After a complicated return to the bivouac, it wasn't very difficult to get to sleep that night...much less so than finding our tent! Imagine 160 crews plus orgas with almost all the same famous tents, which unfold in 2sec and fold up in ...... Let's move on, it will be for the day after tomorrow.

In short, gazelles know how to find beacons in the middle of nowhere... but a tent in the middle of the bivouac is more complicated!

This morning, Vero is still awake before Dominique passes. At "Hello, it's 5am", she's almost ready, and I'll follow soon. We have little time to be operational. Vero places Pupuce on the starting line (today it will be 8B) and collects our classification while I have my breakfast.

She will join me soon and with our line of the day, we will be able to fix our first points of the day.

If usually there is only beacon 1 to place, today we will go to CP3 to get all the beacons of the day.

CP1 and CP2 will be automatic checkpoints, easy to identify crossing points that will take us through the city of Erfoud to take us 2 hours away on our playground.

The start of the day will therefore be by road. A little respite for the mechanics because today everyone will be "shaken".

Because this stage is that of the "cauliflowers" and if it is not a challenge for the navigation, for the piloting and the mechanics, it is quite another thing.

Cauliflowers are large vegetable mosses, hard and stony. Entire fields await us today. It is therefore not a question of driving fast. If this is not already the objective of this race, it will be even less rolling!

We will reach CP3 without incident and will take the time to have lunch and put down all our points for the day.

We opt for teamwork: Vero gives me the coordinates, I place them and we check together. We are always stronger together.

After a long break, it's time to start again. The distances will seem long to us today to cover this loop of 165 km in an ideal route.

CP5 at the northeast end is treacherous, we come to crevice laden terrain and I'll look for a good time on foot for this beacon to preserve the mile count. CP6, when to him, is well hidden in a wadi, under the trees, in the sand, but we pass without incident and without deflating! Véro is impressive in her mastery of our vehicle and in the sand of the wadis, she enjoys herself despite a touch of stress.

Until CP7, we travel huge straight lines with few landmarks. Fortunately, the on-board compass played its part and we pulled from the CAP but were shaken from all sides on this ground full of pebbles.

Then...it gets complicated. The end of the day is approaching, we have 2 CP left to validate. We will go partly by the track to reach CP8, it is strategic to spare the body and especially the mechanics.

At CP 8, we have less than 1h45 to reach the next one. The part-time tells us 1h25, we know that we take 30min to 1h more than this indicative time and between us, a strip of camel grass.

Cooled by our adventure the day before, this last beacon seems impossible to reach. I get tired and hesitate to go straight back, but Vero doesn't want to let go, I don't want to disappoint her and I pull myself together. Only we won't cross the camel grass, if we tank, we won't get it.

Decision is made to go around despite the huge mountain to cross. I know that the beacon is behind, the bivouac too for that matter.

Beginner's luck...maybe, instinct...possible, logic...probably also, observation...definitely! Surely bitchy to a mixture of all this, we find a beautiful track, very rolling. She heads straight for the mountain. The direction seems good, as long as the track does not deviate we keep it. Thanks to her, we arrive at the top of this mountain where 5 children are waiting for us and applauding us, standing on the rocks!

But where do they come from? It's the magic of Morocco, the magic of the rally! one of the unique moments that will make you smile and will remain engraved.

We realize we have found a pass! We probably never would have found it on purpose, but here we are.

I now know perfectly where we are and where we are going to reach this last beacon: "just in front of us there is the bivouac behind this other mountain range, and you see this mountain on your left, our beacon is at its foot, the beacon is for us!"

I guide Véro on sight and we will actually reach it some time later before it closes. It only remains for us to return to the bivouac. We will therefore take the track we left earlier and return easily at nightfall.

Finally the ritual of arrival: shower shower, and Moroccan meal... enough to recover before tomorrow's long-awaited stage: Merzouga!

Stage classification : 25th, 41.08 km of penalties

General classification : 18th, 53.32 km of penalties