This second leg of the Sahara crossing in 1975 goes from Arak to Arlit. This is all rough tracks and soft sand – there was no tarmac here in 1975!
The first photo is when one of the springs broke on the Land Rover. They had been bent up to lift the suspension but, with the rough track, it was too much for the metal. Fortunately we had spares:
The following photo was taken early in the morning. For some reason I found the scene quite captivating; like something I imagined from ‘Lord of the Rings’:
We were told about this small mosque on the way to Tamanrasset – you had to circle it 3 times for good luck. We couldn’t remember in which direction so we did both! I have tried looking for more information on it but couldn’t find any.
According to my diary, after examining the map (64 miles to the inch!) I said to my friends that we should have passed the Tropic of Cancer by now, 5 minutes later we came across this sign by the road:
This part of the road was fun to drive. The main track was very corrugated so we went on the sand to the side. Provided you kept the speed up (about 50mph) you didn’t get stuck, but you could, at times, feel the drag on the vehicle:
Apart from the broken springs, and the heat (we once measured 120ºF (49ºC) in the shade) we had a good, interesting drive.