We are home

We arrived back in the UK in the early hours of yesterday morning.
I'll pick up where I left you all back in Dakhla. It is difficult to access the internet south of Dakhla, and there is no mobile phone connection until you reach The Gambia. I did do a write up in Banjul, but the woman in the shop decided to reboot the computer as I was about to post, so I lost the lot! and it was too bloody hot to stay and retype it!
Anyway, we left Dakhla after filling up all Jerry cans, on about the 13th Feb in our convoy of 7: Teams Turbo Tortoises; Cops and Fothers; Norfolk 'n Chance; Bodgit and Scarper; The Costa Blanca Dons; the Mechanical Brothers; and us. Bumba the guide traveled with Mike and Pete in the Volvo. We set off early morning for the 300 odd km drive to the Mauritanian border.This drive is on very long and straight road, but still rather scenic with the sun rising as we went along.
After a 2hr wait to exit Western Sahara, we then drove through no-mans land (a rubbish-tip type of place over a rough dirt track; very weird) to the Mauri border control. After paying 20E each for a visa and 10E per car, we were let on through with no problems. The scenery is now devoid of any vegetation, with miles of rocky land. We headed for Nouadhibou to make camp and refuel before entering the desert.


Nouadhibou is one the most run down places I've ever been to. The cars on the roads are all so battered, that it is amazing they are still held together and going forwards. We made the mistake of going into the town to look for the campsite recommended in the roadbook. To future PBC competitors: avoid this place; it is apparently lawless and is definately dodgy looking! The kids here give you real hassle whenever you attempt to leave the car ( a very effective method of getting rid of them, is to point to the car behind you (preferably it being a black VW Golf), and say how generous the occupants are):).
Before you enter the town and before the police check point there, turn left to the campsite by the beach (signposted). There are no facilities here, but it is very peaceful; a really nice place to camp, we virtually had the place to ourselves.
We did make a morning trip back into town the following day for water and fuel (we have been using the plastic fuel filter south of Morocco; takes a long time to fill up, but leaves behind loads of water and debris).