17 January – Ayoun

ME, LOOKING GOOD !

MMMMMMM Nice. Ayoun is another militray airfield, only this time, as were much farther South than when we entered the country, it looks a little different…

There’s a little more vegetation (though all of it pretty bleached by the sun, even in mid-winter) with the odd tree and clump of grass dotted around and there’s not sand, more like brown dust. We have left the Sahara behind us and the earth reflects that. Instead of being 100% sand, there’s a distinct reddy-brown-ness to it.

Which doesn’t mean that it stays on the ground. Oh no… it is very dry and just as fine as the desert fesh fesah, sailing up into big clouds at the slightest provocation (an Antonov on full thrust, say, or a car or turck trundling past) and then filters down to cover everything in a nice even coating.

I have to dust my screen and keyboard literally every 5 minutes, or it feels like you’re typing on sand! The poor Mac is gooing to need a trip through the washing machine, or something, when I get home, just to clean it out…

Today is the final day of bidding on the groovy (or poo, depending on whether you’re me or Leah, Morgan and – the little traitor, I thought at least HE would be on my side on this one - Sam back home in England) 2CV that I spotted on eBay. It’s matt black and flames.

When I started bidding it was £200, now it’s rocketed up to over £400. Our budget is fixed at £777, so I have some leeway.

A PRIVATEER'S TRUNK - MESSAGES FROM HOME

Today, with no competitive stage, the editors had a different challenge. Not telling the story of the rally, with top 5 or 10 times etc etc etc but they decided that today’s programme would basically be 26 minutes behind the scenes. Looking at the differences between pro rider and totally unsupported amateur… the view on the stages from a rider’s helmet-cam… alll kinds of stories from behind the lead battle. In other words, the real Dakar for the majority of the field, who are not in the chase for the podium.

It promised to be tough work. Naturally, there’s miles of footage for the top runners, but they’re going to be digging much deeper for this show and that always means time… I have to confess, I was slightly worried that it’d be a nightmare…

Chatted to my honey on MSN (more technology conquered) but couldn’t get the Skype to work. Have just enough for one more 5-minute call, which I’m keeping just in case there’s no coverage for the mobile in Mali or Senegal. Later on, Oscar was online too. He was at his friend Tom’s house, on his PSP, as their broadband had gone down at home.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU NEED TO BACK A PLANE UP...