Arrived in Amman midnightish. After 4 hours sleep for me and fewer for Ian we were up early and out to see the ancient ruins of Gadara, a Roman city, at Umm Quais near the northern most city of Irbid.
The backdrop to the site was spectacular as we could see the contested Golan heights and the Sea of Gallilea not too far away. This part of Jordan borders with both Israel and Syria.
We then stopped for some lunch and to get sorted with our bicycles. Oh dear...not to put too fine a point on it the bikes were an appalling array of ancient, inappropriate and dangerous embarrassments to the name bicycle. Some of the bikes were children sized. Many of the bikes were full sussers with huge knobbly tyres. Two of the bikes were hardtails with no front suspension (better) although they should have been in a museum. Thank god Ian has good bicycle engineering knowledge. He started to check the bikes and as he gently waggled my front brakes they fell into the wheel (great stuff especially considering our ride started with a steep descent! eek!). My back brakes were no better. One side was clutching the tyre and the cables actually scraped the nobbles of the tyre! I could go on. Our hearts sank and we started to wonder how the heck we would ever get anywhere, nevermind cycle 450km in over 35C+ heat!
However, Ian stepped up to the mark. He forcefully expressed that the bikes were a complete joke. Other members of the group who know something about bikes were similarly unhappy. At this point the guide, Becky, did her stuff and demanded new bikes - 20 of which were to be delivered that evening!! Oh the relief. Brand new hard tail Giant mountain bikes! Such bliss - they had gears and brakes that actually worked! Panic over.
So we managed with the duff bikes for the afternoon ride to Wahadeneh (60km) but there was another shock in store. My god it was hot!! Far hotter than I expected. Unfortunately, the combination of a crappy bike, no acclimatisation to the heat, too much water which washed my salts out and little sleep led me to feel rather ill. Heat exhastion had come to visit. Nausea and feeling like I was on a boat in a heavy swell with no appetite. I had to force feed myself to keep up my strength and try not to retch - not like me at all!! I didn't even care that we had arrived at Ajiourn Castle too late to be let in. Even Sarah had thrown up while cycling, although being nails, she didn't even stop.
Ian was fine of course and he was great at looking after me. Even when I was having a bit of a panic and crying hysterically "I've ruined the honeymoon, I won't be able to carry on, It's all my fault for choosing this bad idea...etc"!! Lots of reassurance and hugs helped me to get some much needed sleep with fingers crossed that I would feel better for the following day....
