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It was a different and great experience. (It is amazing how fast the track disappear on those conditions.) Thanks to the lead, sweep and support team. Was nice to see you all.

Shakespeare on 4 High

Great fun indeed . Thank you @Andrew John Melvill for a wonderful drive , @Emanuel @Mahesh_ and @J-P L thank you for advices , few refusals today but thanks to you I managed to get out and gain some learning . Have a wonderful week ahead and see you all soon !!!

The sandstorm was pretty cool. Thanks for the drive.

Hey guys. Sorry but I’m unfit to drive today. apologies for late cancel, wanted to see if I was feeling better but it’s getting worse with chest and fever pain…. Enjoy the ridges

Thank you @Andrew John Melvill and everyone that joined in today. Thoroughly enjoyed the longer dunes which my vehicle seems to prefer, and the beautiful scenery from up above.

Thanks all for joining today! I had an awesome time, definitely the best of my lead drives so far! @Sandeep Padhi hope you enjoyed your 1st taste of Fewbie level, great driving with just enough refusals to know that you have stepped up a level. @Enrico - Mountain and @Ana good to see the increased confidence from both of you, the few refusals showed that you were testing yourselves and your vehicles. @saumik1989 great on the ridges and side slopes just need to manage momentum a bit better on the climbs. @Rajath Shetty and @Hartzel solid driving from both of you, very well done. @Emanuel, @Mahesh_ and @J-P L briliant support dealing with the few refusals and keeping my lines honest. Lastly @nithish468 always good to see you, thanks for filling in as a flying sweep. In at 33 degrees and out at 41 degrees, great way to start sunday!

That drive will stick with me 😂

Thanks Chris

Drop this into Google Maps or Waze: 24.3188889, 55.4147778

Please reshare meeting point location. Both links above show “unsupported link” error

At 15:30, under conditions that most sensible human beings would describe as completely inappropriate for outdoor activity, thirteen brave souls gathered once again at the edge of the desert. The temperature was somewhere between “unpleasant” and “surface of Mercury”. There was no morning breeze. No golden sunrise. No gentle introduction. Just heat. A lot of heat. Leading the expedition was Ale, with JP riding second in command. Giacomo held the centre of the convoy, while Yarem took the noble responsibility of sweeping from the rear, making sure that no man, woman, vehicle or miscellaneous bumper was abandoned to the desert. Before departure, we managed to locate what could very generously be described as a tree. It was small. Very small. Nevertheless, thirteen grown adults immediately gathered underneath it, desperately negotiating for approximately four square metres of shade. There, beneath our heroic shrub, Ale began the briefing. And then he produced… a tiny toy car. With the seriousness of a military commander planning the Normandy landings, he used this miniature vehicle to demonstrate cresting and recovery techniques. Considering the temperature, I spent most of the briefing wondering whether the little car would survive the explanation, melt into the sand, or simply turn into a fried egg. Against all odds, it survived. And so did we. Then came the dunes. Crests. More crests. Side dune riding. More side dune riding. And, naturally, a healthy number of stucks. The desert appeared particularly affectionate today, repeatedly embracing members of the convoy from underneath and refusing to let go. Radios came alive. “Stuck.” “Second refusal.” “Need recovery.” “Copy.” At certain moments it felt less like an off-road drive and more like a very organised excavation project. Then the sky changed. What had already been an intense afternoon suddenly became something far more dramatic. A sandstorm swept across the desert. Within minutes, everything turned brown. The sky was brown. The dunes were brown. The cars were brown. Probably we were brown too. Visibility dropped dramatically and following the vehicle ahead became an exercise in faith, concentration and desperately staring at two faint red lights disappearing into a wall of dust. For a few moments, the desert completely swallowed the convoy. And naturally, because timing is everything, this was precisely when one vehicle decided to get properly stuck. Out came the shovels. In the middle of the sandstorm, several of us began digging sand from underneath the belly of a very black vehicle. We dug. And dug. And dug some more. The sand kept coming back. The wind kept blowing. Visibility remained terrible. And throughout this heroic collective effort, the driver of the aforementioned very black vehicle remained comfortably inside. Presumably supervising. Possibly adjusting the air conditioning. Perhaps selecting music. History may never know. Eventually, man, machine and shovel defeated the desert once again and the convoy continued. By the end of the afternoon, we had experienced extreme heat, crests, side slopes, recoveries, digging, almost nonexistent shade and a spectacular sandstorm. In other words: A perfectly normal Carnity drive. Ale led us safely through the chaos, JP supported from the front, Giacomo kept the middle together, Yarem swept behind us, and thirteen overheated humans somehow emerged from the desert still smiling. The little toy car survived. The black vehicle survived. We survived. And somewhere out there, one tiny tree is probably still recovering from having thirteen people underneath it. Until the next expedition.

Apologise, as my aircon has stopped working, we’re going to have to pull out.

Thanks to leads and team!

Was nice and cool today

Thanks for the great sandy windy drive @Ale Vallecchi, @J-P L, @Giacomo and the team!

@nithish468 will be joining us. He will slot is as a flying sweep.

In true @Ale Vallecchi style: Hello Desertnauts, @Warbs, @Chema, @Diego, @saumik1989, @ChrisW, @Steffi, @Sebastian Nohse, @Eddie-Dune-Glider, @Piter & @Krinesh, Thank you for signing up on this drive and hope you're all having a nice weekend! Please find the convoy order below. Let's aim to start the briefing at 03.30 pm so please arrive earlier at the meeting point to give yourself sufficient time to deflate and prep. Summer is fully here and sand is extra soft so please adjust your tyre pressure accordingly. We will be communicating on CH2 (446.031). Meeting point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/dXm262PVEqspXdBz9 See you all tomorrow afternoon. Have a nice evening!

Many thanks @Glenn W! That was a really fun way to end the week. Thank you all for keeping in the zone and driving as well as you did - we flowed through in good time and got to experience a wide variety of terrain. The salt rock exploration was also a fun little aside!

Anyone reached yet? Just checking to confirm if I am at the right location as Google maps does not really like me a lot. I do see a steep climb at the starting point though😁

Hi

Sorry about it we start at 3:30 - it will be the move out time

Just spoke to goutham we start at 3:30

@ChrisW great Friday afternoon drive mate, lovely mix of technical dunes, some faster sweeping dunes with some areas in particular where momentum was key!! … thanks for showing us the ancient salt rocks area. Really interesting to see the rocks, the formations etc. bit of a scare with my AC but the Toyota gods must be looking down on me as still it’s in working condition 🫣 @Ale Vallecchi @Giacomo @Jose Luis Campos thank you for the second lead and support! Great to drive with you guys as always. @Jerome @Steve Farmer @Steffi excellent driving throughout it certainly pays off to keep coming, learning and gaining more experience. enjoy the rest of your weekend 🍻