Day 258 Tanzania 18/07/2011, Meserani Snake Park – Zion camp-site, Tarangire NP. 49.64miles/79.97km, 4hr34minutes, Av 10.8mph.

The three beer limit didn't stand up too well, but we still dragged ourselves out of bed this morning and got packed up. After being initially concerned about the sheer weight of vehicles and people in and out of the site, we have come to really like the 'Snake park'. Once again it has been the people we have met that have made the experience, Ma and BJ, the owners, are brilliant and the overland drivers have been great. It was quite difficult to drag ourselves away. Thiemo, Debs, Fiona and Ali, it was great to meet you, perhaps we will meet again one day. Hopefully not in the next few weeks though, because that would mean we have made a terrible directional error!

Finally getting going, it was good to be back on the road, for one of us at least. Debs has been feeling a bit under the weather so today's ride was a little more testing. Despite that we made really good progress towards Manyara where we planned to have lunch. Unfortunately shortly before our stop we had one of those incidents that we hoped we had left behind. Passing two young boys on the side of the road, who had been waving at us, one of them suddenly threw a rock that hit Debs in the arm. More angry than hurt, she slammed on her brakes and gave chase to two now very frightened children. They ran a long way before they stopped, but hopefully they have learned a lesson. The even sadder thing is that these two boys were in quite smart school uniform, so they couldn't even use the excuse of not knowing better. I really hope this is the last time it happens, but I suspect it won't be. An inspection of Debs arm later revealed that she has been left with a bruise and some broken skin, so the stone was thrown with some force!

Putting the incident behind us as best we could, we had a decent lunch of beef, rice, beans and pickle for the bargain price of £1 each. When we can we will try and stop for lunch and then have a lighter evening meal, which will take some of the pressure off carrying and finding food on the road.

Initially we had planned to stay in Manyara, but that left us with a long distance to travel tomorrow to make our next stopping point. The drivers at the snake park and a helpful safari driver who stopped to say hello, had informed us of a camp-site near Tarangire national park so we decided to head for there.

The next 25 kilometres were difficult for Debs, but for about 10km of it we were accompanied by a young Masai boy, Francis, on a bicycle. He was quite sweet and pointed out where the camp-site was to me. Asking for 500 shillings for a soda (20p) was a bit cheeky, but as we were stopping for one ourselves, I happily bought him one. Waving goodbye to my new found friend we set off down the 1km of dirt road to 'Zion camp'. The staff were welcoming enough and it seems alright, so we are happily pitched for the night. With any luck Debs will get a decent nights sleep and she will be able to move on tomorrow fighting fit.

On a side note and probably a very good thing, the small bar here doesn't appear to sell beer!

Day 247 Tanzania 07/07/2011, free camp near Mt Meru – Sakina camp Arusha. 21.59miles/34.84km, 2hr16minutes, Av 9.4mph.

Free camping always makes me a little nervous, but here I have to confess to being even more so. Whether it was my imagination running wild, but I am convinced that I heard someone pacing up and down outside the tent at about midnight. I distinctly remember the sound of them running away when I stirred. Every sound of rocks sliding down the quarry walls had me convinced we were surrounded by animals. All the time I was just hoping I didn't need the toilet! Debs obviously was so exhausted that she slept through!

With morning came no Masai staring at us and no sign of any animals, except a pair of large birds nesting on the rock face which probably accounted for the falling rocks during the night. I really must get a grip, because finding camp grounds in these huge countries is not always going to be possible!

Having packed up quickly we rejoined the road and immediately started to struggle. The road we were on didn't seem that hilly, but we just couldn't seem to get going. What didn't help was the fact that all of the locals we encountered only seemed interested in asking us for money. This is clearly one of the downsides of cycle touring, everyone seems to associate us with the tourists racing past in their buses and 4X4's. They seem convinced that it is our responsibility to give them the money that they don't get from the other tourists. Despite the fact that unlike most people, we are spending money in the local community.

It would be unfair to say that everyone we met along the way was the same, but it was certainly quite a large proportion. When some children started throwing stones at us, while an adult woman who was with them watched on, we started to despair. Another lad who was nearby did gesture at them to stop, to which we shouted our gratitude, only to have him ask us for money. This is all in stark contrast to our earlier experience in Tanzania.

Eventually the road started to level out and our progress improved, despite one of the stiffest headwinds we have yet encountered. Fortunately the demands for money stopped as well and we had a bit of a return to the friendly greetings we had received before.

In a bit of a cheeky moment a young Masai on a bike drafted us both on a hill to avoid the now even stronger headwind. When Debs started to drop back he overtook her and latched onto my back wheel until I pulled over to wait for Debs. He gave me a wave, shouted thanks and headed on his way.

