After the mishap with his broken cylinder head, the Axel-Gerstl-Newsletter has also reported in its latest issue, Burkhard was stranded with "Bea", his yellow Fiat 500, at a campsite in Chefchaouen / Morocco. But Burkhard was very lucky, because unexpectedly he was visited by two Axel-Gerstl-Newsletter readers from France, which brought him a new cylinder head. The Axel-Gerstl-team would like to thank the two guys for this extraordinary help!

Fortunately Burkhard met a master car mechanic from Italy on the campground, who helped him to fix the old cylinder head. Therefore, the new cylinder head was kept as a spare - even if it should not be long before Burkhard was glad that he had it. Because after Burkhard had finally reached the dunes, the freshly repaired cylinder head was gone again. The installation of the new cylinder head, which had been dropped off by Burkhard his French visitors, was more difficult than initially thought, because the valves were not mounted, but separately packed in a bag. But bad luck and happiness are often close to each other and by sheer luck Burkhard ran into the Italian mechanic again, who had already helped him in Chefchaouen. They managed to produce an improvised abrasive paste with oil and Sahara Sand and succeeded to grind the valves.

On the way back from the dunes towards Spain the bad luck then went on: Again there were problems with the cylinder head and Burkhard had to go on only one cylinder for about 500 to 600 km. He patched the dead cylinder with a piece of wood to prevent exhaust gas from escaping. But that meant for Burkhard to stop every 50 kilometers along the roadside in order to replace the piece of wood that was turned into a lump of coal.

On the slopes of the Atlas Mountains "Bea" was finally so slow that Burkhard was even overtaken by cyclists. Some of them offered drugs through the open driver's window. Burkhard asked if they don’t worry about HIV, they just answered: "We do not inject - we smoke!"

Back at the campsite in Chefchaouen, Burkhard decided to call the ADAC (German Car Club) to help. Thanks to his ADAC Plus membership "Bea" was picked up with a trailer and will be transferred to Germany - Burkhard, however got a free flight toward home.

Despite all the beautiful experiences, Burkhard’s tour was of course overshadowed by the technical problems. But the fact that he could not realize his original goal, to visit hospitals, welfare centers and children's villages to educate people about HIV, frustrated Burkhard the most.

But he rated the feedback on various social media channels very positive, especially on Facebook. Because there, the story of his tour had become independent and led to a lot of attention to him and his goals. Whenever he arrived somewhere, he was welcomed with a lot of friendliness and helpfulness. "Bea" was treated as a star, was photographed at every opportunity and subject of numerous Internet postings.

The spare parts that Axel Gerstl had sent to Morocco, unfortunately, arrived late and are still waiting on camping Chefchaouen on their pick up. If, by accident, an Axel-Gerstl-newsletter reader is in this area in the near future, please contact Burkhard via his website www.reise-der-hoffnung.info and help returning the parts to Germany.

For the future, Burkhard for sure will draw his lessons from the experienced, but his journey enthusiasm cannot be tarnished by a broken engine. He is already playing with the idea for a tour around the Black Sea. Should someone have experiences or tips, Burkhard would appreciate a message via his website!