an unnecessarily gruelling ordeal ...

This endeavor was impressive, but it was an unnecessarily gruelling ordeal for political and geographical reasons.

The most direct route would have been to start at Nouakchott Mauretania and to have gone as directly east of there as possible passing through Chad and the Sudan to the Red Sea. It would have also been more strictly within the Sahara desert.

From what I could determine it seems that they had to run through too much of Libya, and in a south to north direction to apparently reach Tobruk which is on the Mediterranean coast before heading east and south to the Red Sea. That added over a 1000 miles of unnecessary running, and strictly speaking wasn't specifically in the Sahara. It's too bad. Also a more southerly route although hotter wouldn't have been to parched and as dry, since they could've passed through Gao and skirted the northern shores of lake Chad.

But politically that wasn't possible. In any event it was a real feat, and even more challenging than the more direct route might've been.

The earlier part of the journey was more interesting. The latter part was too occupied with the difficulties and personal chatter.