My starting point was a tavern on the 101st km road mark north of the city of Eilat. I arrived at the starting point at 09:00 am. I was welcomed by a strong and gusty South, South West wind of 40-60 km/h. 180 degrees opposite to the meteorology models and head-on to my desired course.
I chose to start with a 2.2 mē C-Quad and the five-wheel combination due to the hard soil and big bumps of the first section. The original plan was to ride southeast and stay clear of the hills on the west side of the valley. This plan had to be aborted since that on each correction west I lost lots of ground.
That meant steep hills and a bigger drop to the creeks below.
The desert in this section was hard and unforgiving as I soon found out.
Not long after starting I tried to negotiate a one-meter step and found myself dragged like a turtle faced down with the buggy on top of me, not the most reassuring and self-confidence boosting way to start the trip. The next 2-km were relatively smooth. I progressed nicely and cautiously due southwest. There ended the easy part. The terrain became tougher; a small desert twister slammed me to the ground for the second time. That was a breaking point that came in a very early stage. Just 3 km along and only an hour and a half from the start.
This is where I would like to thank my friends for their resourcefulness and spirit. They ran forward 50-m each time and marked the path that I can pass through. Still as I stopped to view and estimate a slop going down one of the small hills, I turned the buggy down-wind and lean over the buggy to see better, suddenly I was lifted up in the air with my buggy by another sneaky desert twister. But this time I landed properly back on my wheels.
Undoubtedly, the next 5 km were the worst I ever rode. An hour and a half later, the plains opened up flat and wide but still up hill. My speed increased to 20-30 km/h and the wind became stronger. I took this to my advantage and had a break, a meal and swapped to a 1.6 C-Quad. Don't you worry I was still overpowered with the 1.6 C Quad.
The rest of the day was faster. The 5-wheel buggy proved to have incredible ability to pass all obstacles, dry creeks and steps, even better than the 4x4.
The next big obstacle to cross was the Notza ridge. The Notza ridge is a watershed, separating the water flow in the desert; on the north side to the Dead Sea and on the south slopes to the Red Sea and the Red Valley. On the map there were three possible passages: The first one on the east, near the Jordanian border; The second - 600 m to the west; and the third, three km to the west. The original plan was to cross through the first pass. Due to the direction of the wind, I decided to cross at the western pass. Descending the ridge was simple enough but seeing the cliffs I barely missed was thrilling. I felt that if I could cross that section, nothing would stop me. From here on, it was flat all the way to Eilat. I continued riding until I reached Kibbutz Yahel at 16:30, at which stage I was exhausted. Unlike normal buggy rides, where the direction of travelling changes constantly, and the load spreads on both sides of the body, here the kite was on my left, during almost the entire day, leaving my left side aching. Altogether, I passed 33 km and I called it in for the day.

On day two of the expedition, we decided on an early wakeup. The weather forecast was stormy as the day before. At 08:30, we were already set to go. This time, with the "big foot" wheels. However, the wind did not show up. At 11:30, I started to move, taking advantage of the desert thermos winds. Each time, the direction was in my favour and I made some progress. I used an 8.5 N.gen. I succeeded to reach Kibbutz Lotan, 9 km from the starting point of that day.
In Kibbutz Lotan, in a garden of organic vegetables, we met Pato.
Pato is a wonderful 10 year old child who has Leukaemia. He joined me for part of the trip on a tandem buggy and a special lunch made for us by Menta outdoor catering.
Due to the light wind we could not do much more then play around, have some fun and add another 2 km to the day.
Two days past and I wasn't even half way yet.

Concerned after two days of unpredictable winds and with more than half of the way to go yet ahead I stared the third day.
I decided on an easterly route, to try to ride on the soft sand dunes and to avoid passing in Yotvata National Park. The price I had to pay was that the 4x4 would not be able to follow me and would not be in contact with me for most of the way.
Again, I used the "big foot" setting that proved to be the best on soft sand.
The wind was a perfect North, North East at 20-30 km/h. I used a 5.6 N.gen and made fast progress through the sand dunes. Some parts were full of bushes and I had to avoid them. The feeling was exhilarating; I was all alone in the desert without anyone in sight but myself, the buggy and my kite.

Nice smooth rides, small jumps off the peaks of the dunes and soft landings. Riding the sand dunes is like riding big waves; you can jump over them or ride on the slopes and curve your turn like you would do with a board on a gigantic wave.
The landscape was constantly changing from sand dunes to bush to flat dry salt lakes and back to dunes. The view was breathtaking, a big open valley and big mountains on each side. The of the land were beautiful, different colours; many shades of yellow and red and different rock formations all the way.
The speed was good, above 40 km/h on average and I made fast progress.
At noon, I was 20 km from the Red Sea and then the land became treacherous, full of rocks varying in sizes from footballs to tennis balls. Riding on these rocks was slow and painful. I decided to change the buggy to four small wheels at the back (the Peter Lynn five-wheel kit) and big-foot wheel in the front. I took some air out of the big-foot front wheel and by that achieved a suspension effect both in front and in back.
Even with those changes, I still had to stop every 20 minutes to rest and to stretch my legs. My knees were in pain due to the bumpy ground.
Five km to the end I had my first and only flat tire on one of the back wheels. I took it off and continued with what seemed to be a "funny buggy", with a big-foot wheel on the front, two wheels on the back right side and one on the left, but it worked.
I reached the outskirts of Eilat at 16:00 on the 3/3/2000, just 3 days after I left the 101st km Inn.

The goal was to go all the way to the Red Sea so we loaded the buggy on the car and drove to the beach about one km away and road the buggy into the Red Sea water.
No doubt this trip was the best buggy ride I ever had and I can't wait for my next challenge.

Danny Franck.