Road Trip…..
…or sex on 4 wheels.
Day 35 Amman to Karak
Look at her
isn’t she a beauty? Given the colour, I christened her Apple and to stick with the theme put Coldpay on the iTrip all morning. Then I whisked her off to the hills over the Dead Sea for her first photoshoot. Apple’s registration is 2652, which must say something about Jordanian car ownership.
I spent 15 mins at the Hertz desk getting nowhere, when another man came in. Turned out I had been talking to a driver up till then. Still, he gave me great directions to get out of Amman, which was probably worth the delay of nearly an hour. I was heading up into the hills to reach the Dead Sea panorama complex; even though it was quite steep, we never needed 1st gear. Hertz had given me dire warnings about the roads, but it all seemed good to me.
The Panorama complex is a right mixed bag. It has spiffing views over the Dead Sea,
a restaurant, conference hall, amphitheatre
(I know where I’d be holding my conference) and ‘the utmost entertaining museum in Jordan’. It costs less than 40p to get in and, apart from at least 5 staff, I was the only person there for the hour and a half that I hiked round and was impressed by the museum. They show a video, which details the shocking drop in water levels in the Dead Sea: a metre a year may sound a lot, but that’s vertically. In the 4 years from 2002-5, the 4m drop in height corresponded to 30m retreat horizontally. There is talk of creating a canal to the Dead Sea from the real sea.
Sat in the car park I got very excited as I looked at the map. Rather than return to Madaba, get on the King’s highway, head south and get back off the King’s Highway into the hills, the map offered me a nice road through the hills. I followed it for 5 km or so and then I got to the bit they were still building. So I had to turn round, but eventually I reached the village of Mukawir and the castle where Salome danced and John the Baptist lost his head. The ruins themselves are perched on a reasonable hill that I hiked and come a distant third in the Wow stakes to the views and the howling wind. I didn’t linger as once again I was looking at the Dead Sea and the weather was getting biblical. Happily it had been sunny at the panorama before, so I had finally seen over to the other side.
The extra drive gave me a chance to think some more about Jordan’s road signs: there’s something more than charming about roadworks flagged thus ‘we work for you, sorry to disturb you.’ You are welcomed to and thanked for coming by every district and signs all refer to places, not road numbers-I think that gives a sense of people knowing their country. Sadly they’re not big on making speed bumps at all obvious, so when we weren’t behind a local Apple and I got some good air.
On the way back from Mukawir I finally found a lunch spot. Sitting in Apple on the road side, eating chilli flavoured Mr Chips and a Tiger bar, I thought how often the cheapest hire car was a Chevrolet-Apple is a spark and has a curious feature that when you put the wipers on, the top third on the left hand one comes clean off the windscreen.
Next on the way was Wadi Mujib gorge, Jordan’s grand canyon. It’s one of those things that’s massive, but didn’t creep up on me, so much as emerge fully formed when I turned a corner.
They should film car ads here. It was quite daunting enough to make my legs a little wobbly. As Apple and I eased our way the (vertical) kilometre up the other side of the gorge, it was James’ turn on the iPod and once again I had to wonder how they failed to sell an awful lot more records. Especially of Millionaires. They’re touring in April, go see them if you can.
It was getting dark (due to clouds not so much the time) and there was some rain, so I had decided to skip the Roman ruins at Ar Raba. In the event, that just seemed too rude as the ruins were right on the roadside, on my side of the road. So I only had to put on the brakes and then my coat. Half an hour later I was walking into the Towers Hotel in Karak. The castle was closed, but that can wait for the morning. When I finally found a place to eat, there was talk of snow again. That’s the third consecutive day I’ve been threatened with snow, I wonder if my luck will run out.
Day 36 Karak to Dana Day 37 Dana to Wadi Musa (Petra)
‘It wasn’t meant to be cherie’.
It’s fair to say that the last 2 days didn’t quite work out. I spent most of a pretty cold night in Karak throwing up and most of the following night in Dana with it coming out the other end. This has allowed me to reflect in the wisdom of laying down some good reserves over the years so that a few days without any proper food isn’t too much of a problem.
Health aside, there was some more fun. Karak castle may be the windiest place on earth. It was cold as it was, but the wind chill was making it plenty below and I missed that balaclava I bought skiing in Lapland. I decided to bail on it fairly early, but then got lost in the castle-good bit of design I guess. Apple’s heating is pretty good and by the time I was heading in the right direction, I was starting to defrost. I missed the next stop altogether, although it was a hike up a steep hill, so I’d probably have bottled it anyway. Which led me to Dana. The plan here was to have a little afternoon walk, then have an early start and hike to the remote and apparently fantastic eco lodge at Feinan. This was already sounding ambitious when my first choice for a bed for the night proved to be full; my second (and final) choice proved to be empty, but very nice and friendly. I made a decision that I’d bale on the hike if I didn’t have a restful and healthy night. I didn’t.
