Some time in June, Jude and Bjørn were chatting and decided it was time to go on an adventure together. As Jude currently lives in the UAE, it seemed logical to plan a desert crossing there. Fast forward a few months to December, and Jude was picking up Bjørn from the airport in Abu Dhabi, ready for the adventure.

But before we reached that point, we had to design the desert carts to carry our drinking water across the desert, plan our food, make sure we kept the sand out of our shoes and had a route to follow.

We searched the internet for other people crossing deserts to see what they had used and found some good inspiration including for the wheels. Bjørn made an initial drawing and Jude suggested to make it in wood before having it made in aluminium. Bjørn found an excellent company that could make them in Poland and ship to Denmark. Once they were welded together, they looked amazing!

Jude planned the route through the Rub’ al Khali, the Empty Quarter, in the UAE. She had driven and camped in the Rub ‘al Khali several times and even walked through sections of it during the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge way back in 2007. From some local contacts she managed to find out which areas were restricted in access and based on that she drew a route which on paper (Google Earth) looked feasible. Drawn on a map with straight lines it was about 85km, perfect for a 6-day trip.

A few last-minute hurdles nearly prevented the walk from happening: the second desert cart only arrived the day before Bjørn was flying out of Denmark. He even had to drive several hours to collect it as time had run out to have it delivered. And Jude returned from her Saudi Arabia trip with pneumonia and was in bed up to 3 days before the start of the hike.

But, after a quick test build in our apartment of the second desert cart and loading up the Prado with the two desert carts, all our food and equipment for the challenge ahead, we drove down south together with Alida, Johan and Kaleb. We set up for the night, enjoyed the best braai Jon and Bjørn ever had, and settled in for some star gazing as the Geminid meteor shower was passing and there were loads of shooting stars that night. We fell asleep directly under the stars, no tent needed. A spectacular start of the trip.

the best braai ever for Jon and Bjørn, thanks Johan

camp before the start with Jon, Johan, Alida and Kaleb with lots of shooting stars thanks to the Geminid meteor shower

In the morning we had breakfast, finalised building and loading the carts, but before we set off, the camel farm owner drove over to invite us for a cuppa. Of course we accepted, and Jude and Bjørn set off on foot, shortly followed by the cars. We enjoyed coffee, tea, dates, water and fresh camel milk. The hospitality of the Emiratis is always so generous and humbling. It was all absolutely delicious, and as Eid Almenhali was visiting his father we were able to have a lot of great conversations until it was time for Jude and Bjørn to head off alone into the desert.

Jude showing the maps of the route to Eid Almenhali on his father’s farm, Bjørn enjoying the camel milk

after enjoying the amazing Emirati hospitality we say goodbye to everyone and head off into the desert

The desert carts were heavy with their life-giving supply of water. A total of 113 litres between the two of us loaded on the desert carts, plus about 5-6 litres in our bottles and water bladders at the start. We slowly set off and waved goodbye. Soon we left even the last curious camels behind and we were alone with the sand in all sorts of amazing shapes and colours.

the camels from the farm come closer and follow us for a while

even a gentle incline is tough with a desert cart weighing more than 100kg

We quickly settled into a rhythm. Wake up just before sunrise, have a leisurely breakfast and pack up everything back into the desert carts. We would walk approximately 1.5-2 hours and have a 10-15 minute break for some snacks and a drink other than water. Another 2 hours of walking until the sun was too hot and it was time for lunch. We would set up a shade and or wind block with the carts, walking poles, a tarp and often some sand, and spend the next 2-3 hours relaxing, chatting, eating and drinking. Sometime between 3 and 3.30pm we would start our last stint of the day, another 1.5-2 hours, before looking for a suitable campsite.

our first lunch under the tarp for shade, it worked perfectly and we stayed for 2 or 3 hours enjoying the coolness during the heat of the day

a hot lunch on day 3, we used the tarp to create shade and a wind block

our fantastic campsite at the end of day 3, sheltered from the wind

a perfect spot for a sleep under the stars at the end of day 5

a very cool morning after the thunderstorm overnight

a stunning location for a campsite at the end of day 5, can you see our setup?

The crescent dunes were often challenging, always elegant and beautiful, and with some scouting of possible routes using the sand bridges we would find our way through them and reach the next sabkha. Sabkhas are the flat areas between the dunes, filled with salt flats, and are usually easy to cross unless they are very wet. The dune crossings were a different story. Some easy and nearly flat, others imposing, tall and with many crescents topped with lips (mini slip-faces) that were difficult to ascend. Some sabkhas were small, others several km long before we reached the next dunes. We enjoyed the variety and different shapes of every dune cluster, and marveled at what we called the sandstrugi. We based this on the word sastrugi, which are features formed in the snow by wind. Here, in the sandy desert, the sandstrugi are of course formed in the sand by the wind.

looking back at our desert carts when we are scouting a route

Jude on a scouting mission in a stunning panorama in the Empty Quarter, can you find our desert carts?

