General Chat

can't believe I cut it short again! Hardly worth adding the last bit but here goes: 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.

We had email contact from Tracey yesterday so she must still be alive and well (apart from her feet of course!! Jack x

nudge for those who want to still add something to Day 3.

Day 4 I wake up very early, it’s only just getting light so I guess it is around 5.30. I go to the loo – again!! I know we have to drink lots of water so we don’t dehydrate but I wish my body was a bit more efficient with it rather than it passing straight through. I also think that squatting over the hole isn’t helping. To retain my balance I am leaning forwards so I am not properly emptying my bladder. My new plan here is to wee, stand upright for a moment and then try again! A few others are awake so we chat quietly not wanting to wake the others. We talk about the security patrols and can’t believe how brilliant this crew is and that at least one of them is staying awake all night to protect us and our belongings. More trekkers emerge from the tents and soon it’s time for breakfast (7am). The choice is similar to yesterday so again I have a black coffee and bread with strawberry jam. After I have eaten I slope off to the toilet. I have the urge for a number 2 and think I might manage it if no one else is hovering around the toilet tents. Yes!! I feel so pleased with myself that I head back to the tents with a great big grin on my face. Of course I share my news with the others – some of whom haven’t managed it yet. I know I mention toilets quite a lot but it really is a big deal out here – in fact probably our main topic of conversation! We pack up our gear and sort out our day packs and we are ready to start walking around 8am. Today we are walking over firm and stoney ground with a few small dunes. The walking is pretty easy and we are all enjoying it. We are all feeling better having had some sleep. If only we didn’t wake several times during the night to go to the toilet. We chat with each other and our local guide. Our guide’s name is Lahcen and he is doing this trek for the 26th time – rather him than me! Today is Gemma’s birthday so we all sing happy birthday to her in the middle of the Sahara and talk about ‘normal’ birthdays. Cliff as brought a thermometer with him – well done cliff. At one point it is 41 degrees – so much for the 25 that was forecast. After around 3 and a half hours of walking (with a few 5 – 10 minute rests) we stop under the shade of a tree for lunch. Again it is delicious (and very healthy) – salad, bread, some beans (don’t know what they are but they are very tasty) and a fresh orange to finish. We are definitely getting our 5 a day here and I resolve to try and continue the healthy eating when I get home. As we relax and air off our feet the wind begins to pick up. It gets so bad that we have to sit inside the tent that had been used for cooking. We are advised that to continue walking today would not be the best idea and have the option of a land rover ride back to camp. As we would be walking into the wind we opt for the land rover ride. We have to do 2 runs as we can’t all fit in, so, we send Julie (as she is ill – I really don’t think I could have coped if it had been me, she carries on so bravely) and all of those whose feet are covered in blisters. 8 of us remain and wait for the land rover to come back. It is really hot in the tent so after a couple of games of cards we drift outside to the shade and shelter of the tree. We must look like a group of monkeys sat here in the tree. We have a good old natter and the time passes quite quickly. Paul and Cliff have decided to brave the wind with Ken and Lahcen – I am tempted to go too until Ken says that they will be walking at least twice the speed that we have been going. The land rover ride is rather bumpy but its fun. I do however wish that I had nipped behind a dune before we had set off so I undo the button on my shorts to ease the pressure a little. We arrive at camp just before 4. We get our stuff into the tents and try and wash some of the sand off ourselves with baby wipes. It takes a full wipe just to clean one ear! I dig out my prickly heat cream as I can feel it starting up on the backs of my legs and I hope I can catch it early. We have coffee and cake and plenty of time to chill out. The chill time gives me time to think. I am missing Dean and Ellie loads and Sam and Jake too – seems like ages since I last saw them. I wonder what they are up to. Ellie will be with John and Dean will probably still be at work. I worry about him and hope he’s ok – he’s going through a lot at the moment and I wish I was there to look after him. At the same time I am glad to be here in the Sahara. It’s a great thing that I am doing and so far I have actually enjoyed it. A land rover rolls up – bad news. Diana’s daddy has died. We all feel for her so much, she was only saying earlier that she felt guilty about leaving him. She cries and cries but doesn’t want hugs. I so want to hug her. She’s going home. It is going to take over 6 hours to get to the airport. I offer to go with her as I know how I felt when I first heard that Mum had died – so glad that Dean was there for me. Diana insists she really is better on her own and we have a hug. A few minutes later and she’s off across the desert – Lahcen goes with her – bless him. I step forward and stand on Diana’s tab end – still hot. Bugger. Trust me to be the only one to get a blister on my big toe that hasn’t been caused by walking! We are all quiet for a while, many of us have rather damp eyes. I would love to be with my family now. All this has made me think about the day my mum died and reminds me just how much I miss her. I know what Diana must be going through and I wish I was with her. Not that I’d know what to say but, well – you know. Daisy gives me a hug and I feel a bit better. Clare’s eyes are all soggy and I offer her a hug but she says she’s ok. Ken asks for a word. He knows I have a birthday cake and a candle for Gemma and wonders if we should celebrate her birthday. I am sure Diana would want us to so I go and get the cake. On talking to a few of the others we all agree that Diana would want us to make Gemma’s birthday a good one and we start to perk up a bit as dinner time approaches. We light the candle and sing happy birthday to Gemma and crack open a bottle of red wine (than goodness for my penknife – the cork screw is a real survival aid!). Dinner is spaghetti (after soup of course) and peaches for dessert. Yet another smashing meal. The chef has made birthday biscuits and another candle is required so I dig out the one intended for Tracey’s birthday and it is put in a hollowed out orange in the middle of a plate of yummy biscuits. The crew sing their version of happy birthday while playing drums. Everyone seems to have brightened up a bit now. We sit outside and chat as it is hot in the tent. The chatter goes on for a while and I head into bed really late (about 9.45!!) after 2 wee’s (hoping that I won’t wake up in the night). It takes me a while to drop off but then I have a good few hours sleep before I have to get up for a wee. Aaarrrrggghhhh. I manage to get back to sleep pretty quickly but wake up after a little while with back ache – I’m missing my own comfy bed (and Dean to snuggle up with). I sleep for what seems like no time at all and morning arrives.

