Ian and Patricia Dana is a really beautiful place and we cycled around the top of the gorge to the opposite end. The landscape had started to become much more arid although apparently the location of the photo below receives quite a bit of snow which lasted for 70 days last year.
Dana nature reserve 3
Ahmed also delighted in showing us a little lizard he had caught.
Ahmed with lizard
I felt like I had got into the groove of road cycling, as you may know Ian and I are mountain bikers who usually stay well away from roads and never do these sort of distances. However, I really understand the appeal of powering your way through many miles and working your way up a big climb, like mount Hishah below (about 1200m).
Ian and Ahmed
If you look to the left of Ian's elbow you can see the road we descended upon. That was such a fabulous road and so exhilirating. Ian and I became well known as the down hill speed freaks although Ian is much braver and faster than I am, even Ahmed couldn't catch him! Unfortunately poor Nic, who was still ill, had a nasty fall and was taken to see a doctor. Thankfully she was just bumped and grazed with a bit of shock too. The descent led us onto a beautiful approach to little Petra:
Approach to little Petra
This was a wonderful surprise. The rocks themseleves were stunning, nevermind the carved bits of this small town.
bedouin children
It was also lovely to have the place to ourselves. I guess most people don't bother with this when there is the big Rose City of Petra (tommorrow) itself to see, however, we thought it was a little gem.
Pats at little Petra
We then cycled onto Petra and were really happy to get to the hotel as it had started to get really hot. I also noticed how bad my salt addiction was becoming as I started to get really intense cravings for chips and crisps!