12 October 2008 - Aqaba, Jordan

As you can see, I am in another new country. The last week has been quite gruelling from the cycling point of view and interesting from the accommodation point of view.

My last day morning at the Diocesan guesthouse had me being prayed over by a group of American pastors. It was a great blessing. Not only that, but I am to contact them when I arrive in Alaska, in case they can help me in any way during my sojourn in North America. Aren't people wonderful?! Really and truly, I am bowled over by it all.

My last 24 hours in Cairo was spent at the Deaf Unit, at which Faraj (a former MSc student at CDS) is the chaplain. The children are fantastic (and so are the staff!) and were very thumbs-up with me. I saw them in their classrooms and in a couple of church services (the Sunday evening one had the local deaf community also participating). I was welcomed and invited to sign something in BSL (British Sign Language). Again I was prayed over on the Monday morning before leaving at 8.30.
The children develop practical skills in such things as woodwork and needlework and sell their products, which are absolutely beautiful and made to a very high standard! I would have bought loads of their stuff if I had not been on my bike. They would love to market themselves more, but do not have finances or skills to do so at the moment.
(link here).

I have been asked to be interviewed about my trip, for material to be used by the British Council in Cairo for their English classes.

I have had pretty gruelling cycling since Cairo: 3 hours to get out of Cairo onto the Suez road; busy, fast, pot-holed, bumpy roads; 100+ kms a day (one of 140 kms, uphill against a headwind) because these were the distances between the possibility of accommodation; my first encounters with the unpleasant actions of backsheesh children (in aid-funded village development projects).

The saving grace of these days included: the night I camped next to an ambulance station, being warned that there were snakes there (I didn't see any!) and being invited to share a meal with the 6 ambulancemen (we even discussed Islam and Christianity!); the night I was taken in by an Egyptian family, who invited me to stay for 4,5 days and to come back in the future with my family; the beautiful and quiet Wadi Feiran road (although it did blast me with its I-feel-like-I'm-cycling-on-the-spot headwind), the 20 kilometres down another wadi road to Nuweiba.

After all this cycling I had a rest day in the guesthouse of St Catherine's monastery, which is at the foot of Mount Sinai and which houses the Burning Bush of Moses. Hundreds of people each night at about 2am, set off to trek the 3 hours or so to the top of Mt Sinai in time for the sunrise. I shall just have to return in the future to do this, cos the night I arrived was the day I had done the 140 kms and I was sick with exhaustion, dehydration and a bit of heatstroke; the next night I was going to be up early to leave at 6am for another long day in the saddle (120 kms). Hmmm ... maybe I sometimes get my priorities wrong .... I suppose I could just have stayed a 3rd night and so done the visit to the top. As I said, I shall just have to return.

The fast ferry from Nuweiba to Aqaba, I thought, was leaving at 3pm, taking about 2 hours. Perfect.
It was a Saturday: no fast ferry. The one that did go on that day left at about 7pm, arriving at 11pm. By the time I was off the boat, visaed and had cycled 1the 12 kilometres and booked into a (grotty, expensive , please-can-I-have-clean-sheets-thank-you) hotel in the city centre, it was 1.44am (and that was without putting forward my clock by 1 hour).

I had wonderful company on the boat from Margitta, Tanya and Peter, a Swiss trio on 5 days trip to Jordan. They were great. Margitta was askance that I had not walked up Mt Sinai and told me where I should be going in Jordan. Yes, Miss. :-)

Rest day today. Wadi Rum (you know, Lawrence of Arabia) tomorrow. Petra the day after.