Ooops I've done it again! - believe it or not it was all there after I pasted but must have disappeared as I posted (or maybe i'm just useless lol) It is going to take over 6 hours to get to the airport. I offer to go with her as I know how I felt when I first heard that Mum had died – so glad that Dean was there for me. Diana insists she really is better on her own and we have a hug. A few minutes later and she’s off across the desert – Lahcen goes with her – bless him. I step forward and stand on Diana’s tab end – still hot. Bugger. Trust me to be the only one to get a blister on my big toe that hasn’t been caused by walking! We are all quiet for a while, many of us have rather damp eyes. I would love to be with my family now. All this has made me think about the day my mum died and reminds me just how much I miss her. I know what Diana must be going through and I wish I was with her. Not that I’d know what to say but, well – you know. Daisy gives me a hug and I feel a bit better. Clare’s eyes are all soggy and I offer her a hug but she says she’s ok. Ken asks for a word. He knows I have a birthday cake and a candle for Gemma and wonders if we should celebrate her birthday. I am sure Diana would want us to so I go and get the cake. On talking to a few of the others we all agree that Diana would want us to make Gemma’s birthday a good one and we start to perk up a bit as dinner time approaches. We light the candle and sing happy birthday to Gemma and crack open a bottle of red wine (than goodness for my penknife – the cork screw is a real survival aid!). Dinner is spaghetti (after soup of course) and peaches for dessert. Yet another smashing meal. The chef has made birthday biscuits and another candle is required so I dig out the one intended for Tracey’s birthday and it is put in a hollowed out orange in the middle of a plate of yummy biscuits. The crew sing their version of happy birthday while playing drums. Everyone seems to have brightened up a bit now. We sit outside and chat as it is hot in the tent. The chatter goes on for a while and I head into bed really late (about 9.45!!) after 2 wee’s (hoping that I won’t wake up in the night). It takes me a while to drop off but then I have a good few hours sleep before I have to get up for a wee. Aaarrrrggghhhh. I manage to get back to sleep pretty quickly but wake up after a little while with back ache – I’m missing my own comfy bed (and Dean to snuggle up with). I sleep for what seems like no time at all and morning arrives.

