The cheapest flights to Dakar from Casablanca turned out to involve flying back to Europe and out again.
A few hours in Madrid was not such a hardship and gave us an opportunity to take out some Euros. Flying out a day earlier than the other teams on the same boat, we left them to contact the Grimaldi shipping agents and confirm all was going well.
On arrival at Madrid we received disastrous news by text: “Boat has fuel leak. Not yet left Casa. Expected at least a week late.” At first we decided to take this as a joke by the other teams. We were quickly put straight. This would mean a long wait in Dakar.
Not surprisingly Dan had no confidence that the boat would even make the delayed date. We had not signed up to a rally to spend most of waiting around. Instead he called it a day and decided to fly back to the UK from Madrid. Our team had now lost two team mates and its car was stranded on a cargoship in Morocco.
I felt I had no choice but to carry on and keep my fingers crossed that the car would not be too long. I boarded the night flight for Dakar on my own, unsure what would happen next. Like a parting gift, Dan’s last minute change of plans caused a hour delay while ground crew unloaded luggage in search of the bags of a passenger who hadn’t boarded. Of course his luggage was already somewhere over France.
The day ended just as badly with the arrival into Dakar airport, which even Morocco does not prepare you for. I simply was not in the mood to be hussled by every one and their dog, including officials, police and taxi divers.
After a prolonged arguement I grouchily agreed to pay a taxi driver twice over the odds to get me to the hotel because I had simply had enough. Of course he knew it!
