Wadi Ghuweir

We joined forces with hotel guests Jocelyn and Tomas for our trip to Wadi Ghuweir. They were going to share our guide (Ali) and also give him a lift, which was a relief as the thought of 5 of us crammed into an underpowered Kia Pegas was not a good one.

It took about an hour and a quarter to get to the wadi, punctuated by a few stops to get bread, drinks and stop at a viewpoint stop. The last section of road was incredibly steep and I did wonder how on earth we were going to get back up the hill on our return.

The wadi is 17km long and it’s possible to walk the entire length of it during the summer months. However, doing the full trek means a 2 hour car journey back to the start so we opted to walk for a while and then turn back . Everything we read about this trek said to take a guide with you but actually this wasnt necessary. As long you are confident climbing up and down ladders and wading through water, you’ll be fine. Luckily we didn’t overpay for Ali and he did cook us lunch but we read of some people were paying 80 euros per person which is a ripoff extraordinaire.

The canyon is fabulous. Although touristy, It’s not on the Jordan ultra-touristy trail so we had time to take photos etc without feeling we were holding people up. The rock formations are stunning and as we walked further into the canyon, it opened up into an oasis of trees and dripping vegetation.

A slight hiccup occurred when Ali lost his phone. We’ve all done it and so it was with great empathy that we all searched high and low for it, with Nik eventually spotting it tucked away on a rock, where it was perfectly camouflaged.

Ali endured another shock when he watched me pull my blister plaster off my toe and thought it was my skin. Steve said his eyes nearly popped out.

Tomas and Jocelyn needed to stretch their legs a bit, having been slowed down by 4 elderly hikers and went a bit further down the canyon for an extra explore as we made our way back. I think Ali was quite put out as they disappeared while he was looking for his phone, but they were so quick they had caught up with us by the end. I was very happy about this as I don’t think Hercules (the car, J and N’s is called Pegasus or Peggy for short) had a chance getting up the hill with 5 of us in it.

On our way back, we got caught up in a wedding procession. There was much tooting of horns and general mayhem which Steve joined in with. This made Steve and I very nostalgic for our Turkey days as in the summer, weddings were almost a weekly event in the market square near our house, with similar levels of noise and joy.

The pool here sadly remained unused by us as our very full days have ensured we return as the temperature reduces and it’s just a bit too chilly to indulge. Tomas went in though. Young ‘uns eh?

Dinner was cooked in a hole. Personally I’m happy for a cooker to be used but this is the old nomadic way where a hole in the ground is dug, a fire is lit, meat and veggies are put in it in a container and it’s sealed up. Clever. And it tasted good.

As per our usual routine, tea was served outside and we all chatted until bedtime.

Happy days. (And evenings)