General Chat

Great stuff!, sorry to hear about Paul and Yvette's bags, and of course Daisy losing her trousers!, good idea that Shewee! :))

Day 3 I wake very early and try my best to go back to sleep. I have definitely not had enough sleep. Before long people are chatting in the tent next door and I know I won’t get back to sleep now. I sit up. I am stick so hot in the sleeping bag but my arms and face are cold. Slowly we all get up. Breakfast will be served at 7am. There is much talk of the night’s events. Breakfast is porridge (I pass on that), cornflakes (I pass on that too as I don’t like powdered milk) and bread and Jam or cheese spread. I settle for bread and strawberry jam with a nice hot cup of black coffee (well when I say mug I actually mean glass – all of our drinks were served in glasses). I enjoy my breakfast a lot – I can’t remember the last time I had bread and jam. Soon it’s time to pack up and set off on our first full days walk. While we were getting ready one of the Berber crew came walking towards camp holding 2 rucksacks – Yvette and Paul’s. He had followed a trail and found them about half an hour from camp. Everything was there apart from money and Paul’s mobile phone. Oh and Daisy’s trousers had been taken and packed neatly into one of the bags – the thief must have hoped to find money in the pockets. I check my mobile and am very surprised that I have a signal. I have a voicemail message but I can’t access it but I can read the text messages. One is from Dean and it makes me wish I was back at home with him. I send a quick message back. The other one is from my friend Cat saying that she had just seen me on TV (Clare and I were filmed for Calendar news the day before we set off). I can’t believe Clare and I have been on TV and I’m glad that I haven’t seen it. I turn my phone straight off to save the battery. I make a quick visit to the hole. No one is around and I manage a tiny number 2. Hands washed, sun cream on and off we go. We walk over a firmish rocky surface mostly and over a few small sand dunes. We get into a pretty good rhythm and the walking isn’t too bad although we do have to stop a few times due to the heat. It would be unbearable if it were not for a slight breeze. It’s not long before we see the lunch tent in the distance – yippee. As we get closer I can smell the food. It smells divine and my tummy starts to rumble. There is a large mat in the shade and we sit down and take off our socks and boots. It feels marvelous to get some air around the feet and I smell my socks and they actually aren’t too bad! We relax for a while as lunch is prepared and I am getting hungrier and hungrier. At last lunch is ready. It is absolutely delicious. We have salad, rice, a spicy vegetable almost curry, cheese and bread with an apple for pudding. We all comment on how good the food has been so far. Not a bowl of cous cous anywhere and no one has felt the need for a cuppa soup! We sit through the heat of the day enjoying the shade and the time to relax. The wind begins to pick up – it’s not nice when sand blows. There is no toilet tent today so we have to go behind a dune and burn our loo roll. Time flies and we are soon pulling on our boots. I am sure my feet have gone up a size since this morning. We are walking again and it is very hot and windy. The sand is blowing at us and we are so thankful for our native head scarfs that now seem to be worth every penny. I can’t remember how to wear my shash the traditional way so I look more like a little old lady wearing a headscarf. My shash is white, which keeps the back of my neck cool. I also stick my water hose under it and it stops the water in the tube from warming up and is pretty good at stopping me from swallowing bucket loads of sand. We are walking in the heat and the wind for around 3 hours before we get to camp. We are amazed to see shower tents. Such a relief as we are all covered in sand – looking like a bunch of kids that have been playing out in the dirt. There is very little water so we can’t wash our hair. It’s a case of turn on shower to get wet and turn off. Soap yourself up and then turn on to rinse. The water is cold and it’s a bit of a shock, particularly as it’s still a bit windy. The getting dressed in the shower tent without dropping an item of clothing in the puddle is the most fun. How nice it feels to be clean. We have time to ourselves until dinner (about 7 again). I write in my diary as do a few others. We talk a lot – mainly about bodily functions and the hole. The smokers smoke a lot, as it is something sociable to do. It is strange not having any communication with the outside world – no radio, TV mobile signal but it is peaceful and calm and it makes us make more effort to converse. We were served up another good meal, 3 courses again before having a few alcoholic beverages while the crew lit a camp fire and played drums and sang to us. They really do look after us well. I was ready for bed not long after 9pm – after a coffee and a trip to the loo. I decided to sleep in my liner with my sleeping bag unzipped and I had ditched my thermarest in favour of a mattress supplied by the crew. I really needed a good nights sleep! I laid with my head to the door end of the tent and watched for a while as Susie B and some of the others did the Hokey Cokey with the crew. I wished I had the energy! I went off to sleep quite quickly but soon woke up needing a wee. I really didn’t want to go so I lay there for a while hoping that the urge will pass. Quite silly really seeing as though I have drunk around 6L of water! So fleece and trainers on and off I go to the tent. Once outside I see a figure stood on a dune. My heart skips a beat until I realize it is one of the Berber’s patrol. They feel so bad about the robbery on the first night that they are guarding camp. A few hours later I wake and need the loo again and the Berber is still patrolling. A crew member is sleeping outside – right in the middle of the camp and another sleeps on the top of a small dune on the edge of camp. I definitely feel safe now. I manage to sleep a little while longer.

