Having spent a comfortable night in the glamping, we got up early for a Jeep ride.
The Jeeps headed off south into the desert, heading into the canyons of Wadi Rum. The cliffs had been shaped by wind and water and despite being made of sandstone gave the appearance of limestone, with holes made by the wind and columns weathered by water.
We stopped first at a cliff wall decorated with ancient art – a mixture of rough sketches of animals and historic languages. We would see another similar site later on the tour with even older text.
We headed onto a viewpoint over the southern desert – a wide valley stretching into the distance before looping round through more canyons back to the campsite.
After a quick change, we were out again for the last time on the bikes. After a short ride on the road through a village, we headed off onto the flat mud of what may have originally been a lake bed. It still floods each year in winter, maintaining the surface from turning into sand and provided a great ride.
Passing the local racecourse where camels race of a 4.5km circuit, we headed across the plain before reaching the far side and then turning round to retrace our route, harder in reverse due to the headwind that we hadn’t noticed when it was on our backs.
Finally, having reached the road we cycled along it past the outliers of the Wadi Rum mountains, before ending our ride at a station on the currently disused Hejaz railway, built by the Ottomans to take pilgrims to Mecca. A steam train and a couple of camels seemed a fitting end to this cycle tour of the beautiful country of Jordan.
The Oyster Wheel 