DAY 4 TUESDAY Up early again, breakfast was porridge, made with Water. Bread and Jam for me today, washed down by a glass of milky coffee and a couple more tracker bars in my bag for later! I can’t really remember much about this mornings walk, except that my feet are killing me! We stop at a small tree and I have to sort my feet out lol.They have swollen so much that I have to take my insoles out of my boots! I think we walked across some small sand dunes today. We finally reach the tree for lunch and get comfy on the mat as we wait for lunch to be served. Its getting really windy now too, so as well as flies in our food, we also have to contend with eating a bit of sand too. I’m used to this now though, the amount of times I’ve dropped my platypus tube in the sand lol. As we are finishing our lunch, I overheard Ken talking to Victoria saying “we’ll give it half an hour” At the time I didn’t know what they were talking about but as it got windier and windier, we had to move into the kitchen tent for some protection against the sand. It really caught in your throat as you tried to breathe and stung your legs as it hit them. I needed the toilet but didn’t really fancy braving the sand storm, so we waited in the tent. It was getting hotter and hotter. Finally a decision is made as to whether we need help to get to tonights camp, and it is decided that we should be driven out in the jeep. It’s not big enough for us all to go so we take 2 trips. Firstly we are loaded in to the jeep. I think that 8 of us went in the 1st trip, along with some of the bags from the camels. Its pretty scary driving around the desert in the middle of a sandstorm in a jeep lol.Every so often we heard a banging noise, coming from the top of the Jeep. It was one of the Berbers who were sat on the top guiding our driver away from the storm! We finally got to the camp and it was set in an absolutely beautiful position, on a bluff, surrounded by lots of dunes. If only it wasn’t so windy!! Suzy Camay and I head off to attempt to ask the guys for some water. Suzy asks in her best foreign language, and off we go with our water bottles. Then we realised that she had actually spoken to the guy in Spanish instead of French lol.They still understood what we wanted though. Not long after, the second group arrive in the Jeep, minus Paul, Cliff, Ken and Lahcen. They had decided to try and walk!! Later they turn up on camels. Even the cameleers are riding their camels, the wind was so bad. The boy camels had been naughty lol, trying to chase a group of girly camels. Ken came into our tent and spoke to Diana; we thought it could be to do with the robbery, but its bad news. Dianas dad had passed away suddenly and she had to go home to England. We were all stunned at this news and everyone sat in silence for a while. I remember thinking how much i was missing my sons at this point. I can’t remember what we ate tonight, think it was veggie bolognaise, and the usual soup and bread. Afterwards we had biscuits and cakes as it was Gemmas birthday today. The Berbers had baked them for her, and presented them to her on a tray. They were singing happy birthday (I think!!)And playing the drums. It was brilliant. We had a bottle of wine between 5 or 6 of us again lol. After dinner, a few of us sat outside on a mat, looking at the stars. They were amazing, so clear. Susie B told us that the twinkling star was a planet, I can’t remember which one though lol. Daisy showed us the 7 sisters?, which were really hard to see. I think I slept pretty soundly tonight. Didn’t wake up for the loo at all. Still haven’t managed a number 2 yet pmsl Anna :-)

Sitting in that tree Jack we were chatting about a spooky message that daisy had got saying she wouldn't do the trek cos of her daddy and how pleased we were it wasn't true!! It had crossed my mind on the Thursday before we left that the message had been mis-directed but as all that was wrong with him was water retention in his feet I dismissed it..... If only I had hindsight at that time!! When we got back to camp for some reason I was feeling very emotional and went to lie down and then Ken comes to find me.... i too didn't think for one minute it was bad news!! I had to call home and at that point I knew he had died..... I call and speak to bro from a satelite phone, not an easy task as the delay is massive but my first words were..... 'He's dead isn't he?' Somehow I knew that they wouldn't call me unless it was the worst possible news!! The journey out of the desert is a bit of a blur.... and I think Lahcen was an absolute star!! the rest of the journey home was horrendous as people kept looking at this white woman crying but the thought that kept getting me was I've ruined Gemma's birthday with my tears.... So i am really pleased to hear that you all made sure she got the birthday she deserved!! I remember insisting as I left that they all 'ENJOYED IT AND HAD FUN' thanks guys for proving that you did!! xx

