At 6AM the alarm goes off, we want to see the sunrise in the desert. Fortunately, the weather cleared up and we have a cloudless eastern horizon. We climb to the highest dune to be treated to a great sunrise,
Then we leave towards Merzouga, I drive up the dune but the slope is steeper than I estimate, Milady slips away and for a moment I fear she will tilt. Fortunately she doesn’t, but she gets stuck in the sand, forward or reverse there is not budge. Fortunately Said immediately begins to dig free the wheels with his Berber friends , Marc and I help, with our bare hands just like the Berbers do. That works fine, of course, and I can thus drive out of the sand.
Then we increase the tire pressure up to 3 bar and can finish the rest of the ride. We stop at a traditional village and a panoramic vista on a mountaintop.
When we arrive back at Le Petit Prince breakfast is ready and we can have a nice shower. At 10 o’clock we set off again.
As the day progresses, we come closer to the Atlas. We stop at a traditional water pit, wells have been dug which transport water from the mountains for about 45 km through underground channels.
The ride is fine but it is still very hot so we drive slowly, Milady sustains. At about 4 we arrive at the Gorges du Todra which we enter after we have carried out some maintenance on the Landy, the nuts of the exhaust must be tightened and a fuse of the fan is blown. The gorges are gorgeous though we do not fully enjoy because we’re all tired from lack of sleep due to the heat last night.
At 8PM we arrive at camp Kasbah Ait Youl (or Dar Touga) in the Dades Gorge, a beautiful place to sleep on top of a valley. We eat in the dining room, a good meal of kebabs and salad with a delicious cup of coffee.