This particular trip started in Axylou. We had been wondering what was above the Ezousa Valley in the direction of Lemona and Axylou was a good place to start. There is some stunning scenery around here, especially in spring time, but you have to be careful. There is a lot of gypsum in the area, and this forms a fine white dust on some of the tracks, which causes two problems. First, it is almost impossible to get a grip on. Second, it makes a track look more recently used than it actually is. You might look ahead and see a nice fresh white track leading down a hill, only to get there and find that half of it is missing. This, in fact, is exactly what happened to us. The track deteriorated, and I had to turn the car round to drive back the way we came. However, we couldn't get back up the slope, because of the gypsum. The end result was that I had to reverse down the deteriorated track, with my wife outside shouting directions. At one point the car (a 2.8l Pajero) was stuck on two wheels rocking backwards and forwards. My wife actually lent into the car to get her phone. She said it was in case I went over the edge she would need to phone for help.

Anyway, we got down safely, but we both learnt an important lesson about the tracks in the area. It's a shame I didn't get any photos of the event, but in all honesty, when things get hairy, the last thing you want to do is take photos.