Trekking timetable!

I said last week that I'd tell you more about the actual trek so here goes:

Day 1- Fly from Heathrow arriving in Amman, Jordan in the late evening. Stay overnight in accomodation near the Dead Sea


http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/deadsea.html



Day 2- Relaxed start to the day to allow the oportunity to acclimatise (phew!). We can bathe in the Dead Sea in the morning although one of my colleagues assures me the flies on the shore are just terrible!

http://www.viphealthholidays.co.uk/introduction.html

Obviously I will look like the above lady and not like a floundering hippo!

After lunch we're transferred by coach to Wadi Arava which is the valley that connects the Dead sea and the Red Sea. This is the starting point for our trek. At some point during the coach transfer we get out and hike for an hour and a half through the canyon of Wadi Kudeira which is apparently very impressive with steep canyon walls and a slow flowing stream. The last part of the transfer is by Bedoiun trucks to our overnight camp next to the biblical Feinan copper mines.

http://www.travelexplorations.com/fairytale-adventure-by-experiencing-jordans-wonders-which-are-inscribed-on-unescos-world-heritage-list-petra-quseir-amra-and-um-er-rasas-kastrom-mefaa.270585-17545.html

Archeological remains at Feinan

Day 3- Today we'll trek for 8 hours covering 17km from Feinan to Faron. This takes us from the valley floor at 200m to 1350m. Apparently we'll go through a number of climate zones and across a variey of rock formations and strata. I have a habit of falling over, so keep your fingers crossed for me. It would seem that we'll trek up about the equivalent of Snowdon. So we're intending to conquer Snowdon before we go to Jordan to reassure ourselves that we won't collapse part way up! We follow trails through wild Bedouin country (I'm back to Jordan now!) and will occasionally see views of the Wadi Arava border area. Half way through the day we'll reach the Roman copper smelting site of Um el Amad which is another part of the Feinan complex where we'll be able to see visible signs of the ancient slave labour camps.

http://www.flickriver.com/places/Jordan/'Amman/Umm+al+Amad/

After this point the scenery will change and we'll reach an area of white sandstone domes, with regular patches of juniper trees (thank goodness as I'm bound to be desperate for the loo by then, the kitlist specifies toilet roll and matches to burn it with! Eww!!!). It would seem there used to be a juniper forest covering this area. We'll begin to see Bedouin encampments as we climb higher into the black mountains and will eventually reach our campsite. Thank goodness, I'll be totally knackered by then!

Day 4- Another 8 hours trekking today will take us from Faron to Um Elalda, once again covering 17kms. We stay on high ground following Bedouin donkey trails which take us over ridges and into gullies. This area is descrbed in the trek info as vast, barren, rugged and incredibly beautiful. We'll see very few Bedouin dwellings on this day as this area is sparsely populated. Occasionally we'll be able to catch a glimpse of the Shaubak castle which was built by the Crusaders and towers over this area. It was built to protect the King's highway, this desert road was used through biblical, Roman, crusader and Ottoman eras. Our night time stop will be at Um Elalda.

http://klh-pjo.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/day-5-mt-nebo-madaba-st-george-church.html

Day5- Today we only have to walk for 7 hours to travel the 15kms from Um Elalda to Moeesra, so an easy day then! The terrain is similar to the day before and part way through the trek we will arrive at Beidah which is also known as Little Petra. This site is thought to have been  the major 'caravanserai' or fortified resting place of the Nabataean capital. The info describes this area as an archeological wonderland, in a hidden valley, amid white domes of sandstone which will leave an ever lasting impression! After descending into this valley we continue for a further hour to reach our night's camp site.

http://www.navtravels.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=127&catid=46&Itemid=116

Day 6- Today we will travel 13kms to reach Petra, entering the world heritage site from the lesser used eastern approach near to the ancient monastery.The views from this ridge are described as staggering.

http://gingerandscotch.com/2009/01/jordan1.html

We're able to explore Petra, including climbing to the high place of sacrifice which sounds a bit off putting! At the end of our visit we will see the treasury carved out of the rose sandstone which the guide describes as leaving the best till last.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra

From here we exit the site through the 1200m long canyon which is the more common entry point for visitors to Petra.

http://www.primeau-canada.com/jordan-petra.html

We then reach the village of Wadi Musa where not only do we have a proper bed for the night but we can also visit a Turkish bath! By this point I would imagine we'll pong a bit so that sounds really attractive!!!

