The second one was overwhelmed too when the third appeared. I was looking for a safe spot to cross and then I found something provisional. But the approaching angle of the exit was too steep for the Partner and… at 2.26 PM we got stuck.

I was complaining about my poor physical condition over the last few days and I thought (but it stayed just with the thought) of doing some push-ups while preparing to do the cycling to Lebanon. But it wasn't necessary. I took the tools, sand sheets and the showel which started to do a good job in my hands. The car was laying on the engine, front bumper and right wheel-arm. Just great! I shifted the car several times, putting the sand sheets under the wheels, and dug, and dug, and dug. I don't recall how many times did I shift and lower it to realize the soil was too high again. In some two hours I made a wide ditch around the car where I could lay and dig the soil from beneath the Partner.

When I finally got it out, it dig itself again a few inches before the final rescue. But that digging was easier. All that took me more than three hours and it became dark.

To make it even more adventurous the fog that appeared limited my visibility to some twenty meters. The GPS was guiding me into a steep hill and I made several circles just to find out I was instantly surrounded by countless ruts. I decided to return at least until the last track I left. In a few minutes I found my own tracks but I was worried about the first wadi I crossed, as the entry was steep, but the exit wasn't. Now I would need the opposite. I pushed the gas but a bit before the top it started turning in vane. I reversed in full gas to get back to the other side without getting stuck in the middle of soft sand. Then I tried to find another exit, running up the waddi and hoping to get on a solid surface where I could stop.

I found another exit but I had to customize it: I lowered the slope with the showel and I made two wheel-tracks out of surrounding stones. It started to dig in but I managed to get it to the starting point again. The second attempt ended some two meters further. By repeating the attempts I was making the surface softer thus reducing a possibility of success in the next attempt. I prepared the surface again, asked the stars for help and… alhamdulillah, got to the other side.

After a few kilometres I found the first track and thanks to the GPS in half an hour got to the main road in the middle of a foggy desert night. Today I came back to Dimashq and in the evening I'll continue on to Lubnan.



#gallery0#gallery1#gallery2