We woke early this morning, had a quick breakfast in the room and then got our bikes downstairs and loaded. Even though it is Friday, we hadn't expected the roads to be quite so deserted. As it turned out, this was a good thing as finding our way out of the city was nowhere near as straightforward as it had appeared on the map. We had only just been commenting on how good the signs had been in Homs, when they vanished on us and we got confronted with a one-way system. We ended up on the right road, just on the wrong side of the carriageway, which involved a sneaky bit of riding the wrong way down the road, something not uncommon in Syria!
The days cycling started quite well, we soon covered the distance to first break and stopped for a coffee. Rejoining the road it became apparent that Debs was struggling, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't keep up. There didn't seem to be any particular reason for it, we have found that some days you just can't get going, obviously for Debs this was one of those days. Despite Debs difficulties we pressed on along the motorway towards Maalula and Damascus.
The road to Damascus is mainly desert, so when the wind started to get up we were faced with a rapidly toughening ride through a barren landscape with no shelter. To start off it was a fairly strong crosswind, which although tricky didn't slow us down too much. As we started to get into the higher ground, the wind changed so that it was coming directly at us. Any chance of making it to Maalula was pretty much over, the wind was costing us about 10km/h.
Knowing that we weren't going to make it, actually made our next decision easier. We stopped for some water at a small town and then started looking for somewhere to camp. Being surrounded by desert scrub land meant that there were plenty of options. We found what appeared to be an ideal spot, hidden from the road and just far enough from a nearby village. Pitching the tent was a bit of a challenge in the wind, but with a bit of perseverance we managed to avoid it sailing off into the distance.
It has now become apparent, that if you intend to camp in Syria, don't expect to get away without being spotted. Despite the fact that we aren't on any kind of visible track, two lads on a motorbike, a car, and a guy with four children in tow have all gone past! Aside from a few friendly waves we have been left alone though, which from our prior experiences seems very un-Syrian. Perhaps we will have a nice restful evening to ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment