Sunday 27th April

I opened my eyes this morning to see desert slipping past our cabin in the early morning sun which was also shining directly into the cabin. We are high enough up to see over the banks of desert sand that has been excavated in the massive dredging that has taken place over the years to enlarge the canal. The odd small building occupied by a lonely looking official also slips by occasionally but other than that there is just miles and miles of desert. Our speed is a steady nine knots which this close to land seems remarkably fast and before very long we were entering the first (smaller) bitter lake at 8:15 am. On the banks of both lakes were new holiday resorts which look very expensive as they extend into the lake on narrow isthmuses a bit like palm island in Dubai. By 10:00am we exited the greater Bitter Lake into the main part of the canal heading for Ismailia, the halfway point. We then passed through a large section of Lawrence of Arabian type desert before reaching areas that started to look greener on the Port side, these were being irrigated by manmade tributaries of the Nile, then as we got past the halfway point green bits started to appear on the Starboard side where fresh water was being piped under the canal in an attempt to make both sides more productive. The canal zone is heavily militarised and we were buzzed a couple of times by a military helicopter and armed guards patrolled the whole length of the canal. In the final stages the landscape became more and more urban (and therefore more interesting) until we finally entered the city of Port Said. Then pop! Before we knew it we were out in the Mediterranean Sea. This was my fourth transit of the Suez and having now sailed the Panama I think I can say that I prefer the Suez. Panama is impressive but Suez has more to see and watch. Nine and a half hours and we were back into Europe (well almost) two weeks today and it will all be just memories.

Saturday 26th April

Sailed back down the Gulf of Aqaba during the night and morning found us passing Sharm el Sheikh quite close inshore we could see all the sunbeds lined up on the beaches and one or two early risers paddling on the edge of the sea staring out at us passing. We then sailed back out into the Red Sea before looping round and entering the Gulf of Suez, we will anchor of the canal entrance at 4:00pm tomorrow morning waiting for our departure time for transit of the Canal which is expected to be about 7:00am. Queen Mary is hard on our heels coming up the Red Sea, but we have not been told if she is transiting the canal with us or a day behind. After yesterday’s hike we didn’t do much except go to the talks ‘Romans and what they ate’ which was interesting from how they got their information as much as what they ate. They put the evidence of tomb frescos together with analysis of fossils, shipwrecks etc. Next was another space talk, satellite analyses of amongst other things temperature of the earth’s surface, interestingly here was another scientist pouring scorn on the climate change doom-mongers. Saying more or less what the other guy said, that climate change is happening but it hasn’t got much to do with us or CO2, the gas with the biggest influence on global warming in the atmosphere by far, is water vapour.

Friday 25th April

Early start today 6:00am showered, up to breakfast, where we watched the mountains pass by. Part of the granite mountain range of Aqaba they looked like the mountains you see on computer games, so even and repetitive with the same repeating three colours that they looked false. Then down to register for the trip to Petra and luckily we were on the first coach (out of twenty). Not only was Queen Elizabeth sending twenty coaches, but an Italian liner moored behind us were also sending a batch. It was a two hour drive to Petra and it was all uphill, we climbed 1500 metres through some really spectacular scenery, gradually leaving the granite mountains behind and moving into a sandstone landscape which was a more rounded, softer profile. We passed Bedouin camps and goat herds as we climbed up through the passes looking a little odd with four by fours parked outside their tents. Our guide Youssef was a fierce Bedouin who said Bedouins were Lords of the desert. I didn’t want to argue with him. His favourite expression was ‘if I may be brief’ before launching into a description that used every adjective known to man, preferring those which contained lots of the letter R which he rolled round and round his tongue before finishing the word. And woe betide you if you spoke while he was speaking.

We arrived at Petra (which means rock in Arabic – very apt) and after a dire warning to stick together and if you fell behind you were to make your own way down and back because he wouldn’t wait longer that a minute or two. Then we were off at a brisk walk downhill all the way stopping at various places where Youssef launched into one of his lengthy descriptions of the various rock formations finishing each one with the words ‘onwards the best is yet to come’ and to be fair he was right, each section was better than the last, but as we descended I couldn’t help but wonder how some would be able to get back as they were already showing signs of distress as we progressed deeper into a narrow canyon called the siq which means the shaft. It was an impressive journey through the siq of about a kilometre, (if a bit crowded), the canyon sides almost touched above our heads in places and years of erosion by the rain had woven incredible shapes and colours in rock. By now we had walked about three kilometres and we were nearly at the first stop, the treasury building the one you see first through the gap in the canyon wall, the one Harrison Ford made famous as Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade or was it Raiders of the lost Arc? After a photo stop there Youssef rounded us up with the cry ‘the best is yet to come’ and so we followed him down the path, stopping at various photo opportunities listening to his magnificent descriptions. Down and down again for another three kilometres we continued past tomb after tomb until we reached the almost the end of the valley where we stopped to admire what was left of the Greek theatre.

By this time our original 46 was down to about 15 and we walked on down to the Temenos Gate a huge three arch gate which was the end of the tour and the point where Youssef told us that if we wanted we could continue on down to the bridge which if we crossed it and climbed the hill to our right we would see a beautiful Byzantium church with a mosaic floor which is almost as good as the day it was laid. It was at this point that the fifteen became four and even Youssef didn’t continue. Myself and Carol together with a Swiss couple continued on down we crossed the bridge and started on up to the church. Half way up we heard Youssef’s voice floating up from the valley below ‘turn left now’ so we waved and obeyed climbing higher and higher until we reached the church. The heat was by this time intense and the coolness of the church welcome. We took a few photos and a video and then followed the track back down to another bridge trying to find the route back to the main street, by now there was just Carol and me left, we still don’t know where the Swiss couple went.

After about 20 mins we found our way back on the main route and by now were heading back up the way we came. It was a long hard drag but we were glad we were not being passed by anyone and passing many exhausted people who were a lot younger than us. Through the heat of midday we passed people collapsed on the floor, being helped to their feet by their colleagues, couples having domestics and others saying get me one of those camels. The camels, horses and horse & carts were doing a roaring trade carting exhausted tourists to the top and then galloping down for the next in the queue. In much the same way taxi drivers in the UK pray for rain, these guys must pray for hot sun. When we finally reached the top we must have walked a total of 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) half of that uphill. I drank a litre of water in one go when we got to the restaurant (on top of that we took with us). Unfortunately the walk continued to take its toll, a lady collapsed waiting to board her coach after the meal (heat exhaustion). The restaurant was a bit empty that evening, but it was a fantastic day and well worth seeing.

By the way you may remember some time ago we heard a story from William about his escape from the twin towers, if you are interested in reading it you can see it here (he has just OK’ed my version and added some bits.)