Update from the Taklamakan desert – 7 September

I have now been walking across the desert for three and a half weeks, and am about a third of the way! I spent the first week walking with my pack through the edge of the desert before swimming across the Qarqan river and retrieving my cart.

the-qarqan-river

I have since then been hauling this cart with up to 9 days worth of food and water through the desert’s famously huge sand dunes. Sometimes the dunes have proved too high so I had had to detour round them! I have now found a series of valleys which I will be following through the sand for the next 9 days before I reach my next cache of food and water supplies (with a warm sleeping bag for the imminent cooler nights). If my water starts to run out, I will be forced to ditch my cart, and continue with just my pack, which is faster. I am very exhausted, but doing well. 7 more weeks to go!

rob-and-cart
walking-in-a-mini-sand-storm