Only once did we have to unload some of the water bottles to be able to push and pull the desert carts over a larger lip, and twice we helped each other by pushing the cart. The lighter the desert carts became (less water mainly), the easier we could maneuver through the dunes.

this was the only time we carried 2 of the water bottles to the top before pulling the desert cart across

that was a tricky ascent where we pushed each other’s cart up the lip to get over to the other side

The desert carts were amazing. They were stable, the balloon tyres floated over the sand and held their line incredibly well when side cresting. When properly loaded they don’t feel heavy on flat surfaces (a different story when you try to go up a sand dune). With experience and lighter desert carts we tackled steeper and longer dunes as we progressed. Often amazed how well the desert carts (and we) did. On steeper slopes we would zigzag to find the best way up.

the desert carts were amazing and we could go down quite steep slopes, this is on day 2 so the carts were still quite heavy

Jude going down one of the bigger dunes

Bjørn at the top of the last big sand dune, we are heading towards the sabkha and then to the gatch road

We experienced strong winds, both from the front and in the back, hot and windless days, very calm and mild evenings, one chilly and dewy night, a huge thunderstorm with lots of rain and lightning, cloud cover and bright blue skies with relentless sunshine. We loved it, all of it.

Jude heading into a strong headwind across a sabkha

Everything worked perfectly. The desert carts were superb, the route was spot on, the meals were sufficient and varied, the water supply was enough, and the walking very pleasant and challenging without becoming impossible. We had 31 litres of water left at the end. And whilst that sounds like we took too much, we would have had a lot less left-over if it hadn’t been for one cloudy morning and one overcast and chilly day after the storm when we only used 2 litres instead of 12. You need a lot more water when it is warm and the sun is shining, compared to an overcast and chilly day.

We didn’t see that many animals during our hike. But we were lucky enough to see Arabian gazelles twice, a few desert wheatears (birds), some beetles, a few lizards (blacktail toadhead agama), moths, flies and ants, and lots and lots of little, green caterpillars. Especially the area near the border was full of the caterpillars and we had to zigzag at times to ensure we didn’t run them over with our fat tyres! At the border we also saw our only other human beings, Abdullah Majid, a bulldozer driver who kindly gave us some water, and two border patrol officers who wanted to stay anonymous. Luckily Abdullah spoke perfect English so he could translate the questions from border patrol for us.

5 Arabian gazelles on the sabkha on day 6

we saw a few blacktail toadhead agamas in the desert, so cute

Abdullah Majid at the UAE – Saudi Arabia border kindly gave us a bottle of water

All too soon we reached the gatch road that surrounds the Qasr al Sarab nature reserve, our pick up point. We reached the gatch road at 10.30 after a relaxed start of our last day. We had camped a few km away from the road so we could sleep one last time surrounded by the majestic dunes. Our pick up crew (Jon, Vai and Lauren) arrived as planned at exactly 11.30am. By that time we had already unpacked everything, dismantled the desert carts and were playing soccer with Wilson, our very own volleyball we had found and picked up in the desert (watch the movie Cast Away if you don’t know what we are talking about).

Jude and Bjørn celebrating reaching the finish line

Jon, Vai and Lauren arrive at the pick up point at 11.30 sharp

We were over the moon we completed our little expedition, but also sad it was over. We would definitely do this again! Which desert do you think we should cross?

Jude in the stunning Rub ‘al Khali

Some nitty-gritty details and more photos for those of you who enjoy them

Route: we used Google Earth Pro to plan the route and campsites. During the hike, we used PocketEarth to track the actual track and logged our actual campsites. We followed our planned route almost exactly as you can see on the below image where you can see both planned and actual (in red) walked tracks.

We would have liked to walk all the way from west to east, crossing the Liwa crescent completely. Unfortunately the Qasr al Sarab Nature Reserve is a fenced off area (outlined in black), and it is not possible to cross this fence. So we decided to end the desert hike on the gatch road that runs next to the fence. The option to walk in the narrow section between the fence and the Saudi Arabia border would have meant walking 40+km on a gatch road which is not what we wanted.

