Breakdown #1 - not us though!

We set off for Nouakchott (2 days drive away) at 9ish. Almost immediately the Hyundai broke down in a big way!

Our group is rolling in the Transit (2wd but with good clearance and plenty of weight over the weels, drivers are ex-mechanics), a Hyundai Accent (2wd and with no power and no ground-clearance to speak of, novice drivers), the Escort (ditto but with a bit more oomph, drivers did the Dakar run last year), a Renault 19 with snorkel and fat tyres (well-equipped, lots of spares, drivers know what they are doing), and the Patrol (no worries, ever!) Bamba is riding up front in the Transit (three seats across...) and we're at the back in case one of the lesser vehicles comes a cropper.

The Hyundai owners had had their doubts about the clutch before coming on the trip but were apparently assured that all was OK. What can I say, it lasted about fifteen minutes in the desert. Fortunately they had a spare with them (!) so the Nomad'ers set about changing it under the Saharan sunshine - quite glad they took ownership of that problem, I barely had to get my hands dirty helping! 3h to change and the Hyundai was back on the road. Ana and I used our time to dismantle the compressor and fix our musical horns - to find that they in fact play "La Cucaracha" and not the Dixie tune we were expecting! Either way round, they add hilarity to the journey.

So, onwards. Even though we have just started into the desert, the lower cars are getting stuck every 5 minutes. We help them out by digging and pushing the cars... but the clutches, exhaust and suspension suffer awfully. We'll see how it goes.