Welcome to my page!

I have now completed the trek and I thought you might like to know how the challenge went.

It was a great experience, I met some great people and I am glad I did it (especially as it has helped raise a lot of money for a great charity), but must confess that I was wondering what the hell I was doing there most of the time and I will definitely not be doing the Sahara again! 

I am going to be honest, the first three days were awful as we had non-stop dust storms which kept blowing sand all over the place. Visibility was poor so we could not appreciate the beauty of our surroundings.  The storms caused all kinds of havoc, such as not being able to eat our meals without eating a lump of sand along with it and panic that I was going to lose my eyes as the sand kept battering against them.  A tent was ripped and blown away by the wind in the middle of the night leaving its inhabitants homeless and I woke up covered in sand each morning.  The worst night I had was when my sleeping bag kept piling up with sand which then fell on my face every time I moved an inch! And yes, I was in a tent! I was not happy....  We were told by Dave, the Discover Adventure leader, that it was actually the worst trip to the Sahara he has experienced in the eight years he has done it- typical!

By the Wednesday though, the storms had passed and everything cleared up - Wednesday was known as 'the good day'.  We could see for miles and walked over a rocky torrain with lots of fossils which we enjoyed picking up and looking at.  We had a nice relaxing, sand-free lunch under a tree which was such a luxery in comparison to the stressful lunches in the wind we had had before.  We had a lovely evening meal and the Berbers lit a bonfire and did a song and dance for us which ended in the rest of the camp doing the 'hokie kokie' and singing 'she'll be coming round the mountain' along with the Berber's own version of the song.  We then slept under the stars and saw a couple of shooting stars - it was great. 

The good weather continued on the Thursday, which, in terms of Trekking was the most difficult day.  We had to climb the largest sand dune (Chegaga) in that part of the Sahara which was 300m high.  It was tough but we all made it up, and the views once you got to the top were amazing.  We had the option to go down the long but easy way or the short but steep way - by this point I had become a bit of a daredevil so opted for the short but steep way.  Going down was the most fun I have had in a long time - the sand was soft for the first part of the trip down so my feet sunk in a it felt like I was moonwalking, but for the second part the sand got harder and I started to panic that I was going down too quickly and I would fall flat in my face.  So I sat on my bum and shuffled the rest of my way down! 

Once we had completed Chegaga, we thought that the hard bit was over with, but no, we still had hundreds of little sand dunes to climb before getting to camp!

Our final day trekking was on a flat salt pan.  There was no shelter and got very hot - somebody in the group measured the temperature and it was 50 degrees at lunchtime.  We all knew it was the last day so beared with the hear and crossing the finish line was a great and emotional moment.

I met some great people on the trip and am thankful for the experience although I don't see myself sharing a tent with 10 people and having no shower or toilet facilities for a week again in a  hurry! 

I would still like to raise more money for this great cause so if you haven't sponsored me yet, please do - I have done the trek now and you know what I have been through! 

Hopefully by having taken part in this challenge and through everyone's help we can all make a difference and help to improve the lives of people living with cancer.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Macmillan Cancer Support will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page. Please dig deep and please sponsor me now!

Many thanks for your support.

Maria