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COVID19 Compliant - Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - Al Bataeh, the hidden gem - Sharjah - 28 May 2021


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1 hour ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

DRIVE REPORT 

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

I guess this was one of those drives that will be remembered by all those who attended it for some time. 

After many drives in known areas, today we had a chance to explore a new territory, an absolute novelty for @Carnity drives, and it was certainly a challenging but rewarding experience for us all.

Al Bataeh area, believed for long time inaccessible due to the extensive fencing visible from the nearby roads, is - in fact - a hidden gem, offering a very challenging terrain with beautiful views on irregular an complex terraced dunes, with sudden passages from high grounds to low grounds gifting a great travel experience. 

We started quite on time, making our entry in the desert from the Ibn Rasheed roundabout at 5:25am. 

After crossing a rather flat area with small dunes and some occasional rock formations, we moved past the farms and drove along some long ridges and entered the first technical area of the drive. It was a amazing terrain, with some long east/west ridges mixed with some very irregular dune complexes, characterised by multiple terraced layers, with totally virgin sand, looking incredibly appealing for our a climbing attempts. 

The significant technical level of the drive became very soon evident as we started collecting refusals and stucks one after the other, especially at the back, where the big trucks had to fight through very churned sand: @Ale Vallecchi's drive, after just a few mins, was clearly going to be all about managing such situation, while I had the luxury, at the front, of a couple more breaks than usual allowing me to take a few nice photos. 

20210528_054411.jpg.113ac36cdbee550d2beb019f30dd37fc.jpg

As we slowly made our way north, the convoy progressively came to terms with the terrain, which was however extremely technical with lots of complex passages and unpredictable soft patches. 

As @Ale Vallecchi commented, today's drive felt in many way an exploration adventure: we really had to find out way though a totally virgin and absolutely not obvious to read terrain, where we never met a single track of any other car. 

@Arman was a great second lead, always careful and responsive to my last second rerouting and careful at stopping early enough when I had a refusal (and I had quite a few today). 

20210528_054525.jpg.a665aeaa89c196b7c7e486d824deb8d6.jpg

@imranaasghar81 and @Abdul Rahman AK at their first intermediate drive, were both "tempered" by today's thrilling drive, demanded to get to the very best out of their driving capabilities, which they both brilliantly exhibited..

20210528_054540.jpg.36ccbf570e2236551e1e7815fad25378.jpg

@Gok Krish, after the last mid-week prep session in Little Sweithan drive, again showed a brilliant performance, including his ever first tug recovery helping @Rizwan Waheed out of a crested situation. His flashing brand new green shackles and rope finally got some satisfaction. 

@Niki, based on a few chats exchanged during occasional breaks, greatly enjoyed the explorative nature of the drive, discovering the new landscape as it materialised after each tricky climbing passage. 

@Javier Lucero led his JK flawlessly, certainly appreciative of his car's great capabilities, especially in this beautiful but deceiving terrain. 

@Rizwan Waheed had a hard time today, driving constantly in churned sand, quite at the back of the convoy, worsened by an apparently leaking valve (best to have it checked). A few stucks and refusals, (including a tug from @Dodi Syahdar quite early in the drive) where to be expected and are only the demonstration that the ride was all but an easy one today. 

@Dodi Syahdar has frequently joined my drives recently, and I am quite sure he found today's drive among the most challenging ones, adding new experience and polishing his driving skills further. 

I often found myself wondering, while leading through some nasty passages, whether I was demanding too much from the poor guys driving those giant trucks at the back, but to my relief they all did well, including @Rob H and @Shehab Alawadhi who both made it across the worst patches of soft sand and the tightest maneuvering spots. 

@Ale Vallecchi was the hero of the day: with so many stucks and refusals he was all over the place, helping everyone out and fighting himself trhough soft and churned up sand. He certainly deserves a special mention today as he managed an endless number of situations. 

Once we reached sufficiently up north, we crossed the sabkha and started the 2nd stint of the drive, by far the most spectacular and emotional one for the day. Our route took us south again via the higher grounds on the west side of the sabkha, from where, bordering the edge of those high terraced dunes, the convoy could enjoy a spectacular view, with the sun already quite high. While driving so close to the edge from an elevated position and with such a view out of the window, I felt a great sense of achievement mixed with gratitude to have the chance to lead trhough such an amazing place. 