Our planned route was 84km (drawn in straight lines over dunes), the actual route was 100km. This was our daily planned versus actual:

• day 1: planned 8.8km, actual 12k
• day 2: planned 12km, actual 14km
• day 3: planned 14.5km, actual 17.7km
• day 4: planned 15.8km, actual 17.4km
• day 5: planned 14.6km, actual 14km
• day 6: planned 18.3km, actual 16.5km
• day 7: planned 0km, actual 8.4km

We had not planned a day 7, but as the pickup was on Saturday morning at 11.30, we decided to camp a little early on day 6, leaving a few km for the last morning. That meant we could enjoy a last campsite in the dunes instead of at the edge of a gatch road.

This is our altitude profile for the hike. The highest dune we crossed was 164m, often there were many taller ones around us. We started at roughly 93m above sea level, and finished around 84m. We crossed a total of 30 sabkhas, which means we had to climb up and over 29 dune crossings, some easy and low, others towering high above us and difficult to navigate through.

The first few days we averaged 2.3km per hour, not bad in the sand with heavy desert carts. Overall, in the end, our average speed went up to 2.6km per hour, thanks to a lighter load in the desert carts.

Desert carts: we researched several options, looked into the mono-walker, but in the end decided to design and build our own carts. We drew a few ideas on paper, built the paper version from wood to check dimensions, and then had the aluminium frames made. We used rigid tracers with a full harness from Fjellpulken to pull the carts, so going downhill the carts wouldn’t bump into us. Being on foot means slow speeds and we didn’t think there was a high risk of breaking the solid poles. We added fishing net on the inside to stop things falling through or out the sides. And we added sections of pvc pipe to one side of each trolley to be able to rig up a wind or shade block using our walking poles upside down into the pvc pipes (this worked splendidly). The tyres we used are called balloon tyres. They are lightweight and spread the weight of the desert cart evenly on the sand. We had no issues with the carts sinking in the sand or drag. They perfectly stayed on top of the sand, both loose and hard-packed. Each cart weighed approximately 20kg.

Water: we had calculated on 6-7 litres per water per person per day. Which meant we needed to carry 2 x 7 litres x 7 days = 98 litres of water. We calculated the full 7 days (leave on Sunday morning, pick up on Saturday) to be safe. We also wanted to add a margin of safety with the water as without it we would have a serious problem, so we decided to carry one additional spare jerrycan. In the end we used the 5 gallon round water bottles which fitted perfectly inside the desert carts. As these cannot be closed once opened, we used one standard water jerrycan which we though was 20L (turned out it has a capacity of 25L). Whenever that jerrycan was empty, we would pour the next water bottle into it. This meant our total weight just for water was 113kg (Bjørn had 3 water bottles, Jude 1 plus the jerrycan).

Sand protection: we used sand gaiters for around our shoes (runners). These worked perfectly although next time we will have a cobbler actually sew the velcro strip onto the shoes. Glue lets go after a few days, and home-sewing was difficult. It would be easier with a fish-hook needle we think. Make sure you have gaiters with an additional velcro strip to open at the top for ease of use.

sewing the velcro back onto the shoes when they let loose is a tricky job in the desert

Food: we used a combination of homemade, dehydrated meals and store-bought from Turmat for our dinners. Homemade muesli for breakfast, and rye bread (pumpernickel) with a variety of spreads for lunch. We also had some snacks of course, and tea bags, stock cubes for our salt intake, and Tang for a drink with a different flavour. We estimate the food bag weighed approximately 10kg.

Equipment: we both had a sleeping bag plus mat, we brought a tent (used half of the nights because of wind or rain), one change of clothes for the evening and night, and of course some cooking and eating utensils. We used a Garmin InReach for messages and also as our emergency communication device.

Bjorn started with a desert cart weighing approximately 105kg (110% of body weight), Jude’s desert cart weighed around 85kg (141% of body weight). On flat terrain the desert carts could have been heavier, but the sand dunes on the first 2-3 days were tough.

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  Jude and Bjørn at the start, ready to go
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  Jude following the tracks of the gazelles across the dunes
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  a small incline is tough on day 1 with the desert carts weighing more than our body weight
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  Jude heading up a slope on day 2
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  Jude and Bjørn on day 5 in the Rub 'al Khali desert
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  Jude on one of the crossings on day 6
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  Bjørn on day 2 in the Rub 'al Khali desert
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  Jude heading down a dune
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  Bjørn in the dunes
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  Jude enjoying a relatively flat section through the dunes
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  Bjørn at the start of one of the dune crossings on day 5
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  Jude leaving nothing but footprints
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  Bjørn putting on his warm gear for lunch on a cool day, this is the day after the big overnight thunderstorm
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  Jude coming up a steep section, you can see our footprints as we just scouted the route to make sure it was feasible
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  Bjørn coming down on one of the final crossings
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  our final campsite with the tent set up