I took my time to emerge this morning and was feeling a little guilty until I heard the road out of town was shut. This was a bit concerning as I really didn’t want another dead stop in Dana. So I had tea with the tourist police, while waiting for the road to open. I didn’y have to wait too long before being released into snow, ice and cloud-15m visibility. Fortunately Jordan’s roads are fairly empty (of cars, if not pedestrians). I kept to about 30km an hour until I headed over one rise and the cloud was gone. It even started to warm up a little.
I am really disappointed about missing out on the eco lodge, it’s lit entirely by candles. I guess it probably wasn’t to be even had I felt well. I’d seen a bit of the route on arrival and could see none of it today as cloud swallowed the Wadi (valley). I suspect it would have been neither safe nor sensible to try and hike 14km through that. While that hasn’t always stopped me in the past, I think the added factor of the cold might well have done. It was possible to drive 120km to the place where you could get a 4x4 to the lodge, but that drive looked like it would be through even more snow and cloud that the Petra route: and getting to Petra would have been a long haul from there.
So I guess it’s fate’s way of telling me to come back in the summer.
On the plus side? Firstly, you’ve been saved the lame Eurovision gags I was thinking up around Dana. Secondly, I’m at Petra a day early and should save a day’s car rental when I take it back tomorrow. Thirdly, I’ve decided to award myself a day off: gonna take it very easy tomorrow and then go the candlelight tour in the evening, which should be on after a few days snow delay.
No complaints-I’ve done very well at escaping (non drink related) feeling crap. I think back to most people in the altitude of South America.
In any case the day wasn’t over. Checking into the Moon Valley hotel, where I took a practical decision to get a room with an en suite, I noticed on the desk a copy of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade-I’m saving it for the moment. Then walking up the stairs they had a poster reminding folk to vote for Petra in the new 7 wonders (Jordan must be the smallest country of the selected 7). I really hope I’m back on form for Thursday as there’s plenty of hiking to do here and you might have gathered I’m a touch excited about Petra.
I’d made a positive decision to skip Shobak castle on the way from, as I felt it might not be blessed with toilet facilities. I had forgotten about Little Petra, my other planned stop for the day. This was partly because I’d had visitors-I got through 6 hitchhikers today and because it turned out to be byond Petra. So I took Apple for one last trip.
Some will be disappointed that Little Petra isn’t a Beckonscott style recreation, but a small siq 8km from Wadi Musa. Even without man’s intervention, the rock formations here would be quite something.
I found the walk quite tiring, but I think it was a good warm up for the main event.
Okay. Now I want the sun to shine, for the photos and my chilled bones. I think I’ve earned it.
Day 38 Wadi Musa
I’ve just been to the visitor’s centre to buy my ticket for the candlelit trip down the siq to the treasury and I’m loving this.
Day 35 Amman to Karak
Look at her
isn’t she a beauty? Given the colour, I christened her Apple and to stick with the theme put Coldpay on the iTrip all morning. Then I whisked her off to the hills over the Dead Sea for her first photoshoot. Apple’s registration is 2652, which must say something about Jordanian car ownership.
I spent 15 mins at the Hertz desk getting nowhere, when another man came in. Turned out I had been talking to a driver up till then. Still, he gave me great directions to get out of Amman, which was probably worth the delay of nearly an hour. I was heading up into the hills to reach the Dead Sea panorama complex; even though it was quite steep, we never needed 1st gear. Hertz had given me dire warnings about the roads, but it all seemed good to me.
The Panorama complex is a right mixed bag. It has spiffing views over the Dead Sea,
a restaurant, conference hall, amphitheatre
(I know where I’d be holding my conference) and ‘the utmost entertaining museum in Jordan’. It costs less than 40p to get in and, apart from at least 5 staff, I was the only person there for the hour and a half that I hiked round and was impressed by the museum. They show a video, which details the shocking drop in water levels in the Dead Sea: a metre a year may sound a lot, but that’s vertically. In the 4 years from 2002-5, the 4m drop in height corresponded to 30m retreat horizontally. There is talk of creating a canal to the Dead Sea from the real sea.
Sat in the car park I got very excited as I looked at the map. Rather than return to Madaba, get on the King’s highway, head south and get back off the King’s Highway into the hills, the map offered me a nice road through the hills. I followed it for 5 km or so and then I got to the bit they were still building. So I had to turn round, but eventually I reached the village of Mukawir and the castle where Salome danced and John the Baptist lost his head. The ruins themselves are perched on a reasonable hill that I hiked and come a distant third in the Wow stakes to the views and the howling wind. I didn’t linger as once again I was looking at the Dead Sea and the weather was getting biblical. Happily it had been sunny at the panorama before, so I had finally seen over to the other side.
The extra drive gave me a chance to think some more about Jordan’s road signs: there’s something more than charming about roadworks flagged thus ‘we work for you, sorry to disturb you.’ You are welcomed to and thanked for coming by every district and signs all refer to places, not road numbers-I think that gives a sense of people knowing their country. Sadly they’re not big on making speed bumps at all obvious, so when we weren’t behind a local Apple and I got some good air.
On the way back from Mukawir I finally found a lunch spot. Sitting in Apple on the road side, eating chilli flavoured Mr Chips and a Tiger bar, I thought how often the cheapest hire car was a Chevrolet-Apple is a spark and has a curious feature that when you put the wipers on, the top third on the left hand one comes clean off the windscreen.
