COVID19 Compliant - Morning Newbie Desert Drive - E611 "Ghost Roads" - A Premiere - Dubai - 05 Mar 2021

[Ale Vallecchi]

51 minutes ago, andy_macdxb said:

Ale, thanks for the drive, really enjoyed. Was wondering, but during the drive you drove into a pocket that surprised you, ie you didn't expect it. I've also seen the same in other drives with different leads. Was wondering tho, what advice do you give, if you drive into a 'surprise' pocket, do you quickly accelerate out or stop to evaluate. I guess it depends on the pocket's size, but is there a best option. I would just panic, I think, which would be useless. 

Hi @andy_macdxb. I would suggest to get out of the pocket, and advice the second lead to redirect, if a better choice is available. If getting out of the pocket takes some time and maneuvres, or a better route is not immediately available, we'll advice the convoy to stop, then we'll complete the manoeuvre and/or find a better route. But with plenty of driving time and better knowledge of one's car, getting out (or attempting to) becomes second nature 😅

[Paul Zeitoun]

19 minutes ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

Hi @andy_macdxb. I would suggest to get out of the pocket, and advice the second lead to redirect, if a better choice is available. If getting out of the pocket takes some time and maneuvres, or a better route is not immediately available, we'll advice the convoy to stop, then we'll complete the manoeuvre and/or find a better route. But with plenty of driving time and better knowledge of one's car, getting out (or attempting to) becomes second nature 😅

@Ale Vallecchi unless the pocket is too small for a big car 😅😅, once i ended up hanging in a pocket 😂😂. It was a camping trip, and we had to remove half the side of the pocket before pulling. Lesson from that: always have a visual of your path.

[Ale Vallecchi]

"I ain't 'fraid of no ghost" - Ghost Roads Dubai....busted! - Trip Report

One of the most iconic, yet thoroughly fake, images of Dubai is the Downtown skyline, with the Burj Khalifa as its fulcrum, in the background of a line of dunes, as if the city sprung magically from the sand. Yet, there is an area of Dubai where such picture can actually be taken. Reality, in this case, dilutes the impact of the photoshopped image, as the skyline in the background is much further away, and less imposing, and the desert is not one of tall, sharp dunes, but a landscape of low dunes, fixed by nicely spaced, gnarly trees. Yet, there it is, His Majesty the Burj Khalifa, visible clearly in the distance, springing from the bushy desert, surrounded by its court of lower skyscrapers, and, in this particularly clear morning, even the sight of Her Highness the Burj al Arab, further to its left.

This fascinating sight followed, or preceded us, throughout two thirds of the drive. The other third, was dedicated to navigating the Ghost Roads, from which the scenic open desert area is accessible. The so called Ghost Roads are another very photographed area of Dubai: it's a grid of roads and roundabouts that had been built as infrastructure for an aborted (so far) housing development project, just on the right of the intersection between E611 and E66, Sharjah bound. The desert has been reclaiming these roads, covering most of the tarmac with low ripples of sand, except at the entrance, where the plunge from E611 to the development below is covered with soft, technical dunes. Most locals know this area, and use it for picnics, camping, falcon training and quad driving. It all happens in between one of the most trafficked heavy truck roads of the UAE, and a string of camel and goat farms that surround it, to the east and south. In the middle of the advancing desert, patches of tarmac still surface, leading to roundabouts struggling to survive, with road signs ironically indicating to stop in front of the incoming dune, or divert around a low rising cordon.

So, scenic we promised, and I hope that scenic it was. The drive in itself was not too challenging, except toward the middle, close to E44, where the dunes get higher, with mostly large humpback ridges, and quite steep descents and ascents between one cordon and the next. The only refusals happened in this area. The only stuck, on the other hand, happened at the very end of the drive, while ridge riding, on the crest of one of the last low dunes, leading to the exit point. I must say it's not that unusual to get stuck in this area, of low technical dunes, with very soft sand, so no points con be taken off for that happening. 

Great thanks for joining my first drive after getting the FJ back, to @kolinrrj (great job managing your big car as Second Lead), @Yahya Munir, @frederic demolder (I hope your bumper is OK), @khurram.k, @Natarajan, of course @Vanessa8580 with her omnipresence giving respite to my ailing car, @Adhir Saxena, @Samuel Hainsworth, @andy_macdxb, @Ahmed Wagdy, @Humayun Ghias, @Paul Zeitoun, and @Rajeevan Vickneswaran (very helpful in Sweep).

Enjoy your week, and see you soon in the sand.

[frederic demolder]

Hi @Ale Vallecchi
 Everything is fine. The bumper is ok. 👌Nothing serious !

 Ready for the next drive  !👍

Thank you for this beautiful drive and thank you to the team for their support 

see you 

Frédéric