Paris Dakar Stage 25 to Morocco

Stage 25 of 60, day 30 of 71: 43.7 km, 303m, 1:54, 134 shifts, ave speed 22.9, max speed 62.6

Today ended up being a terrible day. Andrew and I woke up at 5:45, had breakfast, packed up and rode to the ferry in the dark. Everyone got aboard with our bikes but our trucks didn’t quite make it and were delayed two hours. The ride was beautiful, from the top deck, just over an hour. We ate pastries and had drinks and relaxed at an outdoor café for an extra two hours waiting for the trucks. Ceuta is still part of Spain so phones and credit cards all worked.

Finally it was time to ride the 4 km to the Spain/Morocco border. Rob had warned us, and he was right, it was slow slow slow getting everyone plus the trucks into Morocco. When you arrive at the border, do not say you’re a journalist and do not say that you have a drone with you (none of us did, or presumably we would not all have made it through). Also don’t bring drugs as the dogs are thorough.

Anyway, we did make it eventually, passports stamped, and stopped at an ATM for dirhams and at a little convenience store for SIM cards for the non-Google Fi phones. We then had about 30 km to our hotel in Martil (مرتيل), along a pretty big road, with light and friendly enough traffic. There were roundabouts every kilometer or so that we generally just went through. But we had to turn left at one and there must’ve been something slippery on the pavement at one spot. I was riding 3rd, after Wytze and Daniel. There were no cars in the roundabout and we slowed for the turn, but suddenly ahead of me Daniel went down, sliding across the road. I rushed to the side, dropped my bike and ran back to help him but he was already up. Then I noticed Andrew had crashed as well, behind me. He was not getting up, so I blocked traffic then with Wytze helped Andrew to the roundabout center. He was alert but clearly hurting and couldn’t put any weight on one leg. Luckily Daniel was nearly unhurt.

We got Andrew comfortable and shaded and right away a police car stopped and called an ambulance. While we waited, a few other motorists stopped to see if there was anything they could do to help. The ambulance guys were great, very caring, and then Wytze and Daniel (who both speak some French) went along. A stopped motorist helped me move all the bikes over to where our van could pick them up.

Soon Ype and Richard came in the van and we loaded up the bikes. I rode off to the hotel with Bob and a very heavy heart. It was only 4 km, and I pulled in at the same time as Ype. We stashed the bikes in the garage and I had some snacks. Soon the news came from the hospital: broken hip, surgery required at a different hospital. At the hotel all the reservations were screwed up and the staff was fully consumed with that. I sat by myself and thought about all the chances we take, all day, everyday. Andre saw me and asked how I was and I just broke down sobbing.

Later Wytze and Daniel returned from the new hospital and we dealt with getting Andrew’s things together and Wytze’s since he was staying with Andrew in the hospital and through the surgery and would meet up with us later in Fez. Six of us had dinner which was good but hollow feeling for me. A sad day. The outpouring of support messages for Andrew on WhatsApp was pretty impressive.