After a good night's sleep and regular rehydration salts I was feeling more human, thank goodness, and ready for the cycle to the Dead Sea. We had a really cool descent to start with and continued our journey along the Quor Canal.
We followed mostly backroads with a couple of short off road sections, which were good for Ian and I. We were both surprised by how green the north of Jordan is, particularly in the mountains. However, it does receive a some rain when it's not summer and gets pretty cold in winter. Some higher parts get good amounts of snow too!
We were still in 'frontier' country and had a view of Israel as we were cycling. Thus, we had a police escort! The police 'interceptor' was cool, although after a while they had to change it to a different car as it didn't like going so slowly and used too much fuel! Here we can see Anna and Becky clearly impressed with it all...
We set off at 8am and the heat started to build mid-morning. Sarah and Angela gave me the best piece of advice ever. Using a head scarf soaked in water underneath the helmet. This saved me from the heat and kept me cool enough to complete the journey in good health and spirits. Hallelujah. (Thanks ladies!)
We stopped for lunch in the shade of trees. (This pic was taken by Vinny - who is writing an article for the Sunday Times about the trip.) The crew did a great job of setting up regular stops for water and food which were gratefully received! Particularly the boiled eggs and laughing cow cheese triangles.
Most of the people were incredibly friendly, including the (regular) military checkpoints, one of which handed out some sweets! Although it is quite scary to see very young looking men sitting atop a tank with ENORMOUS guns. A few of the team had stones thrown at them by young scallies - who were then given a big telling off by the crew, and one of them was even nearly run over by the chap driving the back up vehicle!
The journey to the Dead Sea Spa Hotel led us through some rock fall/land slides which were interesting features on the way and then onto more main roads, past the odd camel too.
The hotel was nice and we got down to the Dead Sea a.s.a.p. to have a float. It was a strange but pleasant sensation and memories of Jimmy Saville on the beginning of Jim'll Fix It were kindled! Sarah and Frasier didn't like it though - "it's greasy"! The water did have a particular feel on the skin because of all the minerals and salts. Wow, the lowest point on earth - 410m below sea level - that's 350m below the Channel Tunnel!