As a cherry on our cake, we even met two groups of camels: I took a quick photo, but it doesn't make justice to the beauty of the view from up there:

20210528_080314.jpg.b63a96ee25be9f3907b0d8b97d75f132.jpg

Even when @Abdul Rahman AK got stuck in a treacherous pocket and was in need of being winched out, the whole setting, landscape, and light was spectacular and I guess was worth the waiting for the rest of the convoy. 

By 9:30am it was clear we were never going to make if for the 3rd and final stint of the drive, the one that was meant to tkae us north again all the way to E102 and then, eventually out in Al Bataeh. 

It was therefore decided that we would cut our drive short, so we hit the sabkha at the bottom of the high grounds we were driving through, and from the sabkha we quickly made our way out, eventually reaching the same roundabout where we had started our journey earlier in the day. 

Overall, we drove 40.4km in a total of 4h 40' of which 2h 40' moving and 1h 40' stopped, with a very low moving speed of just 15.1km/h: these data tell a lot about how technical the drive was.

Everyone did very well today, and I hope you all enjoyed this drive as much as I did. As the 1st @Carnity drive in Al Bataeh, it will always have a special place in my memories and I'm glad I had you all with me today. 

After what I've seen today, I think an Extreme Drive in this area will be coming soon.. Stay tuned! 

Congratulations to all and see you soon on the sand again! 

@Lorenzo Candelpergher  You are absolutely  right , everytime We join your drive We learnt many new things. The most significant lesson today was how to maintain balance between speed, power and control in nasty passage and soft ground.. Look forward to learn new things in another drive.. @Ale Vallecchi , thanks to lead by example on how to be excellent SW. You always available in every technical issue we faced. 
@All, great to meet you all, with our great team work, the difficult terrain become so easy and all of us drive well today. Look forward to meet you in the future intermediate/extreeme drive. 

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1 hour ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

DRIVE REPORT 

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

I guess this was one of those drives that will be remembered by all those who attended it for some time. 

After many drives in known areas, today we had a chance to explore a new territory, an absolute novelty for @Carnity drives, and it was certainly a challenging but rewarding experience for us all.

Al Bataeh area, believed for long time inaccessible due to the extensive fencing visible from the nearby roads, is - in fact - a hidden gem, offering a very challenging terrain with beautiful views on irregular an complex terraced dunes, with sudden passages from high grounds to low grounds gifting a great travel experience. 

We started quite on time, making our entry in the desert from the Ibn Rasheed roundabout at 5:25am. 

After crossing a rather flat area with small dunes and some occasional rock formations, we moved past the farms, drove along some long ridges and entered the first technical area of the drive. It was a amazing terrain, with some long east/west ridges mixed with some very irregular dune complexes, characterised by multiple terraced layers, with totally virgin sand, looking incredibly appealing for our a climbing attempts. 

The significant technical level of the drive became very soon evident as we started collecting refusals and stucks one after the other, especially at the back, where the big trucks had to fight through very churned sand: @Ale Vallecchi's drive, after just a few mins, was clearly going to be all about managing such situation, while I had the luxury, at the front, of a couple more breaks than usual allowing me to take a few nice photos. 

20210528_054411.jpg.113ac36cdbee550d2beb019f30dd37fc.jpg

As we slowly made our way north, the convoy progressively came to terms with the terrain, which was however extremely technical with lots of complex passages and unpredictable soft patches. 

As @Ale Vallecchi commented, today's drive felt in many way an exploration adventure: we really had to find out way though a totally virgin and absolutely not obvious to read terrain, where we never met a single track of any other car. 

@Arman was a great second lead, always careful and responsive to my last second rerouting and careful at stopping early enough when I had a refusal (and I had quite a few today). 

20210528_054525.jpg.a665aeaa89c196b7c7e486d824deb8d6.jpg

@imranaasghar81 and @Abdul Rahman AK at their first intermediate drive, were both "tempered" by today's thrilling drive, demanded to get to the very best out of their driving capabilities, which they both brilliantly exhibited..