Day 4 - Tuesday Tuesday turned into quite an eventful day for one reason or another. The morning arrived and it was Gemma's 23rd birthday and I doubt she will forget this one in a hurry. We had breakfast and left camp at the usual time and set out for what turned out to be a pleasant morning's walk. It was pleasing to be able to walk without feeling too many after effects from yesterday's first full day of walking. The route was virtually flat throughout and there was very little to note in the way of points of interest, however we did notice these patches of light green vegetation of some description - perhaps the mint green fruit salad sauce from the previous evening's meal had orignated from there? Whatever, it certainly seemed like an unusual sight to us anyway. We stopped under a tree for a break, Clare managed to get the best spot, lying in the tree and I believe some of the group were shown some ancient fossils by Lahcen. We got to camp for lunch and sat in the shade of a tree once more. Our lunches tend to be quite long - about 2 hours spent just chilling and doing nothing. Some time later the wind had picked up again like yesterday and started blowing the sand across where we were sat. Having dozed off for a nap, I woke to find my arm and left hand side coated with sand. We decided to seek sanctuary inside the tent where the food had been prepared; some of the group weren't happy about walking in the afternoon whilst the wind was vicious and blowing the sand around. Ken came to the conclusion that the conditions were unpleasant enough to offer us a choice - either we could walk it or the Land Rover could come and pick us up. He seemed to be indicating that he favoured the latter option for us. The group favoured hopping in the Land Rover as some people had blisters already, so Land Rover it was. After a while though, Cliff decided that he would like to have a go at walking through the conditions. For me, Cliff had the most useful bit of kit that no one else had, something that would help him greatly in the conditions and that was a pair of sand goggles, reminscent of the sort lab technicians wear. I wished I had the foresight of bringing something with me like that! After much thought, Paul decided he would like to try it as well. Ken informed them that they would be walking with him, Lahcen and the Berbers with the camels. Also what would have been an allocated 4 hour walk would be shortened down to 90 minutes, hence an incredibly fast walking pace. I deliberated long and hard about deciding whether to do it but after much consideration, I decided to go with the Land Rover. With hindsight, I think the timing had a lot to do with my decision as I was thinking of the challenges to come later in the week and didn't want to jeopardise myself for that. At the time I felt disappointed that I decided not to walk, as my attitude had been to take on every challenge that I faced but feel satisfied now that I took the sensible option. Also, having done this now, I feel even more confident now about what I can take on in the future. The Land Rover firstly picked up those with blisters or those most vulnerable at this stage, whilst the rest of us waited in the tent and just relaxed or played cards. The temperature inside the tent was absolutely stifling though so we decided to brave the wind and return to where we had been sat under the tree. The Land Rover eventually returned and picked the rest of us up who weren't walking and we said cheerio to Cliff and Paul and wished them well in their grim afternoon pursuit over sandswept terrain. The ride in the Land Rover was a bone shaker across stony ground but we pulled into camp 15 mins later. Some time later, the camels arrived back into camp and we noticed Paul and Cliff aboard them instead of on foot! Apparently they had gone 45-50 mins walking but Ken felt they were going to take longer than the 90 mins that he wanted at the pace they were going, which was when they decided to switch to the camels. Both Cliff and Paul reported that riding camelback is anything but comfortable on the old backside for any length of time!

With no shower facilities tonight, I did the best I could at removing sand, by using Wet Wipe after Wet Wipe but frankly it was having little effect. I also noticed that I had caught the sun quite badly on my left arm. I had chosen today to wear a t-shirt and shorts after being conservative and wearing a long sleeved top and trousers on the previous day, however thought I had been pretty liberal and frequent with the suncream. It was bearable though so just kept applying the aftersun to it. I crashed out in the tent, along with Julie and Cliff, some time later a couple of the others came into the tent, looking distressed and upset. We hadn't been with everyone else when news broke of Diana's dad dying and Diana had left with Lahcen by the time we were informed. There isn't really much else to say here, we were also at a loss for words on that Tuesday evening in question, such was the shock of it all. Despite the terrible news and everyone being understandably down, we tried to make the best of the evening by celebrating Gemma's birthday. Having had our three course dinner, the Berbers had prepared a birthday treat in the form of an assortment of different kinds of biscuits and sweet baked products on a big plate. We chatted in the eating tent for a while, as the girlies tittered over the amusing astrological readings of 'Sinful Stars' in a female magazine. At some point, I headed back to the sleeping tent and turned in for the night, today had been anything but a normal day.

