We set off with great intentions today, three trials in the desert. We’ve done sand before in the
Gobi so no problem. However, having got 8 km into the first there were 12 cars ahead of us stuck in a narrow gulley with deep sand so we turned round so that we could attack the 2nd and got
grounded twice on the way out. We were pulled out by the ever helpful Max and James. The 2nd was cancelled as everyone else was stuck so we went on to the 3
rd. As we are now placed at 39
th, our start time was late enough to make it worth doing and we were nearly at the end when, yes, we hit deep sand and had to get a tow out from Max and Pierre and Georges so we missed the end and made a sorry trip back to the hotel.
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| Stuck again... |
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| James and Max Stephenson |
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| Mike and Ben Dawson with their escort |
Day 10
Three hours sleep and then we were up again to get on the ferry at midnight. It left at 4am and we arrived in Saudi having had a very uncomfortable night with no beds, either rubber necking badly or lying on the floor, trying to sleep. We were all so tired after digging sand and pushing cars all day. All the men had a good laugh and took loads of photos of us wearing our abayas then we had to get in the cars with our designated drivers. Suzy had Ed to drive the MG and Rachel went in the Frontera with Chris.
A long and boring drive, but on excellent roads, through Saudi desert along the eastern edge of the
Red Sea to Yanbu. We both feel that wearing the abaya makes us feel strangely pathetic. We can’t even move the car to be helpful in a queue. And, unlike the men, we weren’t fingerprinted or photographed at customs…
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| Beautiful Abaya |
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| Rachel with Chris, her escort! |
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| The Saudis have a very strange idea of roundabout design |
It feels strange to wear normal clothes in our room and then have to put on the abayas over them if we emerge in public. We went down for supper feeling rather self conscious but were asked to join the local Mr Fix it, the very charming Elie Semaan who is half Bahraini and half Lebanese and speaks beautiful English and his friend Mohammed Kaddoumi from Jordan. They made us laugh and told us that Saudi women were too spoilt to cope with this sort of trip as they get pampered by their husbands. So we felt a bit more confident as we went to bed
You Look lovely ladies in your abayas!...the photographs in the sand are amazing and the idea of you 2 being pathetic??? mmmmm....not for a moment!
ReplyDeleteHi Rach & Suzy, thanks for the updates and hope all is going well - you certainly had a few challenges to start with! Loving the photos and hope to see more soon! Go girls! xx
ReplyDeleteWell done both of you, after reading the most recent events report it sounds as if you got away unscathed - the photographs are incredible! The locals must think you are all mad - hope you are having fun. Much love and keep moving up that leader board. Kx
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