The rest of the journey to the camp-site was pretty straightforward, the wind never dropped and the dust it brought was fairly unpleasant but we arrived outside almost by accident. We hadn't been expecting to get to the site so soon, it was just as well that we saw the sign or we would have ridden straight past.

It may be a bit out of the city but our first impressions of Sakina camp-site, are that we will be quite happy here. Our host Robert is great and the food and drinks are all really reasonable. Later this evening we should be meeting with a guide from an affiliated safari company to discuss the possibility of a 4/5 day safari. It is going to be fairly expensive, but we had always planned to do at least one while we were in Africa.

With a little help from the camp-site chef Regina, we took a matata (minibus) into the city and she took us to an ATM where we could use our Mastercards (no fees, hoorah!). The journey back was a little more fraught as we were travelling solo and the bus was packed, but we managed to get them to stop in roughly the right place. At least we now know what we are doing, as the walk to town from the camp-site is a long one. Plus at only about 25p for a return journey on the minibus, it seems silly to walk.

Dinner this evening was good and there was plenty of food. Shortly after we had eaten the manager Benjamin from 'Arunga Expeditions and Safaris' arrived and we decided to book a 4 day 3 night safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. Debs had earlier put her travel consultant cap on and phoned several companies to check their itineraries and prices. The daily price of $170 per day that we had been quoted, had seemed reasonable and all reviews of the company that we had found on the internet had been positive. The safari is leaving the day after tomorrow and currently we will be a party of four/four and a half, Toad is obviously coming! All we have to do now is find a bank that will let us take enough money out to pay for the trip!

Day 180 Jordan 17/03/2011, Free camp Wadi al-Hasa – at-Tafila – free camp outside ar-Rashadiya 25.38miles/39.79km, 4hr09minutes, Av 6.1mph.

The wind that had been hindering our progress for the last few days, took a turn for the worse last night. Sleep became impossible as gale force winds battered the tent. Fortunately we had pitched it correctly and somehow us, our gear and the tent survived the night. It would have been nice to get more than about three hours sleep though! By morning the wind had gone completely, at least we would only have the climb out of the valley to deal with.

I have decided to split the rest of the day into sections, the good, the challenging (bad is a bit strong) and the ugly.

The Good:

Nearing the top of the steep climb out of the valley a lorry driver pulled over beside us to make sure we were all right and to have a chat about what we were doing and where we were going.

Stopping for a drink in the small town of Abu Banna the shopkeeper came and sat outside with us and in faltering English had a chat about where we were going.

In at-Tafila the shopkeepers were all really friendly; the greengrocer gave us a banana each and the supermarket manager went out of his way to help us by some bread. Even though the manager didn't know what we were asking for, our phrase book doesn't have the Arabic for bread, he asked around until someone knew and then came and found us in the town to point us in the right direction.

A cleric from a nearby mosque insisted on helping me fix one of three punctures that we had during the day. After the bike was repaired, he took us over to the mosque to get cleaned up, filled our water bottle and then gave us some vegetables.

The next puncture was fixed outside a guys shop who had beckoned us over and offered to help. We were surrounded by friendly but curious locals.

Fixing the final puncture a few people stopped to make sure we were OK. We also received numerous shouts of hello and welcome from some of the nice children in the smaller villages.

The Challenging:

The road climbed relentlessly pretty much all day.

We shouldn't complain about nice weather, but with no real breeze the sun beating down on us all day made the climbs especially difficult.

The lack of sleep caused by last night's high winds, certainly didn't make life any easier.

Three punctures in one day, two of them because previously applied patches failed within a couple of hours of each other.

The Ugly:

Not long after leaving our camp-site two guys in a van drove past and threw stuff at Debs, they then attempted to hit me with a stick that they were waving out the window. Their behaviour was made all the more bizarre by then waving and beeping their horn at me. What did they expect, that I would think it was a hilarious prank that they had just pulled and joyously wave back!

Arriving in at-Tafila kids immediately started throwing rocks at us.

Continuing through the town a lad mimes kicking out at Debs' bike and then grins at me like it's a huge joke.

A college age student beckons me from across the road, when I look over to say hello he spits at me.

In al-'Ayn al-Baydha, Debs is subjected to lewd comments and swearing from a group of lads.

More young kids throw stones, although they do apologise when I challenge them.

The above behaviour is all so contradictory, that it is impossible to figure out. We don't want to let a country beat us, but it is getting to the stage that we would happily take the quickest route out. It is a real shame because there have been moments of genuine warmth and hospitality. Most of the awful behaviour is coming from the young, which makes us concerned for the direction the country could be headed. It is so at odds to our experiences in the other Middle Eastern countries we have visited.

After a tough day we found a bit of ground near the road to pitch our tent and settled in for the night.

Hopefully we will make it to Petra tomorrow, with no repeat of today's incidents. A hotel room beckons; both ourselves and our clothes could use a good clean!

