4s, African overland and a strange bright drag car. It then bucketed it down with rain and Genoa and the mountains behind were greyed out with the only visibility being the big ‘Excellent’ sign on the next boat beyond the Dagenham like piles of containers. We left just after 18:00 where Genoa did not look to appealing in the pouring rain and we retired to a beer. Sunday 13th November. Happy birthday Corinne! We got up to late to see any of Sardinia. Not bad Mediterranean cruise weather with a warm breeze and sunshine. We pulled into Tunis with a nice orange glow as the sun was setting. They don’t employ the cross channel ferry method of getting you off the boat as quick as possible as by the time we drove off the sun had set. The passport check and form filling was pretty quick and continued onto customs. This looked a lot more like Africa with lots of people milling round to help you, a few more official like men in grey suits and caps and cars parked up with some of the more laden cars having to remove everything from their boot. There were some impressive sights such as the smallest size van carrying the tallest fridge/freezer on the roof plus lots of other stuff on top and inside, but against the odds the back wheels still managed to turn. The first step was getting one of the car forms stamped and the next step a queue which resulted in a blue and green form for the car. This queue was not that long, but by the time we got to third, the lady was dealing with lots more passports and car forms from the side which meant we were really about 10th. Finally with all the forms we went back to the car where it appeared we still needed a final check of the cars contents and the import form we filled which asked us to declare what we were importing and how many for many household items including as refrigerateurs, sale a managers(!) and the bit more alarming arms and munitions. John declared the CB radio and a GPS which was a mistake as like Morocco, they ban these. This added a least an hour with lots of discussion and arguments between the grey suited men themselves with the result that we had to write these on the form and put the two items in what appeared to be a duty free carrier bag, tied tight at the top with newspaper binding tape and put them in the back of the car. Now with all the forms and the correct stamps, none of which cost money, we could get out and tackle Tunis. We drove across the causeway that runs inside a lake to the ville nouvelle. The streets were very clean with brightly lit fountains and lots of people out. Driving round we didn’t see a hotel that looked like it had secure parking. There are police on many roundabouts and traffic lights but if stop they stop you with their red baton they only seemed helpful. We had a short detour to the airport and passing of a Carrefour before heading out to Sidi Bou Said, with pictures in the guide book of a Santorini type appearance. Driving up to a couple of hotels in my guide book the area became a pedestrianised street and we realized we were on a one way street going the other way. Then asking a policeman for the way to a hotel we ended up at the Hotel Bou Said, well above our usual standard and certainly will not be continued, but at least it doesn’t appear as a western chain and has great views over Tunis. We then enjoyed a relaxing G&T (v expensive) and beer (reasonable taste and price). I had some great news when I asked the barman for the time. We found out it was the same time as Italy whereas on the boat we’d got the impression it was 2 hours ahead. So it was like the immediate announcement of a double daylight saving and meant we were drinking at 11, not 1 which was far more civilized. The receptionist said the hotel has guests for the internet summit. We laughed and was sure she meant just a conference, but I have just seen this on News 24 and Kofi Annan et al were in town. On Monday we went to Carthage to see some of the remains of the forum on the hilltop and the punic ports. Getting around Tunis proved harder than we expected, but we eventually found our way out on the west side and headed towards El Kef, but this took longer than we expected so we didn’t get there until dark. We checked into the Hotel Les Pins. Very nice but not quite as friendly as the hotel Lelkil down the road which was unfortunately full. Our first meal out in El Kef was interesting. The menu looked quite basis with individual items such as rice, petis pois and roast chicken. So John ordered these three which each turned out to be meals in themselves, each with meat and source. So I think John is on a sponsored weight gain. Fortunately the rest of us did not order so much. We then tried out our first bar, nice Celtia beer and yes Kathy and I were the only females in there, but they didn’t seem to mind.

