Long road sections today and tomorrow. No competition as the 2 all-women crews can't drive their own cars in Saudi. Bit of a goodwill visit really. In Yanbu tonight and off to Jeddah tomorrow to pick up the evening ferry to Sudan.
Long clear roads for most of today with some police escorts along the way. We were stopped after 50km and about 8 of us gathered together. 2 police cars up front in each lane of the dual carriageway and 1 behind and we were off in convoy for about 100 miles with police further along the route closing junctions and stopping traffic. On we flew at 90+ until suddenly they peeled off and left us to it - probably because we had passed through their patch.
We stopped for petrol at a station slightly off the main road and the car soon attracted a group of about 10 young boys of about 10 or 11, most wearing either Chelsea of Man Utd shirts but who spoke little English. After filling up and visiting the facilities (a kind of open plan WC arrangement) we were pulling out when a small boy running alongside and smiling knocked on the window and shouted "f*** you, f*** you", smiling all the time and pretty clearly not having a clue what he was saying. Probably thought this was goodbye in English. When we got to the hotel, we could see that someone had had a go at trying to pull the rear rally plate off...
The cars are all parked outside the hotel with the police in attendance. There are about 100 teenage lads, some in the tarted up cars zooming up and down. Any crew that leaves the hotel is inundated by the lads for photos and to point to their cars and pose with them. There are also a number of dads with their sons showing them round the cars. One told us it was 25 years since he saw rally cars like this in Saudi and he wanted to show his son as his father had taken him to see the cars then. Everyone says "Welcome to Saudi Arabia" and is very friendly.
Jeddah tomorrow night and then off to Sudan and Africa proper for a 700km day on Thu. Car all checked over and running well. Van tyres somehow seem better suited to this climate and the 28 degrees C it was today.
Thanks for the updates Steve, very insightful, keep them going when you can. I imagine mobile/WiFi coverage will dwindle once back in Africa.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!
Visitors to this goal under the spell. Since it opened in 1929, more than 16 million people go to the top of Table Mountain, including local and flights from London to Cape Town.
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