20210528_054540.jpg.36ccbf570e2236551e1e7815fad25378.jpg

@Gok Krish, after the last mid-week prep session in Little Sweithan drive, again showed a brilliant performance, including his ever first tug recovery helping @Rizwan Waheed out of a crested situation. His flashing brand new green shackles and rope finally got some satisfaction. 

@Niki, based on a few chats exchanged during occasional breaks, greatly enjoyed the explorative nature of the drive, discovering the new landscape as it materialised after each tricky climbing passage. 

@Javier Lucero led his JK flawlessly, certainly appreciative of his car's great capabilities, especially in this beautiful but deceiving terrain. 

@Rizwan Waheed had a hard time today, driving constantly in churned sand, quite at the back of the convoy, worsened by an apparently leaking valve (best to have it checked). A few stucks and refusals, (including a tug from @Dodi Syahdar quite early in the drive) where to be expected and are only the demonstration that the ride was all but an easy one today. 

@Dodi Syahdar has frequently joined my drives recently, and I am quite sure he found today's drive among the most challenging ones, adding new experience and polishing his driving skills further. 

I often found myself wondering, while leading through some nasty passages, whether I was demanding too much from the poor guys driving those giant trucks at the back, but to my relief they all did well, including @Rob H and @Shehab Alawadhi who both made it across the worst patches of soft sand and the tightest maneuvering spots. 

@Ale Vallecchi was the hero of the day: with so many stucks and refusals he was all over the place, helping everyone out and fighting himself trhough soft and churned up sand. He certainly deserves a special mention today as he managed an endless number of situations. 

Once we reached sufficiently up north, we crossed the sabkha and started the 2nd stint of the drive, by far the most spectacular and emotional one for the day. Our route took us south again via the higher grounds on the west side of the sabkha, from where, bordering the edge of those high terraced dunes, the convoy could enjoy a spectacular view, with the sun already quite high. While driving so close to the edge from an elevated position and with such a view out of the window, I felt a great sense of achievement mixed with gratitude to have the chance to lead trhough such an amazing place. 

As a cherry on our cake, we even met two groups of camels: I took a quick photo, but it doesn't make justice to the beauty of the view from up there:

20210528_080314.jpg.b63a96ee25be9f3907b0d8b97d75f132.jpg

Even when @Abdul Rahman AK got stuck in a treacherous pocket and was in need of being winched out, the whole setting, landscape, and light was spectacular and I guess was worth the waiting for the rest of the convoy. 

By 9:30am it was clear we were never going to make if for the 3rd and final stint of the drive, the one that was meant to tkae us north again all the way to E102 and then, eventually out in Al Bataeh. 

It was therefore decided that we would cut our drive short, so we hit the sabkha at the bottom of the high grounds we were driving through, and from the sabkha we quickly made our way out, eventually reaching the same roundabout where we had started our journey earlier in the day. 

Overall, we drove 40.4km in a total of 4h 40' of which 2h 40' moving and 1h 40' stopped, with a very low moving speed of just 15.1km/h: these data tell a lot about how technical the drive was.

Everyone did very well today, and I hope you all enjoyed this drive as much as I did. As the 1st @Carnity drive in Al Bataeh, it will always have a special place in my memories and I'm glad I had you all with me today. 

After what I've seen today, I think an Extreme Drive in this area will be coming soon.. Stay tuned! 

Congratulations to all and see you soon on the sand again! 

Hi @Lorenzo Candelpergher  This was a meditation kind of experience for the three hours. One had to be connected to only one thing, i.e. the terrain that was changing every second requiring utmost focus and attention. Very short distances to gain momentum to climb, sharp drops and turns were the highlights...it was an utmost concentration drive. This is also my first technical drive. Keeping a bit of distance from car in front also helped in avoiding mini refusal situations and thanks for allowing it by keeping the speed of the drive that way. You leads take all the risks judging what is ahead , still make it safe and interesting for the rest of us.

Hi @Ale Vallecchi like Lorenzo said, you were coming from nowhere always for every search and rescue operation. And thanks for entrusting the chance to do a tug, my first one that too.

@Arman  @Niki  @Abdul Rahman AK @Dodi Syahdar   Good to see u all...thanks for sharing tips 

Overall smashing experience guys...

