Day I really don't care...

Sooo... Yeah, we killed the car.

Technically, it was the rock desert that did it for us, or rather, kilometer 74 of said rock desert. The paved road turned off road into a desert piste - so far so good, but then... Then we had race teams coming back on that same piste, because the road we planned to take was impassable for them. Which, to be honest, didn't exactly inspire us with confidence that we can make it, even on the "correct", "nicer" and "easier" road we then took.

But we did. Over dry river beds, random ditches, past local kids that threw rocks (thanks kids...) while we tried to get through a ditch, and over sand (and mud) where the only thing that got us through was a very Clarkson-like scream of "POWEEER!". How the 2WD cars made it, I have no idea, but there was a girl crying at the first ditch, so I don't imagine this was fun. For any future Bamako participant - even if they say your rather low 2 (or for that matter 4) wheel drive car can do it - NO, it can't, not "comfortably" at least.

We then arrived at a beautiful road (or, as us Westies would call it, a f*cking rockz track in the middle of nowhere - though we thought it was the best thing we've ever seen), only to find in one of our regular 10-minute car checks that we were now definitely leaking something. Fortunately, it was "only" gasoline, not oil.

One of the local "Official Bamako" garages had a Land Rover out patrolling (guess they expected issues? :)) and they towed us back some 40-odd kilometers to Zagora.
THEN we realised that some nice guy at Subaru designed the gas tank so that it fit over the 4x4 drivetrain, the exhaust system and that some screws were under the wheel supports, and some under the back seat.

Gee, thanks, unnamed Fuji Heavy Industries engineer. We love you too. I hope you got fired.

So, as we left the car (and most of our stuff, for which we pray it will still be there tomorrow!) this evening, they were hoping that the gas tank would be fixed by tomorrow, 10am. Here's hoping that they look at the hole we made in the exhaust system as well (we sound like a Ferarri"), that they can clean the sand from the brakes and that we didn't kill the automatic transmission while being towed.

I think we're having fun now.

Think.

Probably not.

On the bright side, we're back in the same hotel as yesterday (niice!), and will sleep in a clean bed. Tomorrow, if the car works (Inshallah!), we'll take the tarmac road to Agadir, and from there try to catch up on Friday with the rest of the teams in Dakhla in Western Sahara... If we don't catch them - well, we are NOT NOT NOT crossing the Mauritanian border - or Mauritania itself - on our own, so, hey, we'll distribute our donations to the other teams lagging behind, and then take a week or so getting back home through Morocco and Spain.

We shall of course keep you, our adoring readership posted.