Photos: Day 3

Desert trekking day - first of two. Out in the desert you can drop your camera and get an amazing photo. The wide expanse is breathtaking. I absolutely love the desert - if only it wasn't for the sand that gets into everything!

Packing up camp and ready to load our crates on to the truck.

Racers assembling under the start blimp

With our gaiters on and ready to traverse the dunes

Making good time across the flat pans. The surface in the pans is 'crunchy' underfoot.

First dune ridge

The guys visit the gents... Francois is out of shot to the left

Photos do not do justice to the vastness and openness of the desert

Front teams at CP4. They got CP3+, an optional, on the way. We came through direct from CP3. Here they are resting for a few hours during the heat of the day. We left shortly after arrival for CP4+, getting there before the leading teams caught us. It was a good decision to skip CP3+.

A French team left CP4 before us; we beat them to CP4+. They're pictured behind Christo leaving the checkpoint. We followed a few minutes later, taking a different route to the next compulsory.

Leaving CP4+ we saw two groups of camels. These ones were nearby, crossing the same pan - 31 camels walking in a line to their overnight camp. This area has many camel camps. Food is provided for them by the camel farmers. The camels return to their camps every night (quite like cattle!).

We slept at the next compulsory checkpoint, getting up after completing out compulsory rest period.