London to France and Italy

Weds 9th November - We left at 5:30 a.m, a day later than planned, but this isn’t such a surprise for me and meant we left not in quite such a panic. I was able to watch Spurs on Monday, although not such a great result, plant those daffodils I’d never quite got round too, set up my hotmail account and we enjoyed a last night curry with John’s brothers, Ann, Scott and Judy. We got to the ferry, Dover with a good 15/20 minutes to spare which was quite a novelty. Took the classic picture of the white cliffs of Dover and gave my Grandad a quick call. But he was dashing out the door to play bowls with the lad down the road, even though it was only 8:30.
Once in France we made steady progress along the empty toll roads past the numerous piles of sugar beat. We arrived at Kathy and Steve’s place in the Loraine region by evening. Enjoyed an evening meal - a raclette – never seen these before, but involves a cooker on the table, cooking cheeses in little trays with veggies frying on top. Also enjoyed plenty of red wine as thought this may be one of the last chances. But this seems to be an emerging pattern over the last few weeks and maybe a detox is much needed.
The next day was pretty lazy for me, just a trip to the Carrefour with the task of getting what we would need for the next four months that wouldn’t be easy to get in Africa. And we couldn’t really be sure what that was. John picked up lots of different oils for oil changes.
Friday 11th November we packed up before 9:00 for the journey through France to Italy. We squeezed the duvet into the roof top tent which was quite painful on the hands as there was ice on top of the tent. We then took a few leaving photos with Dillon and George and set off.
The route along the valley to Italy was quite impressive with the sun setting on the limestone mountains and autumn coloured trees. The tolls were beginning to mount up and the nearly 13 km tunnel to Italy was about 30Euros. It was dark by the time we got through to Italy, but we immediately knew we were there by the driving as a couple of cars tried to cut us up as the lanes narrowed to one. We spent the night outside of Turin in a non-descript town of Rivioli.

Milage

Leaving North Finchley, London, 82,754 miles
Leaving Kathy and Steve’s place, Vosges, Lorraine, France, 83,252 miles
Leaving Genoa, arriving Tunisia, 83,785 miles
Leaving Tunisia, arriving Ras Ajder, Libya, 84660 miles
Tumu, Libya at the Niger border, 86,953 miles
In Guezzam, Algeria, at the Niger border, returning after travelling around Algeria, 89,438 miles. On the way out of Niger we managed to miss Assamaka and the Niger border post and forgot to take the mileage - probably due to the bad nights sleep in the 0 star Arlit hotel
Labbezanga, Mali at the Niger border, 90,438 miles
Mali, Mauritanian border between Lere and Bassikounou, 92,490 miles
Mauritania and Western Sahara border, 93, 941 miles
Tah, Western Sahara boundary with Morocco, 94,505 miles
Algerciras, Spain, 95424 miles
France, border with Spain, 96,251 miles
UK, home - err we forgot to record!

