That night of the bad tire news we sleep near Geulmim at oasis Tighmert. The next morning we continue towards the coast. On the way to Plage Blanche we pass through an old fort of the French foreign legion. Fort Bou Jerif wooowww that’s worth it. It is a ruin but definitely worth it and especially because this is not in the tourist books. As a result, we really have the fort to ourselves. Simply beautiful. We continue our course towards Plage Blanche. We arrive there in the late afternoon. The road to it was actually too narrow for our vehicle, but we got there. We are exhausted. We’ll see further tomorrow.
The next day we decide around noon to finally leave. Plage Blanche is a track we’ve really been looking forward to, and we’re off. After a few kilometers, oh no, we have already stopped. Stuck in the loose white sand at the high water line. okay, tire pressure from 7.5 bar to 3bar, free up a bit at the front of the tires and yes bakkie continues on the track.
It is continuous 4×4 driving in the low group and this at high RPM’s. we are making real slow progress. The consumption goes to 150 liters / 100km, this really has to be different. Try to go more to the right, to the low water line because the sand is much harder there. Bad plan, come in a strip of very loose wet sand, plops we’re stuck for the 2nd time. We now know what to do. We free up a bit in front of the tires, small pieces of road plate in front of the wheels and we are back on track. We decide to stay on the high water line, we really don’t want to get stuck down there with rising water.
It soon becomes clear that these will be long 40 kilometers, oh well. Now we had a different idea of Plage Blanche. We thought we would race quickly over the sand, a beautiful white beach. Not so, I am sorry to have to write this. It’s just one big rubbish dump that we drive through. Incredible, sad to see, even sadder to experience. Waste, waste and more waste. All washed up on the beach. There is no tourism or recreation on Plage Blanche, there is nothing, just sea and beach. It is harrowing, I can go on and on about this, but we are not going to do that. After 2 to 3 hours of struggling we arrive at a river estuary. It is low tide so it is dry. Here we leave the beach and continue our track on top of the cliffs.
Down on the beach it was hard work for our truck. Above is working for the tires, stones, boulders, in short, it is a very slow track. After another hour of driving we stop and the rest is for tomorrow. Before it gets dark we receive a visit from a soldier who is at a post a few km away. Passports please, can it also be a fiche (filled in form with all our data) please? The man happy with our fiche, then he can do the writing on his post. We happy because we can stay overnight. Very friendly and polite.
Day 2 of the track and we start on time. At least 9:30 is not so on time but we have left. It is still 56 kilometers to the end of the track and it is very slow driving It is not progressing. After 20 km we have our lunch break and then continue driving in the late afternoon, such a slow track. Not my thing. In the back of my head I am always thinking not to break anything. No really not fun but we have to continue. Pass cape Draa and leave the cliffs and drive inland. Same story, gritty, slow and beautiful like the cliffs, but enjoyment is not in it, it is work. The further away from the sea the harder the wind blows, harder and harder. Well, it’s been from the desert since we had such a strong wind. And then, 11 km before the end of the track, a dune has formed, actually a whole dune field blocks the track. We have to go around here but for today it has been enough, put bakkie aside, shower, eat and sleep.
Day 3 of track Plage Blanche towards Tan Tan. The wind has lie down so that makes it a bit more pleasant. We pass zigzagging through the dunes that had formed on the route and then continue the track. Less than a kilometer further, the next dune problem. We are going to see on foot how we can best get through this. We choose our own route through the dunes which then returns to our track via a detour Here too we get through well, still 9km to go.
It is very slow. Around noon we pass an old Skar that is on the route where you can enjoy the beautiful surroundings A Ksar built on a hill. Beautiful and what we had previously had of terrible driving are now again nicely rewarded. The Ksar is 3 kilometers from the main road towards Tan Tan. We discuss whether we go left towards the desert or right towards the sea at the main road. It becomes right towards Tan Tan. We will not regret this decision because at the time of writing this blog post we knew that corana was going to cause problems But that’s for the next blog post….
We have a similar size truck. We decided not to risk Plage Blanche. Reading this, I’m glad we didn’t try it.
Hey David
you made a very good choice. The scenery was beautiful but the road was terrible for our big trucks.