what can i add about day 4 - it was a strange kind of day but it made us determined to finish the trek for whatever reasons. My memories are of the morning being quite pleasantly spent getting to the lunch camp and then the wind getting up and sitting in a swealtering hot tent waiting for the jeep to come back after taking the others to our camp. We sat and played (miniature) cards for a while and then couldnt stand the heat so we went outside and sheltered in some trees away from the sandstorm. Finally the jeep arrived back and we got in for a bumpy ride back (think the guy driving was purposely trying to scare us ). Back at camp was the same as usual, mint tea, coffee, hot chocolate and cake. We all settled down and then Ken came into the tent asking for Diana, i thought the same as Anna that it had something to do with the robbery but i wont forget the look on Dianas face as she came towards us after taking a phone call. We were all a bit subdued at the evening meal that night and to be honest id totally forgotten that it was Gemmas birthday until the cake appeared. I do think this lifted us a bit and made us all the more determined to finish the trek, especially for Diana. I cant remember much more of that night , i went to bed and tried to settle down without too many trips to the loo!

nudging for the Aussies. Vonny

It is your lonely journey home that sits in my mind Diana. It must have been the worst journey of your life. Glad you are managing. Deanna X

Deanna - It was worse than that babe especially as a couple of guys tried to cheer me up and having to utter the words 'My Daddy has died' for the first time!! But I don't wanna ruin this thread so lets move ona day and get the rest of the goss - especially as I wasn't there to see it first hand!! xx

Well Diana knows how much we all feel for her and at her request here's Wednesday's report. Day 5 - Wednesday Up at 6.30am again and set off at 8am. Decided to give my legs some sun this morning so zipped off the lower half of my trousers. We walked around 4 hours through amazing terrain. Long expanses of softish sand and then low dunes with lots of shrubs. We passed a nomad and his herd of camels who just walked through us as if they owned the place! Oh yes they do don't they? lol. Terrain became stony and inclined slightly until we reached a vantage point and could see the tree and tent where we would stop for lunch. Not much shade here but a beautiful setting in amongst more dunes. Cauliflower, potatoes, carrots in a spicy hot sauce. Oranges and cinnamon. Lahcen returned from the airport with a note from Diana, the CRUK banner and some of the group's belongings which she had been looking after during yesterday's sandstorm. He told us he stayed with Diana until she went through the departure gate at Ouarzazate. I thanked him and he said, “you are all our family now so we help you”. That afternoon’s walk was quicker but through a would be sandstorm again. I found it very hard on my toe joints because of the stony terrain and also because I've broken my toes several times over the years! Some of the ground was so parched that treading on it make a crackling noise like dry leaves in autumn. Other areas were like hardened cow pats, crunchy on the outside but soft in the middle. We could see camp an hour away through a carpet of green tiny shoots, growing against all odds through the parched and cracked ground. As we walked over them they released a lovely smell but we couldn’t help feeling guilty at crushing these little plants which had worked so hard to grow! There were more showers but I didn’t bother today as the sand was whipping around too much and I was far more interested in the lovely warm, freshly made Madeira type cake the Berbers had waiting for us. Lovely with a glass of hot chocolate. Outside the sand swirled in the wind and a local woman and her 3 children appeared and sat outside with jewellery for sale. We decided not to buy anything but some of us took over some of the gifts we had bought and I introduced everyone and spoke to the family in French. The woman's name was Leyla and her children were called Fatima, Mohammed and Shika. The children loved the pencils, notebooks and hairbands we gave them. They stayed there for quite a while and were then joined by another woman and her children. This woman was quite persistant and kept calling us over but we ignored her. Besides, it was too blustery to be outside the tent. We kept a close watch on our bags and tied up the tents just in case. After dinner most of us went to bed early again but barely slept as we were kept awake by braying all night. When I got up to go to the loo the tent was surrounded by 10 donkeys braying to each other and being answered by camels. It was relentless and continued until we got up at 5.30am muttering vile things about donkeys! Daisy

Daisy ou just reminded me of the time we had to wait to cross the 'road' because of the trucks!! :O) Who would've thought it!! :O)

