Sunday 6 March 2011

Day 169 Jordan 6/3/2011, camping 20km from Jerash – Olive Branch Resort near Jerash. 17.26miles/27.8km, 2hr33minutes, 6.7mph (Matt was ill)

Fortunately the vomiting didn't continue, but I did wake in the morning with my whole body aching. Short of a night that I would rather forget in Pakistan, I have never spent a worse night in a tent. Debs thankfully wasn't kept awake by me, so she at least managed to get some sleep.

Loading the bikes was a struggle, but we managed and then went round to say goodbye to the shop owner. With lots of handshakes and farewells we set off down the road at frankly walking pace. No matter what I tried I just couldn't get my body to function, the fact that the road was relatively hilly didn't help. We crawled our way along for the next 10km until we were passing a small shop where a customer called us over and offered us a cup of tea. Mohamed is a lovely guy, who offered us somewhere to stay in Amman (we will probably give Amman a miss though, we have seen a lot of cities lately) and told us that he goes to Bournemouth regularly, as he is involved with a language school there.

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The tea and chat must have done me some good because when we came to set off I was feeling better in mind if not in body. To help matters as well, we were soon faced with a long descent. I have learned however, that a fast descent when you are feeling weak and light headed isn't as much fun as it might be.

Our plan today was to head straight to the Olive Branch Resort, a hotel and camping site, then go and have a look at the ruins tomorrow. The only information we had was that it was 5km out of town on the road to Ajlun. It would have been helpful if we had known that it was 5km up!

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When we finally found the turning to the hotel, it led up a road that our tired legs simply couldn't get up. Even pushing the bikes was nigh on impossible. We were saved by three guys in a van, who loaded our bikes on the back and gave us a lift to the hotel doors. Once again we have encountered people who we can't thank enough for their help.

The rooms in the hotel were a little expensive, so we are camped instead. We do have the use of hot showers and the internet though, which is just as well as camping wasn't that cheap either. It does appear that Jordan is considerably more expensive than Syria, so we will have to watch the budget a little.

With the tent set up I slept and eventually woke feeling a bit better. Debs in the meantime had been cleaning her bike. A day off tomorrow sightseeing will hopefully see me recovered. I know that Debs will be especially pleased if I am better sooner rather than later!

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