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COVID19 Compliant - Morning Intermediate Drive - Long Range Patrol: Faqa to Ganthoot - Sharjah/Dubai - 9 Apr 2021


Ale Vallecchi

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@Ale Vallecchi another special drive and my first long range patrol/adventure complete!  Please continue to find these routes and drives as I am hooked on these exploration/long range drives and massive thanks for planning such a great trip! 

I really appreciated the tutor system!  My only issues came with refusals and a crest because I followed to close (lost concentration/patience) or didn’t follow the tracks of my tutor!  @Archibald Jurdi  you  didn’t likely realize but you helped me a lot by showing me tracks/momentum to build!  Thank you.  @Gaurav Soni  I was grateful for  your support right behind during the stucks, I was being hugged by experience this whole ride sandwiched between you two!

Huge appreciation to @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ and his awesome son for helping me shovel and rope off that crest near the end!  Also I appreciate you encouraging me to go more bold with deflation :) ... really appreciate all the tips you share and you motivating your son to climb the dunes by foot to dig me out were hilarious (telling him to go into 4L when he tired) 

@Abu Muhammad  I only wish I got to see you drive your beauty ... am in awe of how you got through the route from right at the back with the stunning truck/yacht of yours!  Kudos! 


@Mario Cornejo wow ... super second lead and a role model driver as a fellow green intermediate drive! 

 

@Ale Vallecchi again thankyou for an awesome trip and keep these coming pls 🙏🏽 

 

Have added a few pics to the gallery ... I tried to create a 1990’s style car advert as the sunrise created an incredible colour palette! 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you all soon.  

 

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Long Range Patrol: Faqa to Bab al Shams via Ganthoot - Drive Report

"It's your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you" - Rumi

The spirit of this drive was both to revive the nature of desert crossings (long, dusty, hot, tiring) and to recreate the spirit of the caravans of the past, or the patrol units of more recent history, where the road is shared with good, often silent, company, but the journey is really an individual one, no matter how much help and support one gets from the caravan's buddies.

The convoy was organized to provide such support and guidance, with each more experience member leading the way for the "younger" drivers, alternating the former with the latter, so that we could move smoothly as a unit, with as few hesitations as possible, and as much time to enjoy the drive in the company of our own thoughts, music, memories, etc..

As planned, we crossed the Faqa plateau in 1:10 hour, diverting slightly along the wat to skirt the eastern border with Abu Dhabi/Al Ain, reached Little Sweihan eastern entry point in 31 minutes of technical dunes, took 45 minutes to cut through the awesome canyons and bowls of this challenging area, drove in just less than 1 hour (circling the southern fenced area of the military shooting ground) to the western-most waypoint, just outside the Ganthoot outskirts (touching again AD's border), and finally zoomed north to the Bab al Shams exit in the remaining 90 minutes, through a mix of long dunes, sand bowls, and a final, tricky, technical area.

In terms of "my own walking the road", I have to say the drive gave me a mixed bag of feelings. At times, I felt like I was driving "in the zone", with inspired, total concentration on the track ahead. Other times it opened up my field of vision, widening it to allow me to enjoy completely the landscape, the trees, the oryx and gazelles. There was a moment, in Little Sweihan, when I felt frustration at the forbidding paths that I seemed to be invariably choosing, taking the convoy into closed bowls, or attempting ridges that were proving too soft to cross from the slip-face, and making me change route a few too many times (for my taste). Finally, of course, the sense of satisfaction that comes with the completion of a long voyage, at the sight of the last sabkha, like a mirage through the gaps opening between the last tall and blinding white dunes. I can only hope the day provided each of this caravan's companions their own bouquet of emotions and feelings.

My congratulations to all the Carnity's new Long Range Patrols (the small group of those who have completed 100Kms and above through the UAE deserts).

Well done to all the Veterans - @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ at Center Forward, @Abu Muhammadin Sweep, and @Archibald Jurdi, @GauravSoni, and @Jack Thomas, who kept the group together, and led their younger partners throughout the drive.

Hat off to the Rookie Intermediates - @Mario Cornejo (thanks for providing a clean Second Lead), @Niki Patel, @Tariq Carrimjee and @Rob Harper, who faced the challenge with concentration and skills.

The final stats say that we drove for 5:08 hours (of which 4:10 moving), covering 114 Km, at an average speed of 22Km/h (and 27Km/h while moving). The maximum drive's speed was 76Km/h.

Have a great week, and see you soon in the sand.

 

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Thank you Ale for a super drive.

Where you felt frustration, we felt challenged as it seemed we were driving in unchartered territory.  There was a sense of exploration in this drive, and the feeling of doing something new.    

Was tiring and long, but very rewarding and fun.   Not to mention, very educational with your explanation of the geography and the sabhkas etc.  

Many thanks,

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@Ale Vallecchi a great drive indeed, particularly because the route you led us through, from Faqa to Qudra, is something I had been looking forward to explore.  Reflecting on the experience, criss-crossing is an area to focus on :)

Even though the terrain threw at us some challenges, I feel we had a good pace, thank you once again for leading us all through, and also to @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ & son, and @Abu Muhammad for keeping the convoy moving and supporting when needed.

@GauravSoni, @Rob Harper, @Jack Thomas, @Niki Patel and @Tariq Carrimjee, it was a great pleasure to drive with all of you.

A side note: I read somewhere that the lifespan of date palm trees is, in average, 100 years, I wonder then if those palms buried in sand were not remains of an old farm.

Looking forward to a 2nd LRP Experience.

Have a great week ahead.

 

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