One Week in a Sunderland dentists world - A lifetime of memories - Cycle Sahara 2013

In the middle of a British winter, an invitation to cycle for charity in the Moroccan desert comes as welcome temptation to lift the climatic gloom in this Sunderland dentists life.

You'll never see a mackem in the Sahara - Oh yes you will !!




Count me in Cally Gedge ... without giving the slightest thought to the implications of pedalling my 53 year old caracas around terrain fit only for camels and four wheel drives, at temperatures under the sun of 40 degrees plus. A winter warmer of a thought for this Sunderland dentist in November 2012 but its amazing how quickly time flies and here I am back from the most remarkable trip I have ever been involved in.

Team Cycle Sahara



The background......

I am proud to be a member of the Dental Mavericks charity who provide dental care to village children in North Africa. Materials and equipment are expensive and so fund raising is the life blood of this charity's push to provide care for children in areas no other dentists from Morocco penetrate and to levels we in the West would consider normal.
Fellow Maverick and a driving force behind the charity,Cally Gedge, planned the trip to cycle 150 miles in some of the most brutal conditions on the planet, namely, the Moroccan Sahara.Included in the week long cycle was a cycling decent from the stunning High Atlas mountains that form the Northern border of the Sahara desert.
A party of ten cyclists responded to the challenge and came together in early May in Marrakech, Morocco,with their Berber guides and mountain biking equipment. Not an expert cyclist among them, the team quickly realised they were in for quite a week as the itinerary became clear.

The assent begins ..

The team climbed to start cycling at 6000 ft in the Atlas and were in the saddle for five hours on day one, the coolest day with temperatures in the 70's. Views from plunging mountain passes of primitive Berber villages energised the team as the locals often greeted them with a five high hand shake, unused to seeing lunatics from the UK out of control on mountain bikes.

Not a Bradley Wiggins in sight and so the physical demands of this fundraiser started to hit home. Sore Jacksies, blistered hands and deep wounds to the pride of many  started to dominate conversation as bedtime seemed to get earlier and earlier for the team.

As the Sahara beaconed, the oven like temperatures started to grow in significance as huge quantities of bottled water, now bath water warm,were  consumed in volumes reminiscent of a Magaluf hen party.

The Sahara....

Breathtakingly beautiful with its ever changing dunes of yellow, the desert enchanted the exhausted team. A two hour camel ride took us all  into the midst of some of the highest dunes in the world as we  reached a nomad camp. Spending the night beneath these towering dunes in nomadic tents  was as far removed from this dentists normal life as it is possible to be, a stunning experience sleeping under the clearest view of the stars of little equal on the planet.

A two hour camel ride back out of the dunes the next morning was followed by three hours of intense cycling under the full sun of the Sahara. Let me tell you this hose pipe experience after the ride was priceless and will live long in the memory.

What did we achieve ? 

On a personal level my friends , family and patients were remarkably generous donating £1000 to the amazing total now in excess of £6000 raised by the group. Every penny of this significant total goes to the care of Moroccan village children , thanks to all who donated so kindly.

Away from the fund raising every member of the team were humbled by the stunning scenery and the Berber people who live in some of the most extreme conditions on our planet. We were greeted with genuine friendliness wherever we went in Southern Morocco ,people with very little showing us that I Pads and fast cars may not be must have adornments for a happy life after all.

We left a mark of our own in going to an Islamic country with a genuine attempt to help people less well off than ourselves. Maybe better than a bombing run in shaping hearts and minds in people just like us as they try to do the best for their families.





My highlights ?

The kindness of friends who helped children they will never meet with their donations.
Coming into contact with the Saharan Berber people who ooze warmth and kindness.
Sleeping in primitive nomadic tents at the foot of towering sand dunes under the clearest of night skies.
Showering from a bucket in the heat of the desert , Hotlips would be proud of me.   M*A*S*H .
Breathtaking views from thousands of feet up on a mountain bike in the High Atlas mts.
Having the chance to photograph things that would stand up in National Photographic magazine
Sharing all of these things with a great bunch of people who laughed in some extreme conditions
Learning that my waistline,golf swing,SAFC,UK weather,Question Time,politics and CQC are not worth stressing about.

Thank you to......

Cally and Tony Gedge for organising this magnificent trip and getting me once again out of my comfort
zone.
Domien Doms, one of the most remarkable people I have ever met and Ive met a few. A guide,a great friend and an inspiration to all around him.
Fellow Cycle Sahara members, great friends - Vanilla they ain't.
Friends, family and patients who's donations kept me going when it was hurting.
My lovely wife of 30 years, Liz, who gives me enough rope to hang myself, year after year,for letting me do this.

Bless you all !

Michael Oliver

Oliver's Dental Studio - Sunderland

     http://www.oliverdental.com               0191 5282340           e mail  info@oliverdental.com

My Virgin Donation page is at  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MichaelOliver5

FULL PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE TRIP can be seen at

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151501331748163.1073741830.672248162&type=1&l=b3b815d9ed