Day 11 - Onto Sudan

Just 300km today from Yanbu to Jeddah from where we catch the ferry to Port Sudan tonight. 200km on a straight 4 lane road with heavy traffic at either end. 

We managed to get to Jeddah with enough time to visit the local Subaru dealer and pick up some spare brake pads, having used our first set of spares. Also gave it an underneath spanner check on the ramp while there and they couldn't help enough once they saw the car and heard our story. This is despite us arriving just before prayers started at 1. Good job we did - they didn't open again till 4 which would have been too late for us. 

We then nipped into the McDonalds next door and were directed into the 'singles' entrance rather than the 'family' one. Considering it was inhabited only by men and had only a mens' toilet, it was pretty clear that single women would not be expected!

Then off to sit at the docks in Jeddah to await the ferry at which the missing Datsun reappeared having been air-freighted at great expense from Greece and looking the worse for wear with a bent shell. Just about still in the rally though. 

A lot of grumbling going on about the reduced penalties stemming from getting stuck in the sand in Egypt with almost everyone we have talked to referring to it as favouritism for some of the front runners. The penalties applied were more favourable than those applied earlier when cars got stuck in the mud in Greece and a lot of crews are not happy with it. One crew said, on the basis of the penalties awarded, it would have better for them had they not run through the final desert section at all - which was actually pretty punishing on the cars and made them late at the final control.   

The stuck cars missed 4 controls and were late at the last one which would usually carry a penalty of 30 mins for each or there and thereabouts. For the mud, it was reduced to half that as some got stuck simply because of the log-jam. In the desert section, when a similar thing happened, the penalties were reduced yet further to 40 mins max and many see that as inconsistent relative to earlier. 

Never easy to make these decisions though and I have some sympathy for the fwd guys as I've been there.

Still, only a handful of cars (us included) have completed every competitive section in every different set of conditions and level of difficulty set by the organisers which is what we built the car to achieve as per the published rules. 

Should arrive Sudan tomorrow morning for a long drive to Gederef - 8hrs on the road. Hope we can clear customs and immigration quickly. So far 3 hours is the average.