Was that a good idea!
After getting some petrol in the back yard of the hotel and a bollocking by the cleaning lady over the spil; we set off following our guide on a mobilette/
Dropped by the Starwars place of course where we drank a quick cuppa with the bartender who claimed he had seen the whole series.
Bus after bus walked in and we did notice some admiration for doing this on our own.
Could not help wonder if that was because we were on the bikes or facing the hagglers on our own without the guides to keep them in check.
So first bit was blacktop and easy.
After a quick SMS with our route; we cut accross via a graded track direction Kebila.
First we had some buttons to press though:
So far so good. Terrain was eas enough but Andre did have some screws go missing so had to tape up some stuff. Tried to find them but no luck and had a few spare bolts we used to do a quick repair.
Wind was picking up also; and a night out in a sandstorm did not appeal to me for sure. Overall I was doing ok in the sandy bits; Weight to the back and more power. fortunately that was not so,ething I am lacking.
Then came a big big ditch about 10 meters wide with lots of fine sand. Power on and picked up speed; lots of it!
Nearly back on top I saw this massive hole I could not avoid. The rear jumped up. Threw me up and I did a 180 and was down shhhhhhit. That was a bit too much excite,ent for me.
Got the bike up, yes very heavy with and withut the luggage. and got going again. No apparent damage.
Only shortly after, trying to catch up, some deep ruts presented itself and I foolishly decided on the inside lane. A slight corner to the left, I hit the ,iddle very soft sand and I really went flying. Only about30 or 40 but again a nice 180 degrees/ Andre saw the dust from the distqnce.
This time my left cqse was somewhat damaged, but I did not repair on the spot.
Got up, pointing the wrong way, and drove out. Now for the second attempt.
All went well this time and after 40 kms we got back to blacktop and off direction Tozeur.
The route was lined with date plantations and it was fun; even though the wind was picking up and giving a mild Sandstorm feel. Sand gritting your neck and wrists. At some point it looked like Andre was driving on a thin bed of sand being blown over the road.
The model jacket I have is called AIRFLOW, very comfy in most hot circumstances.
Today, perhaps that should be Sandflow.
We also passed the main salt lake right through the middle.
Got to one of the many many hotels and after a quick dip in the pool made it into town.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fd2_1273775197&p=1
Very tourist focussed here so better get out soon again.
That's all folks for now.
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