Day 5 - Wednesday I don't seem to have as much in the way of notes for Wednesday as I do for other days, but Wednesday turned out to be one of my favourite day's walking. Ken had told us that today would be mostly flat and easy for walking. Breakfast was the usual assortment of porridge, bread, cheese spread, tea/coffee/hot chocolate. We set off around the usual time of 8am and walked across the desert floor, known as Hamada for its flat, stony nature. Normally, I tend to walk up front but today for a change decided to drop back a bit off the pace and chatted with Daisy, Sheila & Jack at different points. Having walked across this massive expansive area, we climbed out of there and stopped for a break as we watched the camels & Berbers catch us up. More of the Berbers had joined us as the walk today was such that the Land Rover wouldn't be able get through to where we would be having lunch so the camels were carrying all the stuff needed for lunchtime that would normally go in the Land Rover. Having left the desert floor, our terrain now consisted of sand and tiny dunes but again proving that terrain in the desert can sometimes never remain the same for too long, the sand gave way to stonier ground with rolling contours on either side. The area in question felt not a million miles from certain parts of the North York Moors, not far from where I live. We eventually reached a point where the stony-sided slopes gave way to a wide expanse of open sandy desert. It was just around the corner that we would see the only tree for miles. This would be where we would stop for lunch. I walked into lunch with Daisy and as we got nearer to camp, it became clear that there were technically three trees, not one although we camped under the largest one of the three. After lunch, as if bang on cue, the wind picked up and started to blow the sand. Whilst the swirling sand wasn't welcome, it was not like the day before. It was hard work though during the afternoon and I walked the long final stretch with Cliff and both of us felt like we had legs of lead towards the end. As we got nearer towards evening camp, the massive range of dunes that are Chgaga came into view and we got a good idea as to what would be facing us tomorrow. There was quite a lot of green vegetation around where we were camped tonight, and we also had the benefit of the shower facilities this evening to clean off the sand we had collected. As usual, I appeared to have collected more than everyone else in terms of sand so was only too glad to get rid of it. I still haven't completely mastered the art of trying to get my boxers on in a small cubicle sized tent on a wet floor without looking like some kind of contortionist! It was still blowing a gale outside but some of the Berbers were relaxing by having a kick-about with the football, I momentarily joined in before realising that I might end up with a sand-blown face again, undoing the whole reason for having a shower so I headed for the mess tent and dinner. After dinner, most of our tent decided to have an early night. Due to the problems with the sand in the afternoons, we all agreed to leave camp an hour earlier the following morning in order to get more walking done in the morning and have a somewhat shorter lunch-break. Some of the girls in the next door tent decided to stay up and have a bit of a giggle. I think this was the night where Anna tried to show Sheila something but she can tell that story lol. We went to sleep but it turned out to be a disruptive nights sleep with local donkeys deciding to keep us awake!

Day 5 We get up quite early today. We want to set off walking earlier and try to miss the heat of the day (not that it actually gets cool at any point!) and hopefully miss the wind if it picks up in the afternoon. After more bread and jam and a nice strong cup of coffee we are off. The morning walk is great. Over flatish stoney ground with the odd sand dune here and there. We walk at a decent pace and I feel fantastic. Clare and I are at the front, we have seen the lunch tent in the distance and we can’t wait to get there and get our walking boots off. We can’t believe we are at the front so decide to walk even faster so we can get to camp and turn round to take a photo of the rest of the group in the distance as no one at home will believe us. We have a fab lunch and then get going early because of the wind. It is pretty hard going as the sand hurts as it hits but we keep up a good pace and get back to camp early. We are filthy – absolutely covered in sand. It gets everywhere – up your nose, in your ears. We are hot, sweaty and tired but so pleased to have got through the day happily. I have really enjoyed it today. I feel invigorated. I even manage to stretch out my muscles (someone else’s suggestion – I would never have thought to do it myself!). The showers are here again – yeah! I can get clean yippee. I only wish I could wash my hair as it feels disgusting. I only have to scratch my head and my nails are full of sand and it’s a nightmare trying to get a brush through it. Showering with the wind still blowing is a rather chilly experience and I pray that the tent does not blow away while I am stood there in my birthday suit. It feels great to be clean but the stubble growing under my arms is really irritating me. Clare has a razor and tells me to dry shave, I figure that even if I cut myself it can’t be any worse than the irritation and I go for it tentatively. Now I feel like a real happy bunny! We have time to sit and chill before dinner and then have another marvelous feast. We have freshly baked bread that is still warm. It’s amazing what can be done in the middle of the desert - I mean I can’t even bake bread in a fully equipped kitchen! We also have freshly baked cakes some days when we get back from our walk. Who can resist warm cake – certainly not me. I thought I would be living off cuppa soups and fruisli bars and go home half a stone lighter, at this rate I will be lucky if I’m not half a stone heavier. After dinner we have our now usual evening of chatter before a reasonably early night. I try having 2 wee’s again – one before brushing my teeth and one after. It kind of works as I only wake up once in the night. I really do feel great.

