Lynn: It is pretty impressive to get stuck in the mud in the Sahara – sand you would expect but mud was a surprise.

After hours of driving effortlessly along the Mauritanian beach and over dunes we came off the tracks of the car we were following and fell in a hole when least expecting it. 

Despite the best efforts of instructor Phil during our Land Rover off road driving course – I think our approach might not have been exactly orthodox. First we managed to make it a whole lot worse by wheel spinning a bigger hole. 

Then the boys set about enthusiastically moving sand but not exactly digging us out – I was holding the camera and offering ‘constructive’ suggestions.

After a while they gave me a suggestion – to put the camera down and do some work. 

Namely, searching for where we should put our winch isolator key. We have a lovely shiny winch generously provided by Land Rover and we had, thanks to Phil, a pretty good idea of how to work it. What we didn’t know, due entirely to our own incompetence, was how to turn it on. The situation was eventually solved, in the same way I solve all vehicle related problems in the UK, by a phone call (on our satellite phone) to my Dad.

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Will: It is always difficult sitting in the back. You see very little and you feel a lot.

Bump. Crunch. A grinding halt. An awkward silence. A lurking cloud of uncertainty. A nervous giggle.

Then a surge of adrenalin. Ha! this is the adventure. Fling open the boot door, grab the spade. Dig like a terrier burying a bone. Turn on the ignition, give it some gas. Give it more gas. Sand from the spinning wheels covers my body stinging my eyes and filling my ears. The car sinks deeper. What a challenge. Now the adventure begins!

Knee deep in mud we scoop out sand from under the body of the car. Shirts are off. Car is unpacked. Tools and equipment lie everywhere in the inky darkness. Aren’t we well equipped. Hundreds of pounds of spanners and jacks melt into the night. Finger pinched in jack! Ouch. Blood drips quietly as we lift the car, the broken skin filling with sweat and mud. A thumping headache as the car lists again into another sand trap. Guzzle water. Tempers fray and people bite lips to remain polite. Midnight passes.

We scrape clear. Instructions are given slowly. 2km to go. Follow my tracks. We are almost home. Our petrol cans fly off as we lurch forward. Our guides don’t wait. They are tired.

Silence in the car. Mud is brushed off faces onto the floor. I suck my finger. Sand and sweat cloud my eyes. A bruise throbs on my knee. My head pounds. I see very little and feel a lot. Sitting in the back.

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Tim: Glance to camera, strike a pose, flash a confident, winning smile, utter naive inanities about driving in the desert. Crash. What a muppet.

I curse myself for an idiot as I open the door of the car. Except the door won’t open because the right hand side has buried itself in the mud. Idiot. I scramble outside where the scene is no less dramatic. The car lists alarmingly to one side like a ship floundering at sea. And that is just the danger, the tide is coming in... which is why this part of the desert is muddy. The penny drops, it’s tidal. Muppet. As we dig around the wheels water courses up through the sand to meet us. The irony, Atlantic Rising foiled by... the Atlantic rising. Idiot. I dig faster.

We are also lost. I hear our location being hotly debated in the distance by two silhouettes gazing at the stars. “Mais la lune est la!” (there is an international dimension to this rescue mission). This sounds like lunacy.
 
Our extrication, having got both cars stuck once more, is testament to the power of cross-cultural working and four and a half hours digging in the school of hard knocks. We are indebted to Mohammed, Antonio and Sylvie from the PNBR and La FIBA for their good humour and patience, for making our high-lift jack work and for a great adventure. Let’s do it again sometime.

Comments	Leave a comment
Name: Cate Burgess (UK) It reminds me of when Daphne and I were stuck in the mud, up in the Aberdares!! That was back in the 70's and we just had a shovel. Happy days! Name: Paul White (Romania) Great video and I applaud your willingness to share your mistakes. Off road driving really is a steep learning curve and we have all been there deep in the do do at some stage :)