Next on the way was Wadi Mujib gorge, Jordan’s grand canyon. It’s one of those things that’s massive, but didn’t creep up on me, so much as emerge fully formed when I turned a corner.
They should film car ads here. It was quite daunting enough to make my legs a little wobbly. As Apple and I eased our way the (vertical) kilometre up the other side of the gorge, it was James’ turn on the iPod and once again I had to wonder how they failed to sell an awful lot more records. Especially of Millionaires. They’re touring in April, go see them if you can.
It was getting dark (due to clouds not so much the time) and there was some rain, so I had decided to skip the Roman ruins at Ar Raba. In the event, that just seemed too rude as the ruins were right on the roadside, on my side of the road. So I only had to put on the brakes and then my coat. Half an hour later I was walking into the Towers Hotel in Karak. The castle was closed, but that can wait for the morning. When I finally found a place to eat, there was talk of snow again. That’s the third consecutive day I’ve been threatened with snow, I wonder if my luck will run out.
Day 36 Karak to Dana Day 37 Dana to Wadi Musa (Petra)
‘It wasn’t meant to be cherie’.
It’s fair to say that the last 2 days didn’t quite work out. I spent most of a pretty cold night in Karak throwing up and most of the following night in Dana with it coming out the other end. This has allowed me to reflect in the wisdom of laying down some good reserves over the years so that a few days without any proper food isn’t too much of a problem.
Health aside, there was some more fun. Karak castle may be the windiest place on earth. It was cold as it was, but the wind chill was making it plenty below and I missed that balaclava I bought skiing in Lapland. I decided to bail on it fairly early, but then got lost in the castle-good bit of design I guess. Apple’s heating is pretty good and by the time I was heading in the right direction, I was starting to defrost. I missed the next stop altogether, although it was a hike up a steep hill, so I’d probably have bottled it anyway. Which led me to Dana. The plan here was to have a little afternoon walk, then have an early start and hike to the remote and apparently fantastic eco lodge at Feinan. This was already sounding ambitious when my first choice for a bed for the night proved to be full; my second (and final) choice proved to be empty, but very nice and friendly. I made a decision that I’d bale on the hike if I didn’t have a restful and healthy night. I didn’t.
I took my time to emerge this morning and was feeling a little guilty until I heard the road out of town was shut. This was a bit concerning as I really didn’t want another dead stop in Dana. So I had tea with the tourist police, while waiting for the road to open. I didn’y have to wait too long before being released into snow, ice and cloud-15m visibility. Fortunately Jordan’s roads are fairly empty (of cars, if not pedestrians). I kept to about 30km an hour until I headed over one rise and the cloud was gone. It even started to warm up a little.
I am really disappointed about missing out on the eco lodge, it’s lit entirely by candles. I guess it probably wasn’t to be even had I felt well. I’d seen a bit of the route on arrival and could see none of it today as cloud swallowed the Wadi (valley). I suspect it would have been neither safe nor sensible to try and hike 14km through that. While that hasn’t always stopped me in the past, I think the added factor of the cold might well have done. It was possible to drive 120km to the place where you could get a 4x4 to the lodge, but that drive looked like it would be through even more snow and cloud that the Petra route: and getting to Petra would have been a long haul from there.
So I guess it’s fate’s way of telling me to come back in the summer.
On the plus side? Firstly, you’ve been saved the lame Eurovision gags I was thinking up around Dana. Secondly, I’m at Petra a day early and should save a day’s car rental when I take it back tomorrow. Thirdly, I’ve decided to award myself a day off: gonna take it very easy tomorrow and then go the candlelight tour in the evening, which should be on after a few days snow delay.
No complaints-I’ve done very well at escaping (non drink related) feeling crap. I think back to most people in the altitude of South America.
In any case the day wasn’t over. Checking into the Moon Valley hotel, where I took a practical decision to get a room with an en suite, I noticed on the desk a copy of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade-I’m saving it for the moment. Then walking up the stairs they had a poster reminding folk to vote for Petra in the new 7 wonders (Jordan must be the smallest country of the selected 7). I really hope I’m back on form for Thursday as there’s plenty of hiking to do here and you might have gathered I’m a touch excited about Petra.
I’d made a positive decision to skip Shobak castle on the way from, as I felt it might not be blessed with toilet facilities. I had forgotten about Little Petra, my other planned stop for the day. This was partly because I’d had visitors-I got through 6 hitchhikers today and because it turned out to be byond Petra. So I took Apple for one last trip.
Some will be disappointed that Little Petra isn’t a Beckonscott style recreation, but a small siq 8km from Wadi Musa. Even without man’s intervention, the rock formations here would be quite something.
I found the walk quite tiring, but I think it was a good warm up for the main event.
Okay. Now I want the sun to shine, for the photos and my chilled bones. I think I’ve earned it.
Day 38 Wadi Musa
I’ve just been to the visitor’s centre to buy my ticket for the candlelit trip down the siq to the treasury and I’m loving this.
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11:54 AM
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