a couple of small notes the cheese spread was 'laughing cow' just like we get here and I really think Anna should rephrase the bit about the men with their lizards offering her dates...

Really enjoying reading this.

This ia brilliant cant wait for the next instalment Margaret

Day 3 We walked 18km this day and the heat was strong and much worse than we expected. The wind and sand just added insult to injury. The camp showers were very welcome but took some maneouvering. There was definitely a knack to it which I just didn't get and ended up with wet soapy clean clothes and even more sand on me than when I went in. Getting up to the loo in the night and seeing a shape on the dunes that wasn't there before we went to bed was a bit scary. Looking around I noticed there was another shape on another dune. Suddenly the first shape moved and I realised it was a person. After seeing one or two more shapes scattered around the camp on the floor it dawned on me that these were our Berbers patrolling and protecting us! They took the thefts very personally and promised to 'find and kill' those responsible. I doubt they were joking either. We hoped for peaceful nights from now on. Daisy

Jack, your story has been cut off again! Mine to follow shortly...

I am really enjoying reading this and incidentally would have paid for a copy of all the stories! Just a thought. Julie xxx

incidentally... when you cut an paste in here there's a maximum buffer size I think - hence Jack's posts being cut off.

Day 3 (Monday) Well, I don't think any of us got a huge amount more in the way of sleep after the disturbances in the middle of the night, however daybreak came and as mentioned previously the stolen bags were returned to us minus the money and phone. I had porridge for breakfast - it tended to vary from morning to morning, occasionally it looked rather thin and watery, other times it looked more appetitizing. I also had some bread, which could be pulled apart and added some Laughing Cow cheese spread to it, if all else fails then bread and cheese spread could be relied upon. Today was our first full-days walking and after the tricky dunes of the previous afternoon, the first part of the walk was very flat although rocky underfoot and whilst we did encounter some sand as well during the morning, it was straightforward enough to negotiate. We stopped beneath a shady spot at one point and munched away on our Tracker bars (can truly recommend the Forest Fruit flavoured ones) and I disappeared off to relieve myself only to find a couple of the camels were following me round so found myself finishing off what I was doing quicker than I would have possibly liked!! Ken, it should be pointed out was not with us and neither was Lahcen (who would normally lead the walks) as they had driven off to talk to the police. When they rejoined us later on, as were taking a break by a well of all things, it appeared they'd had a tough time with the police who were anything but sympathetic towards their plight, to put it mildly. Clearly it seemed they were wanting to put the frighteners on them in order to get them to back down. Paul & Yvette were informed of the situation by Ken but decided not to take any further action as chances of any kind of successful outcome seemed slim to non-existent. We didn't stop again before lunch and I walked on up ahead with Susie, Jack and Clare (perennial front-runners in the race to get to the lunch-stop first!). Having got to a nice shady spot, we collapsed on the rugs and got rid of the boots and socks in order to give our feet a chance to breathe and I applied some talc to my feet, which I reckon helped during the week. We had a good break for lunch and sat about for some time, just relaxing and taking it all in before setting off for the afternoon walk. Whilst the morning walk had been pleasant and a good chance to stretch our legs, the afternoon walk proved to be far less enjoyable. Whilst there weren't any dunes, the walk was interspersed with sandy areas or patches and the wind had picked up and was blowing the sand towards us. Being sandblasted is not pleasant and whilst I could use my shash (head scarf) to cover my face, keeping my eyes and the area around my eyes free of sand was a different matter, despite sunglasses. It was a long push to evening camp and one or two struggled with the conditions, certainly they were more adverse than had been anticipated. The good news when we got to camp was that there would be 'washroom facilities'. This turned out to be another couple of small tents, like the toilet tents, that each had a wonky shower head trickling out barely luke warm water, however it was welcome all the same. Due to the paucity of water, it was a case of having a quick rinse under the shower head then turn off the water to apply soap/gel before turning it back on again to quickly wash it out, in order to preserve as much water as we could. What I had underestimated however was how much sand I had accumulated during the walk. It gets bloody everywhere - in your eyes, round your eyes, in your stubble (well the blokes anyway!), on your clothes. However, it has to be said that I did have a talent for attracting more sand than anyone else, hence my name add-on (Sahara Sandman). Dinner was the usual mix of veg and a tiny bit of meat, preceded by soup and followed up by a fruit salad that looked like it had been doused in mint-flavoured Listerene.

