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Sunday 26th December Boxing Day was far more how we'd imagined Christmas in Petra to be. The clouds and rain had broken, giving us bright sunshine and a few clouds for shade. With Boris, we climbed to the highest point in Petra. To get to Mount Houron involved a 6-hour round trek, with lots of scrambling and some incredible views. The small white domed building of Aaron's Tomb sits at the top and from this beautiful spot we had the most amazing views across the Jordan Valley on the one side and over Petra and the East Bank Plateau on the other. At least our guide book had warned us of such a strenuous trek - many of the people we met on the way down seemed to expect just a short amble and were quite shocked when we told them that it would take them another 2 more hours to get to the top. It was a good day and we finished it off with our first visit to the all-you-can-eat buffet at the Cleopatra restaurant. The food here is delicious and truly fantastic value- we ate nowhere else for the rest of our stay in Wadi Musa. We think that Kate might have been swayed by the fake rose that the owner gave her on this, our first visit .... Paul, watch out! Monday 27th December Monday was the last day on our Petra tickets. We wanted to take it easy but wanted to make the most of the few hours we had left in this amazing place. We spent the first couple of hours scrambling up gulleys and rocks trying to find a good vantage point from which to view the Treasury from above. We did eventually find it and we realised it would have been far easier to follow the path that went straight there! We never like making things easy for ourselves. We sat in the sun, taking in the amazing building and the ant sized tourists milling around it. By the end of our last day in Petra, we felt that we had got our money's worth and seen as much as we humanly could of the Rose City. Tuesday 28th December Today we felt we deserved a full proper day's rest; one where we weren't traipsing around sightseeing all day and destroying our delicate knees in the process. This meant instead doing our usual jobs; shopping for supplies, sewing, diary writing and Internet stuff. At least it wasn't very physically demanding and so it meant that we were reasonably prepared to leave the next day. Wednesday 29th December It is 125 km from Petra to Aqaba - the last 90 km of which we were told was all downhill. What we weren't told was quite how severe those first 35 km would be. But then again, we are in Jordan so what could we expect. Once we reached the Desert Highway, having struggled with the tail end of the King's Highway, the road started its long drop to the coast. As we dropped off the main plateau into the desert, the view was just magical. The orange red sand of the desert plain was strewn with huge black and red rock formations, some of which were shrouded in mist, just adding to the atmosphere of the image. At least the riding was a lot easier and faster, the road wound its way in between the magnificent towers of rocks. It got to about 2 o clock and we realised that having no lunch we were a little bit peckish and started to look for somewhere on the roadside where we might get something to munch on. We noticed a boy come out of a bamboo hut carrying two big bags full of crisps - so we decided that this must be a shop we were looking at. We pulled up and leant our bikes against the wall. When we stepped inside, the elderly couple that ran the place immediately sat us down in plastic chairs. We said very little but found ourselves first being given a banana, then an apple and a fizzy drink before they finally brought out a big tray of rice, chicken and bread. As we sat there eating we were slowly introduced to the ever-growing number of young family members. A little while later, having plied them all with boiled sweets and a little toy from our Christmas cracker, (they wouldn't let us pay for anything) we pedalled off feeling far more energised. We soon saw the turning to Wadi Rum and thought that camping in this pristine desert would be a great way to end the day. Although we could have camped pretty much anywhere we had been recommended a campsite called Bait Ali about 15 km from this turning. We decided to force our way against the still strong head wind to stay there for the night. The scenery here was beautiful and we saw a number of suitable camping spots. But after such a hard day we were determined and eventually we reached the camp. It seemed a lot plusher than we had envisaged as we sat down for our welcome tea and we were astonished at the price. It was 12 euros per person for a bed in the very basic chalets and then we had to pay another 7 and a half euros for dinner. All-in-all, including the extra we had to pay for water, the night cost us 40 euros which we were not at all pleased about. It was a nice place though, sitting in a wide valley in between tall rock formations. Some of the other guests weren't particularly approachable but we seemed to get on well with the owners. One half of the partnership, Suzie, an English woman took us with her when she went to feed her three