Day 72
Sleeping location: Al Amer Chalet 2, Aqaba, Jordan
Distance (km today/total): 82 / 6029
Estimated climb (m today/total): 500 / 53600
Camels seen: lots
Day in three words: Down to sea
We were up with the light and watched the sun rise whilst still snuggled up as it was pretty cold. Not having a tent made packing up quicker, and we enjoyed a leisurely coffee with a bits and pieces breakfast*. We also realised that the kit kat ripoff that Rebecca had bought the previous day was called a “Ticky Ticky Tak”, and had the slogan “Have a break, have a Ticky Ticky Tak” written on the side. Amazing.
We cycled into the Wadi Rum town where all the hotels/campsites are, then left the bikes at an obliging guesthouse and went for a hike. The scenery continued to be amazing, especially when you left the road and walked along sandy tracks. Sand and towering rock walls in every direction, with added camels for extra jollity. We walked, and then scrambled up a rock face, to the Lawrence spring, where allegedly he Of Arabia fame washed himself during the Great Arab Revolt**. The views were fantastic but the spring is sadly diminished as it’s been tapped for water by the locals. On the walk back to town we explored a Nabatean*** temple and generally enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. Most people pay a fair whack to come to Wadi Rum, sleep under the stars and explore the desert, and we did it for (almost) free, which was a nice feeling. If only they’d known that all you had to do was buy an expensive touring bike and cycle it for thousands of kilometres.
The planned route now had us heading across the sandy tracks of the desert for 45km, but we decided this was too dangerous as the sand was treacherous for our heavy bikes and there was nowhere to get shade/water on the way. So we headed back down the tarmac road to the highway, still happy that we’d come out to this spectacular area. Happily the majority of the route was a slight downhill, so we zipped down to the highway, then along it for about 10km until the headwind hit. This slowed us right down, and was at times reminiscent of the Turkey highway/wind terror of day 44 (but nowhere near as bad). It was still mostly downhill which made things a lot easier. The road brought us gradually down to Aqaba at sea level, which nestles at the point where the Jordan rift dips back below sea level and becomes the sea. From points around here you can see Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, all of which jostle for position along the Gulf of Aqaba.
Rebecca had earmarked a hotel on the edge of Aqaba, we weren’t too fussed about exploring the town as it seemed a bit soulless and full of resort hotels. The staff were nice and they quoted a good price for a decent room, which even had an extra side room to put the bikes in. Once we were settled it became clear that the room was very odd; the plumbing had a mind of its own, there was a tv with bare wires instead of a plug, and most of the power sockets were unfinished. We fancied a beer to celebrate our crossing of Jordan, but there are so few bars here that we resorted to typing “beer” into google maps. This did actually point us in the direction of a liquor store, so Rebecca went to pick up some cold ones whilst I moved the fridge to a working plug socket to ensure that they could stay cold. We toasted our achievement with “Petra” lager (both 5% and 8% versions) and some pasta that I cooked on the balcony.
Another milestone today: 6000km. This is (possibly) significant because it (possibly) represents (about) 1/3 of the total distance to Cape Town.
*Rebecca mixed some mango with coconut oil and crushed up baklava; I had “processed cheese” with bread and jam/mango. The combination of cheese and sweet things continues to be a taste sensation on this trip.
**When the Arabs rose up against the Turks during WW1 and achieved independence. They are very proud of this in Jordan.
***The same people that built Petra. They were big traders and I think this was the main route through the desert to Arabia proper
Distance (km today/total): 82 / 6029
Estimated climb (m today/total): 500 / 53600
Camels seen: lots
Day in three words: Down to sea
We were up with the light and watched the sun rise whilst still snuggled up as it was pretty cold. Not having a tent made packing up quicker, and we enjoyed a leisurely coffee with a bits and pieces breakfast*. We also realised that the kit kat ripoff that Rebecca had bought the previous day was called a “Ticky Ticky Tak”, and had the slogan “Have a break, have a Ticky Ticky Tak” written on the side. Amazing.
We cycled into the Wadi Rum town where all the hotels/campsites are, then left the bikes at an obliging guesthouse and went for a hike. The scenery continued to be amazing, especially when you left the road and walked along sandy tracks. Sand and towering rock walls in every direction, with added camels for extra jollity. We walked, and then scrambled up a rock face, to the Lawrence spring, where allegedly he Of Arabia fame washed himself during the Great Arab Revolt**. The views were fantastic but the spring is sadly diminished as it’s been tapped for water by the locals. On the walk back to town we explored a Nabatean*** temple and generally enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. Most people pay a fair whack to come to Wadi Rum, sleep under the stars and explore the desert, and we did it for (almost) free, which was a nice feeling. If only they’d known that all you had to do was buy an expensive touring bike and cycle it for thousands of kilometres.
The planned route now had us heading across the sandy tracks of the desert for 45km, but we decided this was too dangerous as the sand was treacherous for our heavy bikes and there was nowhere to get shade/water on the way. So we headed back down the tarmac road to the highway, still happy that we’d come out to this spectacular area. Happily the majority of the route was a slight downhill, so we zipped down to the highway, then along it for about 10km until the headwind hit. This slowed us right down, and was at times reminiscent of the Turkey highway/wind terror of day 44 (but nowhere near as bad). It was still mostly downhill which made things a lot easier. The road brought us gradually down to Aqaba at sea level, which nestles at the point where the Jordan rift dips back below sea level and becomes the sea. From points around here you can see Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, all of which jostle for position along the Gulf of Aqaba.
Rebecca had earmarked a hotel on the edge of Aqaba, we weren’t too fussed about exploring the town as it seemed a bit soulless and full of resort hotels. The staff were nice and they quoted a good price for a decent room, which even had an extra side room to put the bikes in. Once we were settled it became clear that the room was very odd; the plumbing had a mind of its own, there was a tv with bare wires instead of a plug, and most of the power sockets were unfinished. We fancied a beer to celebrate our crossing of Jordan, but there are so few bars here that we resorted to typing “beer” into google maps. This did actually point us in the direction of a liquor store, so Rebecca went to pick up some cold ones whilst I moved the fridge to a working plug socket to ensure that they could stay cold. We toasted our achievement with “Petra” lager (both 5% and 8% versions) and some pasta that I cooked on the balcony.
Another milestone today: 6000km. This is (possibly) significant because it (possibly) represents (about) 1/3 of the total distance to Cape Town.
*Rebecca mixed some mango with coconut oil and crushed up baklava; I had “processed cheese” with bread and jam/mango. The combination of cheese and sweet things continues to be a taste sensation on this trip.
**When the Arabs rose up against the Turks during WW1 and achieved independence. They are very proud of this in Jordan.
***The same people that built Petra. They were big traders and I think this was the main route through the desert to Arabia proper
Comments
Post a Comment