Day 5 Up early this morning as we want to set off sooner to try and avoid the afternoon wind if we can. The walking today is quite easy as its pretty flat and firm most of the way and i chat to Andy and Daisy as we walk and get to know each other a little better. I start feeling very homesick today and quite a few times have to stop myself crying (dont want the others to think im a big baby lol). After lunch the wind predictably gets up and this doesnt help my general mood very much and i spend quite a bit of the afternoon walking by myself so as not to inflict my miserableness on the others. Later on im joined by Yvette and we chat and she helps me feel a bit better. We're both finding this afternoon a bit hard going with the sand blowing in our faces constantly and are so relieved when the camp comes into view. There's lots of green stuff growing where we are camped and there are loads of tiny green caterpillars in it and im informed that they sting you - luckily i didnt get to find out. Im not hungry tonight (very unusual for me) and only have soup for dinner. Later on a few of us sit outside chatting and Anna decided to show me something (she can tell you cos im not risking a slap lol). This causes general hysteria amongst those of us still up and on that note we decide its time to head to bed - not that anyone got much sleep that night with the donkey chorus.

Day 5 Wednesday We woke up early again. Had breakfast, and filled our water bottles etc and we were off. Today we were walking across Stony Flat ground, it was quite hilly and I decide to walk near the back with Suzy C as my feet are killing and she has a huge blister on the side of her foot, so has to walk in her trainers. We seem to walk for ages until lunch time, It said we were stopping under the only tree for miles, so every time we saw I tree, I was hoping it was lunch time lol. We finally get to the lunch tent about 15 minutes after everyone else, and first thing I did was take my boots off. As we are eating, the wind is picking up again, but we manage to complete today’s walk as it is along flat, but stony ground, hardly any sand. After lunch, my feet feel much better, so we were walking right at the front of the group. It seemed like we were walking along the side of a motorway, the amount of traffic that passed us was unbelievable. I almost got knocked over by a Jeep, which was a bit odd, I couldn’t hear it as I had my headscarf wrapped round my face and ears and the wind was making a noise, and you don’t really expect to encounter much traffic in the middle of the desert do you? We saw a white spot in the distance and assumed this was our camp for the evening, this made us walk faster, but it took forever to reach the tents. We have showers again tonight. I had washed my hair with no rinse shampoo, but I couldn’t drag the comb through it, so I rinsed this out under the shower and stuck intensive conditioner on. I felt better for all of 5 minutes, cos the wind got it all tangled again. Tonight we are camping at the foot of Chgaga, which we are climbing tomorrow. Outside our tents are a group of children, I don’t know if they were trying to sell things, but some of our group went over and gave them some hair slides and pens etc. After dinner I sat outside on a couple of mattresses tonight with the other night owls. All was going well until I went to the toilet. The zip was broke so Sheila was standing guard (I was scared of the dark really so had to take her to the loo with me lol). I was showing Shelia how I could pee like a man, when suddenly we saw these head lights coming towards us. I tried to hurry up had an accident. Luckily I was wearing a long t-shirt so I hobbled back to the mats and wrapped Sheila’s coat around me like a skirt.(Sorry Sheila pmsl) We finally decided to head off to bed, after we received a stern look from the doctor. I think our giggling was keeping her awake. It was only 9pm though! We were surrounded by a load of Donkeys and as soon as we got to bed they started Braying and kept us all awake most of the night! It wasn’t the only thing making a noise in the night I am told.:-)

no it wasnt Anna - i forgot to mention your attempts at opera singing while you were asleep :-)