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@Lorenzo Candelpergher @Ale Vallecchi you make a great partnership!  
 

Lorenzo you challenged us all and I tip my hat and fully compliment plus admire how those at the back end of the convoy managed as the tracks worsened!  
 

I usually consider the SL role the best seat in the house however on this drive it was likely a very challenging role and kudos to @Arman … as you mentioned he was flawless … and fast as @imranaasghar81 will attest
 

this was a stunning drive visually, though we didn’t get to admire the views for too long.  The occasional breaks were very welcome.  The distance covered and pace doesn’t reflect the joy of this route!  
 

#1 pls do partner again and schedule part 2 of the drive

#2 pls do consider not making it an ‘extreme’ (that’s a selfish ask I know) 

#3 make this a permanent addition to the carnity roster/routes 

I have added a few pics to the gallery. 
 

great to be amongst old and new friends on this drive and look forward to many more

 

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19 hours ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

DRIVE REPORT 

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

I guess this was one of those drives that will be remembered by all those who attended it for some time. 

After many drives in known areas, today we had a chance to explore a new territory, an absolute novelty for @Carnity drives, and it was certainly a challenging but rewarding experience for us all.

Al Bataeh area, believed for long time inaccessible due to the extensive fencing visible from the nearby roads, is - in fact - a hidden gem, offering a very challenging terrain with beautiful views on irregular an complex terraced dunes, with sudden passages from high grounds to low grounds gifting a great travel experience. 

We started quite on time, making our entry in the desert from the Ibn Rasheed roundabout at 5:25am. 

After crossing a rather flat area with small dunes and some occasional rock formations, we moved past the farms, drove along some long ridges and entered the first technical area of the drive. It was a amazing terrain, with some long east/west ridges mixed with some very irregular dune complexes, characterised by multiple terraced layers, with totally virgin sand, looking incredibly appealing for our a climbing attempts. 

The significant technical level of the drive became very soon evident as we started collecting refusals and stucks one after the other, especially at the back, where the big trucks had to fight through very churned sand: @Ale Vallecchi's drive, after just a few mins, was clearly going to be all about managing such situation, while I had the luxury, at the front, of a couple more breaks than usual allowing me to take a few nice photos. 

20210528_054411.jpg.113ac36cdbee550d2beb019f30dd37fc.jpg

As we slowly made our way north, the convoy progressively came to terms with the terrain, which was however extremely technical with lots of complex passages and unpredictable soft patches. 

As @Ale Vallecchi commented, today's drive felt in many way an exploration adventure: we really had to find out way though a totally virgin and absolutely not obvious to read terrain, where we never met a single track of any other car. 

@Arman was a great second lead, always careful and responsive to my last second rerouting and careful at stopping early enough when I had a refusal (and I had quite a few today). 

20210528_054525.jpg.a665aeaa89c196b7c7e486d824deb8d6.jpg

@imranaasghar81 and @Abdul Rahman AK at their first intermediate drive, were both "tempered" by today's thrilling drive, demanded to get to the very best out of their driving capabilities, which they both brilliantly exhibited..

20210528_054540.jpg.36ccbf570e2236551e1e7815fad25378.jpg

@Gok Krish, after the last mid-week prep session in Little Sweithan drive, again showed a brilliant performance, including his ever first tug recovery helping @Rizwan Waheed out of a crested situation. His flashing brand new green shackles and rope finally got some satisfaction. 

@Niki, based on a few chats exchanged during occasional breaks, greatly enjoyed the explorative nature of the drive, discovering the new landscape as it materialised after each tricky climbing passage. 

@Javier Lucero led his JK flawlessly, certainly appreciative of his car's great capabilities, especially in this beautiful but deceiving terrain. 

@Rizwan Waheed had a hard time today, driving constantly in churned sand, quite at the back of the convoy, worsened by an apparently leaking valve (best to have it checked). A few stucks and refusals, (including a tug from @Dodi Syahdar quite early in the drive) where to be expected and are only the demonstration that the ride was all but an easy one today. 

@Dodi Syahdar has frequently joined my drives recently, and I am quite sure he found today's drive among the most challenging ones, adding new experience and polishing his driving skills further. 