Word had it that the Berbers were still extremely upset by what had happened in the night, and that they felt in part responsible for it happening . As far as we were concerned, this was complete nonsense, but clearly the Berbers are proud guys and proud of their reputation and for this to have happened was as far as they were concerned, a slight on them. They decided to provide some evening entertainment for us with some traditional singing round the campfire (Haway-Haway-Haway-Hawah! or something along those lines proved popular throughout the week). They also had some drums and bongos with them and occasionally one of them would heat the drum over the fire - conducive to making it produce a better sound apparently. They were great fun, and while some turned in early, a few of us hung around till the end, which culminated in a rendition of the Hokey-Cokey with the Berbers (Paul made a quick beeline to the tent at this point, and I would have done the same but tried to take a photo only to get lured in - the shame of it lol). The rest of us night time stragglers then turned in and hoped for a better nights sleep than the one before.

DAY 3 MONDAY Ken and Lahcen had to make a long trip to the Police station, which took them most of the morning.We had breakfast which again was porridge and bread with cheese/jam.I had porridge again,but couldnt eat it LOL,so took a couple of tracker bars to last me til lunch.Ken caught up with us while we were resting by a well. Off they went again to say that they weren’t going to press charges as it was very unlikely that the money would be recovered anyway. We followed Mohammed and his camels this morning. I was at the back today as i started to get blisters.Kept needing to go and pee so had to keep stopping to hide behind a bush lol. We stopped for a long and once again delicious lunch and filled up our water bottles before once again heading off to trek through to the camp for the evening. Walking was actually a lot easier than I had anticipated!! As we got closer to camp, we could see the toilet tents, but also another 2 tents which looked the same but there was a barrel over the top of them. Showers!! The showers were very basic,just a trickle of freezing cold water coming out of what looked like a watering can rose lol ,but it was so nice to be able to rinse of the dust and sand using something other than wet wipes! We relaxed again in the mess tent, while eating a delicious cake which had been baked freshly for us by our camp chef. Its amazing remembering the quality and quantity of the food that was prepared using only a 2 ring camping gas stove and a small tin oven. I cant remember what we had for dinner this evening, I know it was beef again, but it was absolutely delicious! I think this was the night that we had a bright green coloured fruit salad for desert! I think we might of shared a bottle of Red wine tonight (between about 6 of us mind) Both of the tents today were about the same size, so Daisy and Yvette came and shared our smokers tent. I lost my torch on the first night(surprise lol) so Jack loaned me her spare one,which i proceeded to lose almost immediately.I knew i should of bought a head torch,and kept it attached at all times! I slept a bit better tonight, but someone woke us all up by talking very loudly and clearly in her sleep. Someone shouted 'shut up,' and we nodded off again, only waking up to go to the loo on more than one occasion lol. I couldnt sleep in my silk liner,inside my sleeping bag so i opened my sleeping bag and just slept with that over me,my pillow was pretty rubbish too so i used a couple of Tshirts as a pillow.. .....Oh i forgot we did the hokey cokey with the berbers round the fire tonight,was funny we thought we were going to end up in the fire at this point :-) I might be some time typing up the rest of mine as thats as far as ive got to so far lol Anna :-)

I did not talk in my sleep!!!! I was apparently having a go at Paul for sticking up for someone and used the words 'she is not a normal human being' very loudly, but as predicted they told me to shut up and I apologised whilst still asleep, turned over and never made another sound that night!! LOL!!

LOL Diana.You didnt sound like you were asleep thats for sure.It was so clear. At least you didnt hear me doing opera singing with the Donkeys one night :-) Anna

Oh i dread to think!! :O)

apparently the donkeys were more tuneful! ;-))

I read your tales with interest - i so wish i had been able to come with you - I've just walked back from town -all of about 4 miles and take my hat off to the lot of you. We so rarely walk anywhere these days that we dont realise just what you did- the sheer enormity of it. By the way , is Tracy still alive and breathing?? Well done all jess x

I think all we got was just snoring in our tent, nothing like sleep-singing or sleep-talking.

Strangely no matter what time I go to bed it is ALWAYS 5am that i chat.... sometimes so much that i wake myself up!! :O)

And jess - maybe the next time!! :O)