It's time to start for stage 1.

The storm lasted overnight but the morning is calmer. We find the now well-known "hello, it's 5am" from Serra Dominique.

I admit that despite the hour, it was with a smile that I welcomed him! It's so nice to be here again.

But no time to waste. Jeanette leaves to align Titine and I go to ask my first points before the 6am briefing. We will finish this work together.

We then set off for this 110km stage with 7 beacons to validate….

And it's already time for the first sand zones.

The winds will pick up in the morning, making visibility poor and reading the landscape difficult, and will strengthen until the evening. But let's not chain the tags.

Many beautiful memories of this day, but 2 in particular marked me the most. The first is this frankly beautiful rock barrier at the start of beacon 2: Titine like Jeanette amazes me! The adventure promises to be rich.

The second will be for the end of the day.

Our stage was validated that day at beacon 7 allowing us to make a stop at Cœur de Gazelles at the Merzouga school.

This year, the caravan focused on children and we (re)discover with emotion the wonderful work that volunteers do. Perfect organization, patient, listening and attentive. Love transpires here and children and volunteers talk and smile.

A real pleasure to share this moment with them.

We will then return by road to finish this first day, with all the tags in hand and with a full heart.

We find our BumperOffroad team, very caring (who also felt the sandstorm) but always with a smile, and friends!

We won't know our ranking until the next day when we start a new day and not the least: the dunes of Merzouga.