At the moment I am halfway between Laayoune and Dakhla, camping in a sandy and rocky desert depression about 1km away from the main road, which means I’m well out of sight to anyone passing. There’s even a few camel bones around, or maybe they’re from previous travellers…
I left TanTan and got to Laayoune two days ago. I couldn’t find anywhere to camp so opted for a hotel, which was actually quite nice, especially as it was only £14 a night with a red hot shower and a lovely comfy bed – though I did see my first cockroach this morning in the bathroom, which I don’t actually mind. When I joined the Royal Navy my first ship was infested with cockroaches, and you just learned to live with them. They can make good pets… 😉
I was going to stay for just one night at the hotel but in the end decided to be greedy and stay for two nights as I needed to catch up on video editing plus do some laundry. It’s a nice city. Vibrant, modern and busy with lots of eateries and shops – and even a McDonalds. And yes, I did… 🙂
I left Laayoune this morning heading for Dakhla, which was going to be a straight 335 mile run. The temperature when I left was 20 degrees but with a really brisk sidewind, but soon warmed-up and remained at 23 degrees for the rest of the day.
This part of Morocco is a featureless, arid and never-ending landscape, and it’s a real challenge to stay focussed while you’re riding but after 175 miles I gave up and decided to camp for the night as I’d really had enough. I just wasn’t in the mood anymore. Besides being one of the most mundane rides I’ve ever done, there was the really strong wind from east to west and I am riding south, which means I’m having to lean the bike into the side-wind continuously. Fortunately, it’s a constant wind rather than blustery.
When you are riding on this two-lane blacktop there are lots of HGV’s coming from the opposite direction and the blast of turbulence you get from them as you pass each other, together with compensating for the strong side-wind means you end up being hit by a blast of wind like a hammer. You do a really big wobble in the wake of the HGV and it’s a bit scary. I didn’t mind it at first but after an hour of this, plus the side-wind it soon becomes monotonous. Really monotonous, so I relented and after about two and a half hours started looking for somewhere to make camp, and somewhere out of sight and mind.
I looked on IOverlander for places to camp and stopped to look at two suggested sites and couldn’t find them, but from their description it gave me an idea of what to look for. While riding I noticed a ridge to my left for many miles plus the occasional depression. At one point I saw several tracks leading off the highway into a depression so I stopped at one and followed the track – which disappeared into a lovely bowl-shaped depression. Fortunately, it’s not soft sand. I’ve got food and water, so it’s no problem to be out here in the wilderness. Tomorrow I’m going to continue and head for Dakhla. I may stop over in the town or I may just keep on going. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…
