With Team Rubbish in the lead we try to head the wrong way down a one way street and for some reason only GG follow us. The actual route was to drive on the wrong side of the road for 3 km and then go over rubble to get on the correct side. Who would have thought. We also have an impromptu stop at a camel sign for pictures. A local that we have just past must think we have stopped to give him a lift so we end the photo shoot and get rolling again.
Another random moment was when we pasted a set of 5 desert rigged military landies with some of the hardest looking hombres in. Lots of hardware in display.
We get sporadic texts from the other teams and are running well. We bypass daklha and head towards a campsite we have been emailed about. BS and HHCIB are already there. We arrive to find they have no diesel and the group decide to push on abit further. There are supposed to be loads of teams at the campsite but when people have gone down to where they are camping there is no one their. They do however have Disco Stu in the carpark selling little cans of amber nectar so we all pick up slabs, as it is New Years Eve.
We travel on to a place signed Porto Rico where CH drive down a track to find the sea and find a great looking campsite. The only problem is that its owned by an agency that let it to hotels and the guy minding the bedowin tents gets us to phone his boss who only speaks french. After some discussions with 2 camper vans on the area (that know the boss) they speak to him on the phone and try to get us a deal. The deal isnt good 40 euros per person but the sun is setting and we have a load of conflab. Chris takes a measured approach and clears off down the beach till someone decided something an with Akim (Above us the sky, Germans) goes for a paddle. Of course this is followed by the drawing in the sand and taking pictures.
Their still isn't a decision and Chris fires off a few pics of a gorgeous sun set before the convoy decides to split. GG, WWD, CH, Griffin (Irish Team) decide to stay and suffer the cost as the place is fantastic. The other head out to either camp in the mine fields, back to the previous stop or onwards. At one point their was discussion of going over to "shack man" 3 km over on the other side of the bay and seeing if he would let us camp next to him but it was discounted as 2 vehicles had already got bogged down in the softer sand getting to the current place.
We have found a fabulous place and the view is another absolutely breath taking one. Whilst GG are doing a superb job of getting grub ready and everyone is trying to be helpful with no idea of what to do. Chris bowls off for a swim, the water is refreshing (chuffing cold) but it feels great after a travelling. Chestykoff (Stan and Dimitri) arrive and find the cost and deicide to head back to the garage before and take them up on their hospitality.
The cooking is moved inside the main tent as the wind has got up a bit and the electronics set starts. We discover that the laptops cant drive the Chav speaks we have and we arent able to splice them to the output of the projector. There is discussion of moving the battle bus down so we can use the speakers but we will have to be winched out in the morning. Due to it involving effort it is decided against. As we are unpacking the screen another team pull up tell us the previous garage is only 10 euros a person and the views similar but there is no interest in moving and we are a bit like so what?.
The grub is absolutely fantastic and Diedre's not convinced that the cans o meat we got from lidl aren't dog food. It does taste great and there are no complaints. We settle down to watch Fawlty Towers as Kareoke is out of the question. The speaker volume is so low you would actually hear us sing :( By about 2030 people are already snoring like jet engines, some of us move outside to look at the mass of stars in the gloriously clear sky. Adrain isn't impressed when its pointed out that we are sat on the edge of a small cliff. We make it through to midnight and the BBs provide fireworks they have brought, so we celebrate the New Year in style. Especially as we have Champagne from Team Griffin.
The evening winds up for some and keeps going for others ,WWD and Griffin stop playing poker about 4 am. Chris passes out first and Colin is left keeping the Team Rubbish flag waving on the beer drinking front. There are tents for sleeping but falling over where you were sitting is the plan used for lots of us. We did however get pics of the nice tents on the way to a loo stop.
Happy New Year to everyone reading this may 2009 bring you many interesting stories much laughter and happiness.
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