Mechanic to the rescue

Some good news today for my friend Steban, after a tip from Matt Roach on the horizons unlimited forum we found Tdjani, a bike mechanic which first put back some oil and water in the KTM, started it up with ease and then told us it's not the cylinder gasket, but the water pump that was faulty, just by looking at the water filler hole on the radiator. He then dismanteld the cylinder head and water pump in record time and if all goes well, Steban will be rolling by tomorrow. Result!

It was a pleasure watching those golden hands do their work.

Noakchott troubles

I'm almost a week here now in Noakchott, the capital of Mauritania. I arrived here together with Mike on a tenere and Esteban on a KTM 640. When we saw the oil of the KTM was milky coloured, we changed the oil. But to our horror the complete engine was filled with an oil/water kind of mayonaise. The starter motor, clutch, oil filters, all clogged up, we were surprised it even made it to here. For 3 days we tried to get to a solution, even trying to fix it ourselves, but finally Esteban had to realise to his dream to do this trip on this bike, was gone.

He now has a couple of options, like shipping the bike, then flying back to Spain and start again on his BMW, but it was hard to see a man's life long dream go to pieces.
Yesterday Abdul, a Soudanese/Brittish guy on a fazer6 roadbike arrived, and in a few days we'll be heading for Mali. It will be sad to leave a friend behind with a broken bike.

Abdul, on his way to Soudan, crossing Niger and Tchad

And before anyone askes, the dog is still doing fine. For doggy pictures, they made an interesting forum, it's called facebook, I think.

Long way to Mauritania

After doing some surf places and meeting Garry, who is on a bike with a surfboard, me and Luke drove on South. By this time we picked up Manos, a greek hitchhiker, on the way to Senegal.

Got stuck in some dunes off the road in Laayoune

Garry with the surfboard

Surfs Up

One happy Luke

Once we got to Dakhla, it started raining and didn't stop for 2 days, which is kind of strange, in the middle of the Sahara. We resorted to cooking inside the van and watching some movies.

Finally found the sign for the tropic of Cancer, you can see why I missed it twice

Just before the border we spend a night in Lamhiriz, a fishermen's village.

When we got to the border, I was happy we got there in the morning, as it was very busy that day. After 2 hours we could start checking out of Morocco.

Then after succesfully navigating no-mans land, we had another 2,5 hours of frustration on the Mauri side, but eventually we made it in, with no questions asked about the dog, and just a very quick look in the van. They told me I could have brought in 3 bottles of alcohol per person, if only I had known, I wouldn't have drunk most of it by now.

Chillin' in Nouadhibou

I'm now in Nouakchott, sorting out the visa and teaming up with Spanish KTM driver Kruger for the 'route de l'espoir' to Mali.