Sahara library

I seemed to have brought along a mini library, mostly with books kind of related to some part of the journey…………………..
Sahara Overland, Chris Scott – practical planning with information about vehicle requirements and routes.
Rough Guide to West Africa – includes Niger, Mali and Mauritania. Stolen with my bag in Niamey and unfortunately with the very few books available in West Africa, it was not possible to replace.
Sardines and Oranges, Short Stories from North Africa. A number of short stories by African writers (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia). A number of the stories show violence within the family during childhood. Some are about childhood legends or read like fables. Many are about the impact of westerners and money within their society. Very good. A few of the stories are not so interesting.
‘Exterminate all the Brutes’, Sven Lindqvist – This book reviews what was behind Conrad Doyle writing Heart of Darkness, which I’ve yet to read. This is a very chilling but interesting account of how Africa was colonized and how the ‘lower races’ were ruled over or killed, while in the background it details his journey south through Algeria into Niger, some of the route, we’ll be travelling.
North Africa Travel, Sickle Moon books – Has some short stories from Morocco and Algeria, particularly set in Essaouira and Fes. Reviews some historical expeditions through North Africa. Has news that was taking place in North Africa around 2000-2001. At the back it recommends the guides Mokhtar and Claudia and their company Tarahist which we are using for our Algerian travel.
Desert Travels, Chris Scott – About his motorbike journeys through the Sahara generally starting in Algeria. He provides a number of examples of trips that have to be abandoned either through the vehicle breaking up or injuries and accidents to people on their motorbikes. Also shows the difficulties in getting on with your traveling companions when someone just wants to rush through the Sahara in record time and conquer a few difficult dunes on the way. Hopefully our trip will not be like these! (post trip - the book was good for others to read once the cars started breaking up in Mauritania).
Includes some history such as the French, Colonel Flatters expedition down through the Hoggar Mountains, Algeria to plan the route of a new railway through the Sahara. Once they engaged with the Tuareg they were led into a gorge where half were massacred. In making their hasty retreat north, some Tuareg traded some dates which were poisoned with the efelehleh plant which made the men who ate them mad and shoot each other. Only a few survived back across the desert to safety to tell the tale. I don’t think I’ll mention that I’ve worked on railway projects here!
Sahara, The life of the great desert, Marq de Villiers & Sheila Hirtle – Half of the book is about the physical environment and the other half is about the history of the people and the trade.
Collins Gem, SAS Survival Guide – haven’t look at this much yet, but looked like a reassuring book to have!
Long Way Round, Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman, chasing shadows across the world. Nothing to do with the Sahara, but another motorbike journey and I though would be an insight into life with your traveling companions. Very good read, with a few scary examples of meeting people with guns and an example of waiting a long time at border crossing. I think one or both of them are planning to do the Paris Dakar rally next year, so some of a similar route, although certainly not speed.
Sahara, Michael Palin – Well most people have seen this. We don’t have the luxury of getting air lifted out and a trip home between places. But interesting insight into the Wodaabe festival (Cure Salee) at Ingal, Niger where the men put on the lipstick, foundation and mascara and the women then choose their man. We should be passing through Ingal on our way back down from Algeria, though unfortunately not at the time of the festival. Covers a lot of the route we’ll be traveling, but in reverse.
Mali, Bradt travel guide – great to see a travel guide about Mali as there seem to be no guide books for Algeria, Niger or Mauritania.
The Shadow of the Sun, My African Life, Ryszard Kapuscinkski – Has chapters on his life and news events in various African countries including Liberia, Somalia, Uganda and Zanzibar. Has one account of traveling through Mauritania, hitching a lift with a truck and breaking down in the desert where he comes so dehydrated he begins to see the desert as a green oasis. In Mali he recounts some of the Tuareg history and the various travellers attempts to find where the River Niger went to and includes visits to Bamako, Mopti and Timboktou. We hope to get to all of these places. Given to Mohamadou, Timbuktu guide.
French lessons in Africa, Peter Biddlecombe – review of his travel and work within 10 french African countries, written in 1993. We are going to Niger and Mali and get close to, not totally ruled out at this stage Senegal and Burkino Faso. Some interesting accounts about Countries that we know little of. Given to the Dutchies who were heading off to Benin and Togo.
Lonely Planet guide to Morocco.
La Guide du Routard, Afrique Noire, 2005. En Francais – a useful guide to Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
The Road to Timbuktu, Down the Niger of the Trail of Mungo Park, Tom Freemantle. A travel account of his journey on foot, by boat, with donkey and Ox and on buses from Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, mainly tracking the Scottish explorer Mungo Parks route, but also the history of other explorers. He also visited the Dogon region in Mali. Interesting as he only undertook this journey in the last two years.
The Zanzibar Chest, Aidan Hartley. Story of a journalist’s life in Africa. Particularly strong in detailing the reporting of the situation in Somalia and Rwanda. He grew up in East Africa where his Father worked on Agricultural projects during the Colonial era. He is also tracing the history of his father’s friend who left a diary of his life which he spent in the Middle East. I left the book in Mohammed’s fort, El Katrun to boost his book collection from 2 to 3.
Timbuktu, Paul Auster. A very good novel written through the eyes of a dog called Mr Bones - very convincing and I'm not a dog lover. Willy is his owner and said that Timbuktu was the place people and some dogs went when they die. The book details the dog journey to Timbuktu after Willy dies and he has to fend for himself.
Travels with Myself and Another, Five Journeys from Hell, Martha Gellhorn. The book sounds a bit negative – people are only interested in others travel stories when something goes wrong. However the descriptions are very good. You can tell it was written about 40 years ago through changing attitudes, particularly with the writing about Africa. I never finished the book as it was in my bag when it got stolen.
Lone Traveller, One woman two wheels and the world, Anne Mustoe. A review of the mostly highs and some lows of travelling around the world on a bike. A very good read, probably enjoyed more than a Dervla Murphy book, but it was slightly schoolmistressy - which she was.
The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time, Mark Haddon. Excellent book. Makes the world seem logical through the eyes of Christopher a kid with autism.
Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz. Second in this kid’s book series. About a boy who is recruited into MI6 and this is his latest case to solve the mystery of why the wealthy influential fathers of kids sent to an expensive school in the French Alps are being killed.
Reading Lolita in Tehran, A memoir in Books, Azar Nafisi. Recounts the life of a literature teacher (the author) and her students in Iran before, during and after the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. I now want to rewatch the Jane Austin dramas.
Dude, Where’s my Country?, Michael Moore. I’ve never read any of Michael Moore before so this was very interesting, but not so interesting on a four month trip away from the UK and news from Europe and America.
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller. Bought from a second hand bookstall in Niamey, one of the few English books I found in Africa. I’d never read or seen the play before, so I enjoyed reading the American dream. Given to a second hand book shop in Rabat, Morocco - although they already had 5/6 copies!
Elina, Obi B Egbuna. Also bought from a second hand book stall in Niamey. The novel was written in the 1960’s, set in Nigeria. It reads a bit like a fable and debates polygamy with some quite interesting arguments of the advantages of the African world compared to the western world. Given to a book seller in Segou, Mali.
Italian Neighbours, An Englishman in Verona, Tim Parks. A year spent living in a village outside Verona and an insight into the quirks and habits of Italian life. A bit of an odd read in Mauritania!
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. This was much easier to read after the review of it in 'Exterminate all the Brutes' by Sven Lindqvist.

