Day Three Made the mistake of sleeping on a slope. Started at the top of the dune but by morning we had slipped halfway down. It wasnt too cold but was glad of my woolly hat. Sometime during the night something bit me on the face. Got a lump on my cheek. We were woken by the call to prayer coming from the minurettes and nearby mosques. It was still dark and we sat happily and watched shooting stars and the sun peeking over the horizon. That was until Andy pushed me over while I was wrapped in my sleeping bag so I toppled helplessly down the dune. Cock. The Berbers tie one of the camels front legs up overnight so they dont run away. At breakfast time they all came hopping through the camp to get to their feed like tripods. At breakfast we had bread, jam and cheese triangles before setting off on the first mornings trek. We headed out of camp straight over dune after dune after bigger dune. It was just how we imagined it to be. Sand, blue sky and date trees for as far as the horizon. It was difficult to clamber up the sand, with it giving way after each step but we reached the top and walked single file along the edge. The sand eventually gave way to cracked, crystallised clay which crumbled when you stand on it. Then into a dried up riverbed full of pebbles and rocks. The sun got hotter and we carried on walking until after 10km and 3 and a quarter hours, we reached the lunchtime camp. The camels were sat under some Palm trees and cushions and mats laid out in the shade. We sat and took our boots off as Abdul brought over lunch. Cheese, sardines, a huge bowl of pasta, a pressure cooker of spicy sauce and bread. We chilled in the shade for a couple of hours waiting for the temperature to drop a little. We had time to refill our water, have a snooze and didnt stop laughing. We set off again towards camp across the cracked dried sand into proper sand dunes again. We went off at quite a pace and hit the camp within an hour. They are breaking us into the trek slowly and warned tomorrows will be much tougher. The tents were set up in between two huge dunes and we took advantage of the last of the days sun laying on the slope. As the sun set, the whole group, including guides Kev and Abdul clambered to the top of the highest dune and watched the sun sink below the mountains on the horizon. Abdul called us into dinner. Sat on mats around the tent as he brought in soup, bread and chilli sauce then a lamb tagine and slices of melon. One of our group has some evil looking blisters on each heel. Andy put some compeed and strapping on them at lunchtime but by dinner time the strapping had come off and needed more attention. Andy led a full tent-based surgical procedure and stripped, cleaned and dressed the blisters - a real team effort. The stars were out in full and with no moon out, we could see the Milky Way and loads of shooting stars, so we decided to grab some matting, our sleeping bags and hip flasks and trundled over the dune to a little clearing to sleep out overnight.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 09:37:31 +0000
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