I am in Nouakchott and the sand storms are blowing. it's like being in thick fog but more painful.

Ethel and I limped into Mauritania from Mali -her suspension has gone - Ooooh yes, just 300 kms south of Timbuctoo so it has been a painful ride over hundreds of kms of corrugated dirt tracks and as for the sand - trying to steer though it while the bike is like a bucking bronco is almost impossible at times.

reached Nouakchott and relative sanity (as well as cold beer courtesy of the chinese restaurant- getting quite a liking for this rice beer)

We returned to the hostel where they have been storing my jerry cans for the next bit of desert crossing.
Met an English Honda rider at the hostel - complete with badly broken collar bone and ribs where he attempted the desert crossing.....hmmmm, gives me food for thought as I contemplate what lies ahead. It then turned out that he is a fellow Horizons rider - Simon Fitzpatrick, who has been stuck here foir a while waiting for his collarbone to heal, the good news is that he is having the third operation this evening, which is to remove the pins and so he is hoping to continue his journey next week.

There have been a few ups and downs....

There is not a lot I can do about the suspension, so I am concentrating on the chain - meeting everyone's expectations I have been abusing it badly (as I only have experience of shaft driven bikes) and it has fallen off a few times - usually at a dicey moment.

I knew it was time to change it and yes, I DO have a spare with me. A German bloke called Herbert staying at the hostel has tools and know-how and so helped me with it, all was going well until he took the angle grinder to the old chain (assuring me that is how they are removed) there was suddenly a loud pop noise and the battery exploded- luckily both Ethel and the various spectators are OK.
Whilst Herbert continued his demoltion of my pride and joy I had to take to the streets in a taxi in search of a battery aided and abetted by Hassan and Barry - local guys. Finally ended up with one that is half the depth and a bit wider but have squeezed it in, got the filling with acid bit correct and then was overuled by the blokes present about charging it up... so I have a flat battery stuck in the battery compartment - oh well, open another rice beer.

Other parts of the bike are safely duck taped on; and we are going to set off early in the morning for the final bit of desert - actually I should re-phrase that as the final bit of "sandy desert " as there is tarmac in Western Sahara - whilst Mauritania is a country with just 4 tarmac roads.

The good news is that the bike dropping tally now stands at:
Germany 10
England 6

so I'm not doing too badly.