Sunday 8th March, Erg Louida to L’oued L’autruche

We left camp early next morning for an 18km walk across the desert. The terrain was different and more varied than what I had expected. We encountered open desert before moving onto “hamada”, (an area of wind swept bare rock) and “reg” (a flat plain with fine sand blown away leaving stones and gravel) before entering an area of dunes and Tamarisk trees.

To avoid being out in the hottest part of the day we stopped for lunch in a dry valley where we could shelter from the sun under the trees. After lunch we continued through similar mixed terrain before finishing at the base of small dunes near an old well. The sand began to take its toll on the client’s feet today with Dr Cookie busy dealing with numerous blisters while we enjoyed mint tea and cakes.

We were entertained by the local crew after dinner around the campfire. As it was a nice evening most of the group decided to sleep out under evening sky and watch the stars. Around 0300hrs the wind picked up and it started to rain and we had to make a run for the tents to keep our kit dry.