Day 181 Jordan 18/3/2011, free camp outside ar-Rashadiya – ash-Shawbak – Wadi Musa (Petra). 36.60miles/58.46km, 4hr03minutes, Av 9mph.

What a difference a day makes, despite the wind getting stronger again we had a good day in the saddle.

The steep climbs of the day before were replaced by more gentle ones and the views along the King's Highway were spectacular.

Gone also was the awful behaviour of some of the locals that has dogged our last few days on the road. One of the villages that we passed through earlier in the day had a slightly unfriendly atmosphere and a very young child made a pathetic attempt to throw a stone, but generally it went without incident.

Arriving in ar-Rashadiya we stopped for a drink and then began the final 30km into Wadi Musa.

Looking at the map, it seemed that we would have a bit of climbing to do followed by a descent into the town. When you are having a good day it seems that everything goes your way; the climbing was easy, clearly we had been higher up than we had thought, and we were soon free-wheeling down into Wadi Musa.

We arrived earlier than we had expected and were soon checking into Saba'a hotel. The luxury of a shower and some clean clothes can not be understated. This will be our home for the next three nights while we have a look round the ancient Nabataean city of Petra.