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.