I often found myself wondering, while leading through some nasty passages, whether I was demanding too much from the poor guys driving those giant trucks at the back, but to my relief they all did well, including @Rob H and @Shehab Alawadhi who both made it across the worst patches of soft sand and the tightest maneuvering spots. 

@Ale Vallecchi was the hero of the day: with so many stucks and refusals he was all over the place, helping everyone out and fighting himself trhough soft and churned up sand. He certainly deserves a special mention today as he managed an endless number of situations. 

Once we reached sufficiently up north, we crossed the sabkha and started the 2nd stint of the drive, by far the most spectacular and emotional one for the day. Our route took us south again via the higher grounds on the west side of the sabkha, from where, bordering the edge of those high terraced dunes, the convoy could enjoy a spectacular view, with the sun already quite high. While driving so close to the edge from an elevated position and with such a view out of the window, I felt a great sense of achievement mixed with gratitude to have the chance to lead trhough such an amazing place. 

As a cherry on our cake, we even met two groups of camels: I took a quick photo, but it doesn't make justice to the beauty of the view from up there:

20210528_080314.jpg.b63a96ee25be9f3907b0d8b97d75f132.jpg

Even when @Abdul Rahman AK got stuck in a treacherous pocket and was in need of being winched out, the whole setting, landscape, and light was spectacular and I guess was worth the waiting for the rest of the convoy. 

By 9:30am it was clear we were never going to make if for the 3rd and final stint of the drive, the one that was meant to tkae us north again all the way to E102 and then, eventually out in Al Bataeh. 

It was therefore decided that we would cut our drive short, so we hit the sabkha at the bottom of the high grounds we were driving through, and from the sabkha we quickly made our way out, eventually reaching the same roundabout where we had started our journey earlier in the day. 

Overall, we drove 40.4km in a total of 4h 40' of which 2h 40' moving and 1h 40' stopped, with a very low moving speed of just 15.1km/h: these data tell a lot about how technical the drive was.

Everyone did very well today, and I hope you all enjoyed this drive as much as I did. As the 1st @Carnity drive in Al Bataeh, it will always have a special place in my memories and I'm glad I had you all with me today. 

After what I've seen today, I think an Extreme Drive in this area will be coming soon.. Stay tuned! 

Congratulations to all and see you soon on the sand again! 

Well said @Lorenzo Candelpergher 

So much learned on this drive and your pre-drive description was accurate, allowing us to come in with the right mind set. This one seemed to be a cross between rock crawling and dune bashing. Slow and steady with thoughtful coordination and communication. That’s what I like about my experience with Carnity: the mix of terrain is a great preparation for anything that comes our way. Speaking of which, I certainly wouldn’t mind Carnity trying out some mountain or wadi drives. 
 

Overall, a solid technical drive. I personally feel more confident tackling tricky terrain and that’s the point. Glad to have joined in and looking forward to the next. 
 

Thanks to @Ale Vallecchi for the recovery support and clear explanations. 
 

Keep up the good work. 

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It was a beautiful location you picked @Lorenzo Candelpergher and @Ale Vallecchi with plenty of challenging dunes that force you to improve your driving on the fly.

There were great views between the undulating dunes with strange shapes that constantly demanded your attention and plenty of variation in the types of dunes we encountered, i was pretty impressed with our guys in the back as i drove along the virgin sand knowing that 10 cars down the line it would be a much different terrain to navigate, good stuff guys!

IMG_20210528_080359.jpg.852dc790a4b142ede9ae8928e1ce8391.jpg

 

Hope to see you all soon once again!

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Great drive @Lorenzo Candelpergher and thank you @Ale Vallecchi for supporting, I really enjoyed the view (when I wasn't focused on not getting into tricky situations 🤣) had so much fun and it was different not being able to predict the dunes that were ahead, added another kind of thrill to the drive which I really enjoyed. Didn't mind the churned up sand, I think i did well on handling those. Also sorry @Ale Vallecchi if I had you driving in soup 😅

See you all soon Inshallah!

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18 minutes ago, Abdul Rahman AK said:

@Lorenzo Candelpergher, Kindly add me in the calendar event of this drive for it to reflect against my number of drives under my profile. Thank you.

Done! 

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