Tunisia 2006: Destination Ksar Ghilane
Houmt-Souk – Medenine – Beni Kheddache – Bir Soltane – Ksar Ghilane – Guermessa – Tataouine – Houmt-Souk (october 31 – november 14, 2006)
First days to Bir Soltane
Houmt-Souk – Bir Soltane
Because we cycled the road in 2005, we take a louage from Houmt-Souk to Medenine. On our bicycles we soon have to put our efforts in a serious climb to Beni Kheddache, so that we arrive quite exhausted in Zammour. Rain and stormy winds keep us there longer than foreseen, but this will turn out in our advantage… Once the weather gets better we continue our journey via Bir Zoui and along the Oued El Hallouf. An odd twenty kilometers before our goal the tarmac ends and a piste brings us in Bir Soltane.
The Pipeline Piste to Ksar Ghilane
Bir Soltane – Ksar Ghilane
After tapping the tasteful water of Bir Soltane we undertake the feared pipeline piste. It’s now that the rains of the days before prove to be very helpful: the sandy stretches of the piste are just hard enough to cycle, so that we have to push our bikes only once. The dunes in the west give us already a taste of what to expect in Ksar Ghilane: beautiful dunes surround the oasis with the spring.
A Lonely Piste to the Dahar
Ksar Ghilane – Tataouine
After a few days in the oasis we decide not to take the main piste, but to follow a small, lonely piste to Guermessa. Our GPS is very useful on this track that takes us in the very stony, hilly El Gamgouma until the El Magren plateau. Then we ride along the lovely, but sandy Oudey El Khil to the Dahar mountains. Finally, a tarmac road brings us from Guermessa to Tataouine, where we put our bicycles aside and take some rest after our wonderful journey.
