Paris Dakar Stage 52 to Mauritania

It turns out my phone doesn’t really work in Mauritania. So just a quick post, courtesy of Daniel’s hotspot.

Stage 52 of 60, day 61 of 71: 102 km, 240m, 2:52, 46 shifts, ave speed 35.4, max speed 52.7

Kris’s shot of Andre, Wytze and myself enjoying the last few Moroccan kilometers

We rode about 77 km to lunch in the morning, then just a few km more to the border. The short story version is that it took 7 hours to get the trucks and everyone through. Something like four hours of that was getting out of Morocco, with four separate passport checks, by far a record for me.

Getting into Mauritania was similar, quite painful. No need for details but it leaves a sour taste for sure.

Finally riding away from the Mauritania border

The sun was about to set when we finally got out of there so we could only ride about 13 km instead of the planned 40. Our impromptu bush camp was very windy and sandy. Dinner was massive and good, amazing under the conditions. Tomorrow is 172 km instead of 141.

I’m writing this to the sound of sand blasting my tent. Good night!