Day 63 Wednesday 18/11/09

In the morning Lufti met us and showed us around the must-see labyrinthine lanes of the old caravan city of Ghadames with covered passageways and intriguing houses. The city grew up around Ain al-Faras (Horse Fountain) and was amazing designed to provide maximum protection from the heat of the desert . Lufti had grown up in Ghadames and knew the city inside out and gave us an excellent tour.

After lunch, we started our journey east with Hussein, who spoke a little more English than Alhadi. In Derj we faced a minor crisis when there was no petrol at the fuel station for John, apparently it had ran out the day before – not a problem we were expecting given Libya’s fuel reserves! Hussein disappeared to see a friend and came back with petrol for John.

It was a long five hour journey across the desert, with few points of interest. As it became dark, the driving became harder and we passed a couple of burnt, twisted corpses of camels – a stark reminder of one of the dangers of the road apart from the Libyan drivers!

We eventually arrived at our destination for the night, Al-Qaryat. We had a delicious meal of soup, salad, spaghetti bolognaise or couscous, chicken and coffee plus a night’s basic accommodation for 12d each, about £6.