The second longest stage of the rally turned out to be a very long one. We have just arrived, after 23 hours of driving. It was exhausting but terrific: snow, sun, mountains, snow chains, mud. Going to sleep now for half an hour.
Stage statistics:
After more than 3500 kilometers we arrived at the finish of the first stage in Midelt today. There was some snow in the Low Atlas mountains, but nothing worrying. We stay in a hotel again, it is too cold in the car.
The stage tomorrow is one of the longest, more than 700kms in the mountains, the highest point is above 2700m. Let’s see how much of that is doable, there is more snow to come over night.
We have a room at the Paris Dakar Motel in Nador, but there is hardly any difference to the car: there are no blankets, we sleep in our sleeping bags, and there is no hot water. And no heating either. Outside its 3°C and it was raining all the afternoon.
The dinner at a small restaurant nearby was superb, however. Grilled fish and squid with French fries for 4EUR per person.
We saw some 20 teams on the ferry and in town, no idea where the others are. The end of the first stage is tomorrow in Midelt, I hope to meet them again there.