Day 179 Jordan 16/3/2011, al-Karak – free camp Wadi al-Hasa. 27.43miles/43.67km, 3hr25minutes, Av 8mph.

Leaving the functional, if not particularly great, Hotel Cairwan behind we set off out of al-Karak into a strong headwind. So much for our hopes that the wind would die down over night! For the next 10km we fought the wind and long dragging hills until we reached the town of Mu'ta.

Mu'ta turned out to be a town of mixed emotions for us. Firstly we stopped in a shop for some snacks and were greeted warmly by a customer who wanted to pay for our food. We declined the generous offer, but it was nice to see the warm, hospitable side of Jordan again. The second incident wasn't so great. Getting to the top of a steep hill a few lads ran across the road to have a chat. They were a bit cocky but were generally OK, one of the smaller lads spoke a bit of English and was genuinely pleasant. When Debs joined me she asked if they were any trouble and I said no. Waving goodbye we carried on up the road. As we passed the lads I watched one of them pick up a stone and then try to hide it when he saw that I had spotted him. The warning I gave him obviously didn't make any difference as he threw it and hit Debs in the leg. Clearly they weren't expecting me to turn round and go after them, as all bravado left and they hid behind a lorry, before running off down the road. The lorry driver told me to let them go and apologised on their behalf; it was probably just as well that I didn't catch them. Twice in two days the ugly side of cycling in Jordan has reared its head and I am pretty certain it is going to happen again. I steadfastly refuse to just ride off and do nothing though.

Debs was fine just a little shocked, fortunately when we reached the town of al-Mazar we were invited into a shop for tea, by some of the loveliest people we have met in Jordan.

The country is turning into a real enigma, the moments of warmth and then reckless stupidity seem so at odds with each other.

The hard work climbing against the wind was rewarded as we left al-Mazar by a long descent down into the beautiful Wadi al-Hasa. Sitting on a couple of rocks overlooking the valley and numerous Bedouin camps, proved to be a perfect place to have lunch. It was another great reminder of why we are doing the trip, something that on the difficult days it's nice to have.

When it comes to cycling 'whatever goes down, must go up' and we soon found ourselves slowly climbing out of the valley. The wind was still against us and we were rapidly reaching the warmest part of the day. Looking for somewhere to camp became our main priority. Fortunately it seems in Jordan that you can pretty much put a tent up anywhere. We soon found a nice, if somewhat exposed spot and set up camp.

We will climb out of the valley in the morning; it should be our last long, steep, climb until we head down to Aquaba and the Red Sea. Expect these words to come back to haunt me!

Day 178 Jordan 15/3/2011, Grand Canyon Restaurant, Wadi Mujib – al-Karak. 23.09miles/35.46km, 3hr05minutes, Av 7.4mph.

With a fond farewell to Sami we headed slowly out of the valley.

The climb wasn't really that bad, although rather unfairly the wind was a lot stronger than it had been yesterday. While on the climb the wind wasn't really a factor, but when we came out onto the plateau it started to play its part. It may have been only a crosswind but with no shelter, it still managed to slowly sap our strength.

Originally we had planned to stop in al-Karak and maybe have a look at the castle. As we had stayed in the valley though, we had revised our plans to go a bit further and find a free camp. Karak's castle may be stunning, but we have seen a few over recent weeks and we feel that we could probably afford to miss one. With the wind slowing our average right down, the chances of us getting far looked slim. The original plan started to look like a good one.

Sadly the beauty of the road through the valley didn't continue and we were joined by a lot more traffic. Jordanians aren't the best drivers we have ever encountered; they stop randomly in the middle of the road, frequently pull out without looking, and in one incident earlier, clearly think it's funny to deliberately open their car door on Debs while she was riding along. For the first time on the trip, we can honestly say that we have found a country where we don't enjoy cycling. When a group of lads through a rock at you, in the middle of a town, in front of an army base, you begin to wonder. We have met some terrific hospitable people, which seems so at odds to the behaviour we are encountering on the road. Gone are the friendly, waving, smiling children of Syria, to be replaced by money demanding, rock throwing shits. In fairness we had read other peoples blogs regarding the stone throwing tendencies, but you always hope that it isn't true. A small pebble I could just about understand, but this was a rock, thrown with real force and the intention to harm. At this rate we will be glad to leave the country which would be a terrible shame.

Via several more hills, including a very steep one through al-Karak we made it to a hotel. We have a pretty good view of the castle, but have very little desire to visit. Hopefully our journey tomorrow won't be marred by any more incidents like today.

On a lighter note we passed the 6000km mark today, so go us!

Plus we had a really nice, cheap dinner in a local restaurant. A whole BBQ chicken, salad, bread, two drinks and a huge plate of flavoured rice for about £5 was a bargain.