9 January – Moroccan mountains

It was cold last night in my little tent. Woken up by the cold several times, so it was almost a relief when the Hercules started its on-board power, to begin loading and the jet whine cut throught the icy dark.

Discovered that my sleeping bag is like being wrapped in clingfilm, it’s so tight… So I unzipped it and used it as a duvet, my thick self-inflating ground mat keeping the cold tarmac at bay nicely. That was money well spent, even though we only have three really cold nights in Morocco…

Still dark as we stood huddled waiting to get onto our plane for the trip to the next bivouac and the crew tried to jam tents and sleeping detritus for the 59 passengers into a tiny baggage compartment.

The flight was just over an hour and gave us another good view of the snow-topped Atlas mountains – unusually snowy, regulars reckoned. And with Ouarzazate being about 500m higher than Er Rachidia, it’d be colder overnight… Oh goody!

Landed and began the process of re-assembly. As we grabbed our tents and bags, then tried to find a spot on the ground without too many stones, the sun felt alittle warmer. Our clothes go in another plane, so we trekked across to find those, then assembled our little homes, like an army of snails, finding their shells.

Breakfast arrived at around 9, and I managed to find a spot in the sun to help the coffee warm me up. Learned from a very old friend, Dutchman Allard Kalff, that there were very good showers in the bivouac, so trekked over there with a group of guys and, sure enough, there was hot running water and proper toilets, with seats, water and everything! Most impressed!

Clean and refreshed, I treated myself to clean clothes as well. Trousers, t-shirt, pants, socks – the lot… still in the same boots, which have an aroma of their own now, but I felt a whole lot better and smelled nicer too.

Began the process of working on the programme again. Still haven’t quite got into a rhythm with this… Seem to spend most of the day waiting for the stage to finish, so we have some idea of who is where and what to feature, popping into the Hercules regularly to see the two editors, JP (bikes) and Manu (cars) only to be told they don’t have much yet, then 30 minutes before transmission, the programme is coming together and the longest two elements, the bike and car reports, are still changing, with new pictures arriving from the stages, plus interviews, all being crammed in at the last moment.

So far, I have managed to have something to say for all the parts of the show but there have been some surprises… yesterday a lengthy section of onboard, where a Belgian talked to his camera, explaining how the crash we’d just seen happened. I knew the crash was in but not the onboard… So I may not have accurately translated the whole piece… but it was probably close.

At the moment, I don’t really know who does what and I don’t have a real grip on the way life happens in the bivouac. I still need to ask somebody everything. Problem is, after Toby has done the job for 5 years, several ASO people have already told me that they forget that I know nothing and just assume I have everything I need.

One aspect I need to get sorted out is the script of the programme. Immediately I have finished voicing the transmission, someone wants a complete script to send to the broadcasters. I had to point out last night, that the trucks section was being edited as I was voicing the first half of the programme and I didn’t even know in advance what would be in it, so I could hardly have a script ready immediately afterwards. And, although the editors are telling me running orders, they don’t tell me how long they’re spending on each competitor. So I then have to sit down with a tape of the programme and put timings of the shots into my script. Which takes about an hour.

Everybody seems to think that the script should be done well in advance, even though the editing continues right up until – and during – my transmission time.

I’ll have to ask Toby how he managed that minor miracle…

Wandered into the competitors’ bivouac afterwards, which is where everyone eats and sleeps, as well as where the vehicles get serviced. It wasn't snowing, the camera's flash just picked up all the dust hanging in the air...

It was quite empty, as the bikes weren’t there. They were in a separate bivouac, where there were no service crews, trucks, nothing – not even spare tyres… they had to prepare their own bikes with whatever tools they carry. So if you had somehow managed to struggle out of the 405-kilometre stage with a flat tyre, you had the prospect of still having a flat tyre when you set off tomorrow morning, with 325-kilometres of timed stage (over two mountain passes on fast gravel roads, then descending onto the plain and meeting the first of the dunes, as you skirt the Algerian border) and then a further 280km of road (first half tarmac, second half unmade) before the safety and assistance of the bivouac.

Tragically, a biker died in a crash on today's stage. Elmer Symons was 29, a South African who lived in the States. He'd done the previous two Dakars with a service team to learn about it while he raised the money to compete himself and this year was his first time as a competitor... It seems he crashed in a high-speed section and a rider who had already stopped because he was first on the scene of another serious, but not fatal, crash was first to come across him. Rescue choppers arrived within 8 minutes of his emergency beacon being activated but apparently there was nothing that could be done. When the doctors arrived 2 minutes later they pronounced him dead. I imagine that the mood among the bikers last night was pretty sombre.

Had some food and then crashed out in the tent at about 11, wearing two fleeces and my coat, with some joggers over my combats. Still cold but slept until the Hercules alarm clock…

Remembered, just as I was about to get under the sleeping bag, that I needed to leave my clothes bag by a cargo plane… stumbled about in the dark looking for the correct plane, couldn’t find it, so dumped my bag with a pile of other bags by the Herc… Not the right pile but it will still get to Tan Tan… Hopefully…

The 2CV featured once more in tonight’s programme… but it'll be for the last time, as Georges Marques retired before the end of today's stage... 2 years ago he retired on Stage 5, this year he won't start it...