horses. Later, we sat with her and her Jordanian husband in front of the fire, chatting about everything from our trip through to racial prejudices. Some of the topics were fairly hard going after a long day but it was still enjoyable. Thursday 30th December Breakfast the next morning didn't quite match up to the price tag but was good enough to get us on the road again. Our bikes still adorned in tinsel, we retraced the road that we had taken the night before, somehow still with a headwind. It wasn't too long before we were back on the main highway heading towards Aqaba. Luckily for us, apart from a few small rises, the road dropped rapidly from the high desert to the sea. The final 15 km was a particularly fast descent winding our way down through the mountains. About 3 km outside Aqaba itself we stopped for a quick breather and a bit to drink, and as we stood there Paul's tyre went flat as a pancake. After having two herself Kate thought it was about time that Paul started to catch up…though she didn't really appreciate the tantrum! Having fixed the puncture and cursed the little staple that had done the damage we set off on our way. As we came down the road, the mountains opened up and gave us a great view of the Gulf of Aqaba stretched out before us. Our first mission in Aqaba was to find the main police station so we could extend our visas. As it turned out, having stopped a passer-by, we would only go to the police station if we had done something wrong. He directed us to a building 50 yards away, where Paul went in to see what administrative nightmare was in store. As it was, after a short queue, the process went smoothly and in almost no time at all he returned to Kate with 3-month extensions on both our passports with no extra costs. Our second mission was to find some fruit juice and food. The place we found served a wonderful mixed fruit juice and a delicious falafel sandwich but the tourist prices he charged us were ridiculous. Whilst we were sitting there, a huge group of Slovenians sat down at tables around us. We got chatting to a couple who were reporters and they took our photo and asked if they could perhaps write an article on us when they returned home. We, of course, agreed wholeheartedly. After making our way through the city, we set off in search of the Bedouin Garden Village where we could camp. It turned out that it was about 10 km away along the hot industrial coast road about half way from Aqaba to Saudi Arabia. It was a pretty miserable journey, and we were glad when we eventually arrived. Of course, Boris was already in Aqaba ahead of us and we arranged to meet him at 7 o clock that evening for food. So, after arguing down the price for us to put up our tent and a very cold shower, we hitched a lift with two friendly men in their huge truck back into town. As it turned out one of them had seen us earlier in the day, biking towards Aqaba, so was very enthusiastic in talking to us. As usual Boris was his cheery, late self and we enjoyed a lovely meal in the Al Shami restaurant and convinced Boris that he should come and stay at the Bedouin camp so he could spend New Year with us. Friday 31st December New Year's Eve started as a job's day. We cleaned and serviced the bikes, sewed various damaged bits of clothing, and mended some inner tubes. Despite the chores, working out in the sun felt more enjoyable, and by lunchtime, we were done. Boris joined us from his hotel in Aqaba early afternoon bringing with him, some falafel wraps much to Kate's delight! We'd met 2 Italians who were staying here, Christina and Moritzo and the rest of the afternoon was spent swimming in the pool, eating biscuits and relaxing. We ate dinner together in the camp restaurant before settling down for the evening, sitting around the fire in the Bedouin tent. We were entertained by some of the camp staff and their friends singing and playing traditional Arab music. They occasionally demanded that we dance but other than those moments we all sat peacefully enjoying each other's company, seeing in the New Year in a very civilised and sober way....oh how old we sound! But that's all we seem to want to do when we're not cycling. We just want to relax - anything else just seems too much. Saturday 1st January 2005 3853.5 miles, Aqaba, Jordan HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! We can't believe it is 2005 already, leaving us with 3 months to go....we'd better get going then! A bit like our Christmas, we had a reasonably quiet New Year. We're staying in a Bedouin camp about 10 km outside Aqaba facing onto the beach. Around us you have Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. It was in the camp that we celebrated our New Year's Eve. This, our first day of the New Year, is another relaxing one. We spent the day enjoying the sun on the beach doing a little bit of snorkelling but just generally doing nothing. Sounds like the perfect New Year's resolution. Maybe a bit of sun cream would have been a little useful as we're both feeling a tad rosy! Paul and Kate x
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Challoner's, Fasiledes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire