The Western Desert

You'll notice that our latest batch of postings from, respectively, Aswan and Luxor (Robert and Gus sorting out vehicles in Aswan, everyone else enjoying themselves in Luxor) have something of a desert theme. This is because the majority of our last two weeks have been spent in the Western Desert of Egypt, and it has been a truly inspiring experience for all of us. There can't be many places in the world quite like it....

Although it was something we were anyway hoping to do, a chance meeting in Cairo with friends of friends opened the door to a whole seam of opportunities we hadn't considered. Without a second thought, Sandy and PJ (said Friends of Friends) gave us, in short order, a map of the desert, a series of GPS waypoints and a suggested itinerary, a spare sand ladder and two more jerry cans. It was an act of exceptional generosity, as a result of which we were able to embark on some really quite adventurous, "out there" kind of desert travel.

After a flying visit to the El Alamein museum (just to get us in the mood), and a very sobering walk around the Commonwealth war graves site there, we made our way to Siwa, the famous old oasis that, amongst other things, played host to the Long Range Desert Group during the second World War. It put us firmly in the mood for some off-road adventuring of our own, and before long we were heading off on a compass bearing to find an abandoned LRDG vehicle in the middle of the Great Sand Sea to the south of Siwa.

We had several days of wonderfully enjoyable and exciting travel in the desert, during which we saw nobody else at all, and really felt at times as if we were the only people left on the planet. We found our LRDG vehicle, too, and in not much different condition from when it was abandoned 68 years ago. That gave us quite a sense of achievement, locating one small piece of rusting metal in the middle of a vast desert!

We had, on many occasions, to lower the tyre pressures almost to nothing, get out the sand ladders and dig and push to get our vehicles through the sand. But nobody complained, and it soon became apparent that the kids were enjoying the digging so much they were positively willing the cars to get stuck. I think I may have been like that when I was a kid, too....

Taking the air out of the tyres....

and pumping it back in again.....

We had some breathtaking campsites along the way, and huddled up in our sleeping bags each evening (for it was VERY cold at night!) content in the knowledge that there was nobody for miles around us in all directions.

Things didn't always go perfectly, of course, and Robert and I had to perform an emergency operation on the handbrake drum in Mahali, which decided to give up the ghost in the middle of the desert.

Naturally I don't expect the handbrake to work (functioning handbrakes being, to my mind, an entirely superfluous cosmetic attachment), but I'd rather they didn't screech and howl like a banshee. When this one started doing that, it had to go. Just as well. When we opened it up, it was in many more pieces than it's manufacturer had ever intended....

Now, sadly, we leave the Western Desert and turn back into Sudan. Although we have many more excitements ahead of us, and much fun still to be had, it's hard to imagine anything else on our route will give us quite us much pleasure and satisfaction as we gained from these few days. Thanks Sandy and PJ for your help in setting us up, and thanks too to the gallant men of the LRDG who stayed with us as inspiration throughout the trip!