3rd Stage,Waypoint 1 - Waypoint 20,Hassi El Begga.2012

[Alfred Balban]

Got up at 7:00 am and got everyone organised to take the vehicles to mechanics and Bedoui our mechanic did some work too,I still was waitng for my spares to arrive.Once the vehicles were ready I decided to try and avoid the dunes waypoints so not to delay as I still had my front wheel drive disingaged,we started and one of the waypoints passes by the outskirts of Merzouga were I know a kid who is disabled and we visited him and provided the family with our solidarity stuff donated by the people of Gibraltar on our Facebook page.

Another of the way points took us by the small town of Rhemilia,were I have a special friend called Brahim which I met back 15 or 16 years ago and have always gone to see him and his late sister Aisha who passed away regretfully 2 weeks earlier when we visited them back in March this year.They both suffer a strange disease and poor Aisha who was only 12 years old is gone and Brahim is now 30 years of age and looks like he is 4,we provided the family with as much as we could and carried on to the next way points which took us by the mines of M'Fi's were the french exploited the locals to work in the mines for the collection of minerals like lead and Quartz.

     

The M'Fis Mines.

I had to avoid the tracks on the dunes and this I knew from previous experience driving in this area,we got through some more way points till the 20th and then to the finish line,before getting there we saw one of the Adventure stage participants on a Fiat Panda stuck on the sand so showing our solidarity side Jaret towed him out of the problem and we carried on to the finnish line Hassi El Begga outside the school.121 kms.

Jaret showing his solidarity side!