This will be us!!!

Day 7- This is a touristy day when we can choose to revisit Petra or we can visit Wadi Rum which is another world heritage site and apparently very beautiful. That evening we get a celebration dinner in a local restaurant which includes a glass of wine!!! Woohoo!!!

The Seven Pilars of Wisdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum

Nabatean Temple at Wadi Rum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum

Day 8- We have to go home! We get an early morning transfer to Amman and fly back to Heathrow.

Cheshire day out

This week the three of us set off on Saturday morning in Flora's camper van for an 11 mile walk in Cheshire. We arrived at about 10.30 and parked up by the Pheasant Inn and the Candle factory near Beeston. Flora had found a route on tinternet which followed some of the Sandstone trail and sounded very pleasant. Unfortunately, as is often the case with descriptions of walks, the actual walking of it wasn't quite so straight forward as it sounded. Hence after the first half hour or so we were lost! We figured out later that where the description blithley directed us to continue on a path for 4 miles until we reached a castle, it had failed to mention that we'd better turn right or we'd end up going completely the wrong way. So we ended up wandering along a very busy main road for a while which was a little hairy and involved us very nearly getting squished by some fast moving lorries! The highlight of nearly ending up as roadkill was coming across 2 donkeys in a field. It would seem Angela is very keen on donkeys and she made a beeline for their field when we spotted the first one. However, it turned out that donkeys aren't so keen on Angela! Said donkey started to hee haw its head off in what looked like distress of some sort and legged it across the field to its friend, they then both ran in the opposite direction as Ange approached to say hello. Ange was then highly offended when they indulged in what nature intended and we took that to be our cue to move on!

Just in case you're unfamiliar with donkeys here's two which are based in a Derbyshire Donkey Sanctuary

http://drupal.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/node/2971

We were fortunate enough to then come across a map of the sandstone trail and associated paths, from which we realised we were heading in the wrong direction. We turned around and repeated our getting squished trip along the road. When we finally made it back to the route we were supposed to be on we realised we were running out of time and had to abandon half the walk and head back to where we'd parked up. The rest of the route, which we managed to follow without incident, was very pleasant. We followed the directions up to Rawhead which is the highest point on the Sandstone trail so at least we did some up hill and down dale to prepare for Jordan.

We were really surprised to find there were some quite big snow drifts still around which, of course, I was obliged to trek across ;)

The views from our elevation across the Cheshire plain were quite impressive...

We made it back to the Pheasant Inn having only walked, a disappointing, 5.5 miles. We were even more put out to find that the Pheasant was heaving and we couldn't even get a seat for a coffee. We consoled ourselves with a cuppa in Flora's camper which was very nice and where we didn't feel scruffy in comparison to the Cheshire set!

Flora and Angela have managed to write off to a number of companies and football teams asking for sponsorship and/or the opportunity to shake our buckets on their premises. Flora wrote to Manchester United and Man City and emphasised she was talking about buckets and not buttocks!!! We were all delighted to get a date for a bag pack at Marks and Spencer's at Cheshire Oaks. That's on August 17th, so if anyone would like to help out please let us know. Alternatively, come along, buy some M+S food and chuck money in our buckets.

My plan to walk the dogs each morning before work went okay except for Tuesday when I needed to be in work early to pack up my office to move out before we're refurbished and Wednesday when I was in Hertfordshire. The dogs seemed to enjoy their walks and my husband also enjoyed his first week back in work, so it was a success all round! I'll let you know whether I manage to prise myself out of bed this week too. I'm intending to try Tai Chi again this week and am hoping that, as I've improved my general fitness since the last time I tried it, perhaps the warm up won't nearly kill me this time!

Next week I will definitely tell you more about the route our trek will take so you'll have more of an idea about what we're going to be doing.

