broken screen and luxury lodge again :)

Day 18

Everyone seems to have had a good nights sleep. Kick off today is at 9.00 we have drive just under 600km. This is why these events are called Endurance Rallies. Luckily the roads in Namibia are very good. The  first part is lined with small villages and stalls selling wood carvings ranging from traditional canoes through to model aeroplanes and of course giraffe.

Its another hot day.

We somehow end up being last car in the rally. This is due to our limited top speed and stopping to take photos etc. We try to catch up a bit and pass a lorry who very kindly kicks up a stone into our windscreen. Luckily again, it’s on Julie’s side and we can carry on. When we get to a petrol station on the Namibia/Angola border we try to make a bit of a repair with Silicone. Strangely we acquire about 20 people all trying to help and all wanting payment, a rather large security guard with an even larger stick comes along and scares them away. Our patchwork is carried out in relative peace. Lets hope the screen doesn’t crack any more.

We have a time trial today, it was slightly misleading in that we were told at the beginning that it was set at 80kph. Some competitors then assumed that we had to average and not exceed 80km. We couldn’t make our minds up and just drove it as a normal piece of gravel road. Halfway along a wild dog or as they are also know ‘painted dog’ decided it had a death wish and ran out in front of us. We miss it and carried on but a bit slower. This section was over 40 km + it will be interesting to see what some of the big powerful cars do it in.

We are staying in another camp/lodge called Mushara Lodge. This is an old family run establishment and the second you drive through the gates you relax, it’s a wonderful place, beautifully cared for with very helpful welcoming staff. Just what you need after a very long hot drive. They make the best homemade lemonade in the world :)

As usual Molly going well and Julie and I have missed the tummy bug that has hit a few competitors, fingers crossed for the rest of the rally.