Hello Mauritania, Goodbye Western Sahara/Moroocco depending on your political allegiance...

The convoy rolled up to the border around midday (10 Jan), were processed by Moroccan customs (who currently police the Western Sahara/Mauritania border) just after 1400, trepidously traversed the heavily mined 7km (4 mile) no-man's land, presented their credentials at the trio of huts that consitutes the Mauritanian side of the border and were through. Five and a half hours in total, which probably felt like an age to the other teams but just the merest brush with officialdom for our hardened border veterans compared to their 27 hour sojourn in Tangiers. A guide was swiftly procured - one of the conditions of passage for the PBC teams is that they use a local guide to help traverse the desert - then it was on to the campsite at Nouadhibou.

You'll all be devastated to learn that it's started raining after many days of unbroken sunshine; crossing the Sahara in the rain has a certain cachet, don't you think? Showered, shaved and shaken down, the convoy are off to a Chinese restaurant (well, when in Rome...), having decided by majority to take an extra day to cross the desert, arriving at Zebrabar campsite on the 14th Jan although I may have misunderstood this - it was a crackly line.

I'm amazed that the bulletins keep coming in - just when we're told that all comms will be lost, a pocket of mobile coverage appears and we're back in touch. The world really is a smaller place nowadays, isn't it. I'm not sure I'm going to need this carrier pigeon now, so I'm off to consult Hugh F-W's book for the best way to cook it. Waste not want not - there are people starving in Africa (apart from those in Chinese restaurants, obviously). Cheers - Phil.