Journey Summary

We leave on November 8th for a journey that takes us through France to the Italian port of Genoa. From there the ferry takes us to Tunis, Tunisia, where we visit the first of the Roman sites at Carthage and try some desert driving in the south. We then cross the border to Libya, on to the capital, Tripoli. From here we visit the Roman sites of Leptis Magna and Sabratha before heading to the desert oasis town of Ghadames, close to the Algerian border. We then head south across the Awbari sand sea to Ghat (a town built of mud which collapsed following a downpour in the 1960s and Jebel (mountain) Akakus and across to 11 dune salt water lakes near Germa. From here we travel south to the border town of Al Katrun. From here it is at least 200km of sand driving to the border town of Madama, Niger. We head south on the caravan route to the salt town of Bilma. From here we continue across the tenere, past the tree of tenere (knocked down by a truck and replaced with a monument) to Agadez and hopefully a nice hotel! We'll try and explore the Air massif (yep driving through air) before heading up to the Assamakka/In Guezam border to Algeria where we meet our guide and head up to Tam. Over Christmas and New Year we see Jebel Assekrem, the Hoggar (pictured) and Tassili N'ajjerMassif famous for its rock paintings. We head back the same route out of Algeria to Niger, travelling through to the capital Niamey, more Sahel than Sahara, where we meet and follow the river Niger and head up to Mali. This is where there are the famous Dogon mud buildings then to the mosque at Djenne - the largest mud building in the World, and then up to Timbuktu - the place that was so famously difficult to European explorers to reach less than 200 years ago. From Timbuktu we will head west to Mauritania where we take an old caravan pist to Oulata, Tichit, Tidjija & Chinguetti. From Atar we head north towards the border with Western Sahara where we follow the iron ore railway to Nouadhibou. From Nouadhibou we head north to Western Sahara where John hopes to do a spot of fishing. In Morocco we will visit Marakesh and head up the west coast before taking the ferry to Spain and drive the length of Spain and France to Calais and home.