Paris Dakar Stage 40

Stage 40 of 60, day 47 of 71: 58.8 km, 821m, 2:26, 227 shifts, ave speed 24.1, max speed 62.9

Ok, two thirds of the stages are done! Today’s was an easy one, complete with a late start from our bush camp. Unlike my past experiences with Bike Dreams bush camps in South America, I did not sleep well. There were some locals, two uniformed police(?) and a couple of others, who stayed up all night at our camp, for our security. I guess they saw us setting up and really don’t want bad press, so to make sure nothing happened to us, they guarded the camp. Very nice idea but the implementation could’ve been better. They were LOUD.

Enough whining, the ride was really pretty, and continually interesting. There were some headwinds and a fair amount of climbing but it was fun. We stopped at a tiny café after 25 km for drinks and snacks then continued. The mountains are dramatic looking and the towns have old semi-ruined forts or castles. It’s a raw looking landscape.

At 43 km, we crested a final hill, took some photos and blasted down towards Trafraoute. Our campground was about 5 km short of the town. Wytze and Daniel had a plan for lunch in town but I had had enough of fighting the wind, so pulled into the campground instead of joining them. After a drink with Jan and a look around I checked out the rooms and for Mad 280 (€26) I got a nice private room, near the pool and restaurant. The WiFi even worked well enough to have a video chat with Katie. Then a nice hot shower, laundry and lunch.

At dinner we had everyone finally together.