Lots of this en route
We have arrived in Tamanrasset, Algeria and it is a wonderful place. 35°C seems crisp and cool after the heat of Agadez and it has a Mediterranean feel despite being in the heart of the Sahara: pavement cafés under trees, good coffee again. It is also relaxing to have no hassles at all on the streets, no hawkers, no cadeaux cadeaux. Even the sky is clear of dust.
I have already written too much car stuff, but it is hard to avoid. All I can say is that the roads, heat and dust are tough on all vehicles, and everyone has problems. The piste from Agadez to Tamanrasset is littered with the remains of hundreds of vehicles that never made it. So, the short version is as follows. 25km out of Agadez we had a big deja vu of Timbuktu - clutch went, the hydraulics (again) this time.
Back to Agadez, where after a day of work they found that the push rod was broken, a fault on all Discoverys and Range Rovers. They sourced a part, fixed it and we were off, two days late. Our Algeria guide had been waiting for us at the border, a lonely walled compound in the desert, and we met on the evening of the 6th April. The border was fine, the officials very friendly.
The piste north is beautiful, with volcanic hills, rubble piles, some deep sand, some long fast stretches of harder sand. The piste braids often and the faster guide car (Toyota HJ80) and Haakon's bike went ahead and we travelled with the Dutch LR Series III. At one point we saw that they had taken a parallel piste in the distance and cut across to catch them (Con was with Leon, reclining in comfort, Claire with me). Just as we reached their piste my drive belt disintegrated in spectacular fashion. The guide car and Haakon arrived soon after, and though we had the spare belt on quickly, it was several hours before we caught up with Leon and Con - despite having the slowest vehicle, they made steady progress.
The border had no fuel, so we were all low on diesel. Haakon had got petrol with special permit from the police. We managed to get 20 litres from a drilling work site. So there was a lot of jerry can work today, and we arrived coated in diesel and dust. A pleasant camp in the east of the town, where we met Yves and Mohammed of Tanezrouft Voyages, our agency. They have just returned from a short trip to Mali. Over dinner of camel brochettes they devised a two-week route for us that will take us East to Djanet, back to In Salah via the Tefedest mountains and to Tunisia.
