A comfortable night’s sleep and we prepare for the road ahead. After yesterday’s wonderful interaction with local people what will today bring? We are headed along the coast along route CW 109 and RN 11 to Tenes for lunch. This route is highlighted in green as a scenic route on our Michelin map of Algeria. Very quickly we realise that what was once a scenic route along the coast has, been somewhat, in my view, overtaken by human expansion. Plastic greenhouses cover fields and modern, often half completed multi story structures have expanded beyond village boundaries and this growth combined with multiple road humps makes for slow progress.

A short diversion into the port at Churchell allows Anne to stand in the same area that her father once visited all those years ago.

We realise as the day continues that we are averaging less than 50kph / 30mph due to the aforementioned constraints added to which are the numerous police roadblocks where random vehicles are pulled over for inspection. So far we have been waived through but the queues beforehand again slow us down. We decide to take a different hopefully quicker route to Chlef, our destination for the night.

As we leave the coast at Damous and head inland following the dams that provide irrigation for the multitude of plastic covered greenhouses that dot the landscape, we head up a series hairpin bends into the mountains and I am surprised at the amount of cultivation even on quite steep slopes. I was expecting more wilderness but with the density of villages, the amount of cultivation seems reasonable.

We arrive a Chlef in 39 degrees heat after a long day on the road and during dinner we meet Dr Soufiane, a neurosurgeon friend of Lamine’s (who we met in Tipaza) – we spend an enjoyable evening in his company, the conversation covering many topics including ancient civilisations, the pyramids of Giza, Siffar in south east Algeria which Anne had heard if but was sadly off our route as too far south. He explains the best routes south, good hotels and other useful tips only a local could provide. If we have any problems on the road we can always call him anytime. In fact he ends up checking on us as Lamine does. The kindness of people in Algeria.

For those who remember the aeroplanes that have smoking and non-smoking sections separated by a single seat back, the same applies to floors of the hotel. It does not work. After the discussion last night on roads, we are changing our route going back along the East West Highway and then south on the Trans Sahara, both freeways/motorways, not our preferred travel route but easier to make our timeline in Algeria.

The East West motorway will be a toll road, but not yet for us. Police checks are even here but they seem to be under bridges to stay in the shade.

We do get one backroad section across country towards Medea which provides a welcome change from freeway driving. Heading south again, we stop in Ksar El Boukhari, first for fuel then lunch. We spot a cafe with lots of people so stop there. They only do drinks but we are provided with a young man to take us to a restaurant 10’ walk away. There, we are taken to the “family room” which is where women go.

As we walk up the road, a police man approaches us and welcomes us. Welcome to Algeria. Bienvenue chez nous. Vous êtes chez vous ici. Bienvenue chez vous. (Welcome to our country. Consider this your home. Welcome to your country). He tells us he had seen our bikes and had put two police officers near them to guard them. As we walk back to bikes with him, he asks whether we need anything, is everything ok can he help in anyway. Once at the bikes, we see there are 5 police officers around them!!

As we leave, we get a few specks of rain. The sky is black, in the opposite direction to where we’re going thankfully…. So we thought, for the next hour, we face a mixture of brutal wind, sand and rain showers and are glad to reach our hotel at Ain Oussara.

Kebabs for dinner make a nice change from roast chicken and steamed vegetables which have become my simple gluten free “go to” on the road.

The Trans Sahara highway south continues to be dual lanes in both directions as we head towards Laghouat. En route to Laghouat we somehow end up embedded in a Algerian police patrol – eight vehicles tailed by an police ambulance are heading south. At times we are encouraged to overtake the vehicles by the occupants even on solid white lines. We do have a technique of overtaking that keeps us on our side of the while line, so all legal hey? “Third Laning” as I refer to it is alive and well in Algeria. At the second police roadblock we are signalled by the convoy NOT to follow them through with them again. Oh well it was fun while it lasted.

Here we will have time to explore the old town. A taxi to town from our hotel Sechel Sahara and we explore the fort area, sadly closed and then the Grand Mosque Essaffah designed by Molinari Giacomo guided by our taxi driver who had stayed around to take us back when we are ready. Very kind. We wander down the main street, shops on both sides with stands spilling onto the streets. A chanting crowd approaches and the store holders pull their stands back. A funeral cortège. Everyone stands respectfully as the funeral procession passes by.

We are intrigued by a perfume store with hundreds of labelled bottles on the wall. We enter and talk to Mohamed, a young guy who has a nose for perfumes. Anne tries a couple and when she says she will get this one, he says he would like to gift Anne the perfume as we are visitors to the country.

As we head towards Ghardaia we are finally stopped at a police checkpoint. Passport and vehicle documentation are required plus where are we going and staying. Anne always has a photo of the hotel details saved on her phone for convenience at times like this. The police officer makes a call to someone, mentions our nationality, where we’re staying and where we’re going next, returns all our paperwork and waves us through. As a note hotels may check for married status for two people in one room. If your passport is in your maiden name, carrying a copy of the marriage certificate would be a good idea. Anne has been asked a couple of times if we were spouses when making hotel bookings over the phone and has read of a couple being refused to stay at one hotel because the elderly couple had different surnames.

We are aiming for Ghardaia, one of the seven towns established in the M’Zab Valley. We are officially in the Sahara Desert. Here I think anything over 10cm / 4 inches qualifies as a tree amongst the very very sparse vegetation. Ghardaia is a very different looking town as we get a great view descending into the valley from the North, but that’s another blog entry.

– Anthony & Anne