At this point we were 40km from Nouakchott and once again we were keen to reach the city that night. Unfortunately the Peugeot Ambulance broke down and the BMW ran out of petrol. Both drivers piled into the Transit Van and we cracked on in near darkness for another 5km before the clutch gave up on the Van. We decided to camp where the Van was. It had been a long day.
With the arrival of cool morning air, the clutch in the Van was revived and the heroic Land Rover returned the 2 drivers to their respective vehicles (BMW/Peugeot Ambulance) with some petrol and whatever was necessary to fix the Ambulance. I forget.
We took the opportunity to rest in the shade of the Van and it is clear to see the damage that had been done by a night when it pretended to be a ship
Whatever it was that was needed worked and all 5 vehicles emerged victorious from the desert in to Nouakchott in the late afternoon. It seems all 10 members of the convoy slept in the same dormitory room that night which the diary describes as Very Sweet.
I can't remember how much we enjoyed it at the time. Reading the diary it seems quite fraught. But I'm glad we did it and glad that it wasn't easy
