Running the gauntlet - Mauritania Day 1

Not the best two days coming up so in order of events here’s what happened…
Left Dakhla pretty sharp as there was a big day ahead and I hoped to save a day by riding direct to Nouakchott to meet ‘Mohammed’ rather than a round trip detour of 100km+ stopping in Nouadhibou. On the way to the border I was thinking to myself how few other distance bikers I’ve seen so far, with none going my way and only a couple coming the other way. Then suddenly on this totally desolate road that I seem to have been on forever now, two Teneres approach. We look at each other and think about stopping but the moment has gone. Within five minutes another two! This time me and a Spaniard riding the red one stop.
“Bonjour”
“Hello”
“You speak English?”
“Of course”
“Where have you been, where are you going, how many of you?”
“Malaga Spain from Gambia, eight, Kudu”
“Kudu?”
“Yes Kudu”
“Who’s the leader”
“Lee, English, a few Kilometers behind us”
“OK thanks, adios” At this point for those that don’t know, my trip last year was arranged by Kudu and Lee is the owner. So a further few km down the road at a remote fuel station there he is, with the same support truck that followed me around the world! I rollup detecting a few puzzled looks. When I’ve stopped I unmask, a bit like a Scooby Doo villain, much to his surprise. After a brief chat and photo we’re off. I’m not quite sure what sort of advert I was for him, now travelling alone, but I hope it was a good one.
So with that surreal moment behind me I got to the Mauritanian border which was a bit slow, but not too bad all things considered. One thing that has been highlighted though is my forgotten skill of off road riding, especially though sand. Between the Moroccan and Mauritanian borders is four km of no man’s land where the usual dodgy people hang around. Not a place to fall off or stop as there is absolutely no jurisdiction or rules. Despite coming close I kept Des upright and made it to Mauritania. Once through, albeit a bit later than I’d hoped and with, at last, a tailwind I decided to give Nouakchott a shot, about 300km. Now then, some important information about this country that I’ll be honest I’ve seriously worried about and have chosen not to tell you as it would’ve just made things worse. Mauritania currently has a highest UK FCO warning about UK citizens entering for security reasons. Over recent times, as recent as a few months ago there have been a spate of kidnappings of westerners by an Al-Qaeda cell, some with grave consequences due to ransoms not being met. The road from top to bottom is still desert and impossible to police properly due to the size, remoteness and inhospitable conditions. For those like me that have been mad/brave enough to do it, then the absolute golden rules are: 1, never ride alone and 2, never ride in the dark. Having done the calculations I reckoned on it being close plus when I found a battered up ford with two cheery Senegalese guys and a policeman in the back seat I tagged along…not a great decision. The policeman got out 100km later at a checkpoint and a further 50km later the ford broke down for good I suspect. Despite trying to help where I could I realized that that very deep stuff that I’d mentioned was about to swallow me up. Still many hours from ‘Mohammed’ and with darkness about an hour away I had no choice to press on alone. Eventually, around 40 minutes later I reached a police checkpoint (in the area where some Spanish people were abducted last November) where I asked if I could stay overnight with them for security. After hiding my bike I was given a room in a very small building to sleep on the floor. All fine and very Bravo Two Zero as I settled down for the night until…I was woken by the voice of a lady in the next room on what I think was her mobile phone speaking in Arabic. Now I don’t know about you but when I hear people speaking a foreign language and the odd English word appears in conversation I sometimes find it quite funny. However, when the words “Al-Qaeda” and “Yamaha” appeared in the same Arabic sentence suddenly I didn’t quite feel like laughing. I had about two hours sleep all night listening intently as each vehicle in the night approached the checkpoint, policed by a few ‘kids’ with only a solitary AK47 under the driver’s seat of their police pick up between them. Perhaps the lady was just gossiping to a friend or relative but whatever, it was a night that I won’t forget in a hurry.