TTFN, Pauline.







Easter frolics!

This last fortnight hasn't been very successful for me from an exercise and diet point of view as I've been a bit snowed under at work and everything else has taken a bit of a back seat. Angela and Flora (who I'm sure are also busy!) have managed to put a lot more into the exercise and activity. Things started well on the Saturday of Easter weekend when we met up and walked 9.8 miles from Hoylake to New Brighton along the Wirral coastal path. It was jolly cold but it was good to get out and blow the cobwebs away and we all felt like we'd achieved something at the end of it, despite aching a bit!

We even found some sand to trek across!

 The following day I went off to York with my family and didn't do a great deal of activity there, although it was very nice and I enjoyed visiting the Jorvik centre. I ached quite a bit after Saturday's walk so was very impressed to find that Angela had rushed up Moel Famau on Easter Sunday! Here's what she had to say about it:

'Trying to keep up the good work so when Sonia and Mart, my brother in law and his wife, asked us if we wanted to go up Moel Famau I was there like a shot. It was a lovely day yesterday but very very cold. Lots of people and lots of snow at Moel Famau so in parts it was difficult to walk because it was icy. The scenery was lovely and we could see Snowdon was covered in thick snow. Great views when we got to the top, unfortunately no loos! Slid our way back down to the car park. Enjoyed my cuppa when I got home. No doubt I will be back again before too long. A good training for the trek day!'

Flora has been out on her bike along the Wirral Way with her daughter and this weekend has been to Hayfield near Glossop where she visited Kinder Reservoir with her husband Amir:

 

 

 



I used my trekking prep as the perfect excuse to buy myself a new pair of boots. After a bit of research I found a pair which were no 2 in the Independent Top 10 women's walking boots list, on sale for £29.99, bonus! I was very pleased with myself :)

 

 

I set off this morning for a walk with the dogs across the fields which were horribly muddy last time I ventured out that way. They were much better today although the bridleways were still muddy and churned up.

 

 

My walking companions for the day, Flora and Angela were looking a little ruff!!! :D

 

 

I was merrily trogging along, apart from the occasional pause to poop scoop and was quite pleased as I was making good progress, mostly due to my badly behaved dogs dragging me along. Then Jessie, the beagle, started to limp a little and I thought for a while that I was going to have to pick the big fat thing up and carry her across the fields. That would certainly have been a workout and a half! No sooner had Jessie stopped limping than my toes started to get cramp in them and it was agony! That'll teach me to set off on what was meant to be a 2.5 hour walk in new boots. So I ended up calling my husband and getting him to pick us up after we'd only walked for about 1 hour 45 mins. Never mind, at least I got out, but it wasn't the 4 hour trek that the training programme says we're meant to be doing!

 

Our fund raising efforts have gathered momentum over the last couple of weeks. Lots of people seem to be having spring clear outs and Gill Hart, Catherine Jones, Sarah Vye and Kathy Burgess have all given us lovely stuff to sell on either eBay or at a car boot sale. We've all made progress organising supermarket bag packs which can raise, what sounds like, an awful lot of money! I ran a couple of sweepstakes for the Grand National and was very grateful to my work mates, neighbours and family for taking part. We raised £30 with the two sweepstakes, my husband donated his £5 winnings and my lovely Aunt Dot donated an extra £10. So in all we raised £45. I've booked Oxton Conservative Club on Friday April 26th for a race night. Tickets will be £5 and will include a small fish supper. Hopefully it'll be a good laugh and help to raise some funds.

 

We're all meeting with Sam at Clatterbridge Cancer Charity tomorrow to pick her brains about other fundraising ideas so hopefully we'll have even more plans after that.

 

Right, I'd better leave it there and head off to bed. My husband goes back to work tomorrow after a 3 month break so I'm intending to break my new boots in by taking the dogs out for a walk for half an hour every week day before we go to work. I'm announcing this in public because I really love my bed and will be very tempted to not get up in time! So I'll let you know next week whether I managed to drag myself out of my pit to give the dogs some exercise.

 

TTFN, Pauline.