The few days at Erg Chebbe were forced rest for me. It actually ended up being a really good time. My shoulder feels really stuffed and although the XRays we had showed no bone damage, I will still get it checked out in Canada as there is still a tremendous amount of pain and lots of grinding and crunching in the shoulder when it moves.

I have had a chance to walk in the sand dunes and feel the difference in consistency of the sand and watch Mick teach people how to ride the dunes and of course demonstrate. For me, watching is almost as good as doing so I think we are well prepared. On the last day, I decided to try and get on a bike again and ride in the dunes. I could not lift my right hand up to the throttle, but my left hand helped out, stuck it there and I fired the bike up! I am not sure I have ever been so nervous…. not only was I going to be riding but I would be riding in sand!!!

The plan was to ride into the dunes about 500m and then ride around and take some pics. I did manage to ride in and up a few small dunes and I was very glad that I did. I decided not to risk too much because the pain level was still quite high so I jumped off the bike and with camera in hand, Jackie and I took some photos of everyone playing around and the then did a video interview with Mick and I. In all we were out there for a few hours and managed to grab some great photos before heading back to the camp.

I think everyone has and is thoroughly enjoying the experience and I certainly feel as though Mick and I are getting on as well as can be expected for a team in prep for the Dakar. I am sure there will be tense moments during the race, but I think are personalities are matched quite well for that environment.

During our down time, I had the opportunity to get to know Drizz, one of our Touareg hosts. He is an amazing fellow. In general the people in this part of the world are extremely passive and you will never out serve them. They are extremely cheerful people in general and our camp was a walk across a pitch black car park to get to the kitchen. At one of the meals if we asked for anything, it was never a problem and he would walk back through the dark Saharan sky to the kitchen signing a Berber song to come back with a big smile and present you with what you had ordered… amazing people. During one conversation where we were discussing the fact that I had to write an article with a deadline, he indicated that “all you people have watches but you have no time, you should move here with us, here we have all the time in the world, but no watches”. It was of course very tempting, particularly for Mick who loves the sand dunes, but having said that, the meals always showed up on time so I think it was also a bit of a rub.

Drizz had never gone to school or at least not for many years, he said he learns from the school of life, and that it is like a cow, one day it gives you Milk, the next day, shit! Apart from a vast array of thought provoking comments, he also could speak several languages very competently and what certainly impressed me was his ability to tell jokes for an hour one evening in our language which was not his strongest language…. that must be the best command of a language and understanding of a culture when you are able to translate jokes competently and make them work!

Now we are in the land rover, in Jackie’s competent hands, despite a terrible back seat driver with one arm… perhaps tomorrow I will sleep, and she can wrap up the trip on the blog for you!

Mark