Day 135. 96km (79616kms 7yrs)
Leaving an hour or so after sunrise, heat wasn’t my immediate problem. Instead, with no obstacles a fierce wind out of the east made for such slow going I barely managed 8km/hr in first gear. It was grim, slow going, with my head down much of the time.
Back in Tozeur I recafinated and resupplied before pressing on east. The wind was still up, but now - mercifully- the road was lined with trees forming a bit of a windbreak. In the last village, whilst taking some photos of a typically Tozeurian brick minaret, a passing motorist took objection. Hilariously he actually asked me “What, do you think you are free?" I’m afraid I laughed out loud; you see ‘free’ is very thing the National Guard have been insisting I absolutely am every time I moan about them following me about. So when the grumpy motorist threatened to call the police I very nearly gave my name and told him to say hi from me.
From here 50km of desert separated me from the next village. In other circumstances I would’ve tackled this the next day, but I was rushing to beat the impending heatwave forecasted to being temperatures up to 47C (117F) arriving the following day. Thank goodness the wind dropped somewhat in the afternoon and though I began flagging in the final 20kms, I cleared the empty stretch with minimal fuss. In fact I was offered a lift (declined) and was twice given water.
At the first village I made inquiries with some friendly women out for a walk, but no hint was taken. Searching for a wild camp, dunes out to a natural spring stank with garbage, kids asking for money followed me about an abandoned hotel, and in the palmeraie I couldn’t find a secret spot without (probably very nice) men drinking tea in the shade. So I returned to the nearby neighbourhood where I’d been greeted warmly in the street. This time my enquiries about a place to camp were met with an immediate invitation to stay in a breezy cool reception room. I was brought icy cold chunks of watermelon, and spicy spaghetti with meat. The women and I chatted a little on the steps in the breeze outside their house before I crashed a little after sunset.
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