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Olivier was up and making coffee in the dark. Stiff
neck. Tired from lack of sleep.
Took off as the sun rose. Flew to Laayoune. Borrowed
a wheelbarrow to transport the fuel from the fuel station to our trikes.
Every time we land in Morocco we have to produce our
passports and fill forms in. Everywhere we go the police and the military already know about us. The intelligence network here works well. Every time a policeman stops us he says, "we were expecting you"!
Took off at 11 am and headed for Dakhla, 500 km down
the coast. We had a great tailwind for most of the way. The coastline was incredibly beautiful. Desert and cliffs and sea. Saw lots of camels and more dunes. I counted 14 shipwrecks. Quite a few small villages
with no vegetation at all, just small box shaped mud houses and Berber tents and blue rowing boats. A wonderful flight.
Landed in a 20-knot wind. Manageable turbulence in
the heat. Refuelled and filed a flight plan for Nouadhibou, Mauritania, for 8 am in the morning. Olivier spent a lot of energy bargaining with the taxi driver. Checked into the Sahara Hotel at 8 US Dollars for a
double room. I wonder if the sheets are clean…. actually we have slept in much worse places on this trip. Walked the last 500 metres to the hotel because the taxi driver was stopped by a policeman for nearly driving
over his foot. He was also expecting us, somehow!
We managed to buy 4 beers to have with our dinner of
a fish platter and bread. We had to hide the beers under the table …. in Moslem countries alcohol is forbidden – but they sometimes sell to foreigners. The alcohol is always expensive. In the shop the beers were $3
each.
Bought soap, shampoo and a towel for Olivier. I would
hate to live in Dakhla, although it was good to visit – too dusty, noisy and dirty.
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