We loaded up from Petra Palace Hotel and headed up the hill to meet up with our bike crew. At a souvenier shop parking lot perched at the top of the hill with a marvellous vista we did a pit stop and loaded up for the longest ride of our trip. The local dog ran off with my glove in its mouth but fortunately retrieved it…
Some up and down was followed by some lovely downhill, punctuated by short and steep hills then the promised big hill arrived. Glad I’d had a few days of prep work! Most ended up walking and a few hopped on the bus but happy to report I sidewinded my way up everything today….. The countryside is arid with red rock outcroppings and Bedouin camps intermittently, camels, goats and sheep (and the ubiquitous dogs and cats) appearing out of nowhere… At the top of the worst hill with a stunning view we stopped for water replenishment, a group photo and then headed down. Hutzah, it was really steep in parts, with evil curves. Two of us had flats, happily not going down fast, and likely due to heat from braking. Apart from being stuck behind a slow person for a short period, I don’t think I would have wanted to use less brakes down that…. Wheels were quickly changed by the support person (it feels a little like being in a race as the support car appears beside one and quickly switches out the wheel…) and we carried on. It turned to lovely undulating territory of the best kind, where the whizzing down one hill got you to the top of the uphill, and although we had another couple of 14% grade hills they were much shorter and we progressed to low grade downhill through open desert. A brief picnic lunch stop of pita, falafel and fruit was appreciated before we headed out for the last 10 km. The final 7 km were on the main highway towards Aqaba (90 km away), not so nice especially with a preponderance of idiot motorcycles going at ridiculous speeds on the straight roads (estimated up to 180 km/hr). Organ donors, Darwinian selection…..
So we boarded the bus and headed for Aqaba, the place that Lawrence of Arabia took from the desert side… it’s a bit bigger now! From Aqaba you can see four countries, Israel on the right, Egypt on the left and Saudi Arabia in the background hills also on the left. The Red Sea is a lovely colour…. Jordan and Israeli governments have cordial relationships but I sense some tension from Arab people.
Hotel rooms were not ready on arrival and when we did get in our rooms there were no towels…. still being cleaned and dried… laundry done, I was itching to shower and finally damp towels were delivered at 4:40 p.m. This hotel has a kettle though and is generally more upmarket than those we’ve been in so far – though sporting a lovely view from my window of the wall of the next block 4′ away.
On finally receiving towels and showering I went out for a walk to see the local shopping – too far from the beach to walk there- we will visit tomorrow. Picked up some curry leaves and a curry powder from Saudi Arabia, should be interesting… and had a very nice pistachio ice cream which I figured I deserved after today’s cycling!
Dinner at a fish restaurant at 7 p.m. Tomorrow’s packing will be tricky as we go to Wadi Rum only with hand baggage. Planning ahead to include a beach stop at 9 a.m. (snorkelling perhaps?), then a 20 km cycle into Wadi Rum. Ironically the guide tells us that we have to get there by noon as there is only a single road and it gets too busy after that….. rush hour in Wadi Rum sounds bad!
No post tomorrow as no internet or electricity.
