First of all, this is an AMAZING trip. It is perfectly designed to have the right amount of activity, sights, experiences and cycling. There’s downtime, there’s bike rides, there’s not too long in the coach, there’s swimming and hammam and sights and I really appreciated three nights in the same hotel in Petra. I had never been on a cycling holiday before and so I have a few things to say about that! I cycle around my home town a lot and go to the gym so I kinda thought I would be fine. And I was fine, BUT what I wasn’t prepared for were the steep downhills! So that is what I would like to warn people about. If you are not a confident cyclist and if you are scared going fast downhill, then be warned, there is a LOT of that! Here is my breakdown of the cycling. Everything else was pretty much PERFECT! Obviously, we pretty much all got sick! And our cycle guide was pretty useless, but apart from that…! DAY TWO [first day of cycling]. Got our bikes, our cycle guide Iz, zoomed off downhill along a major road, without any introduction. I found this a really challenging first day. There was no gentle introduction to the roads, off we went! There was a mix of downhill and flat, but the pace was crazily fast. Things settled down on day three, but I thought the guide was really rubbish on this first day and there was no pacing at all. He was monosyllabic anyway, but I was at the back the whole time and he really didn’t care to check in! Our guide eventually had a go at him and he did token checks on us, but not impressed! DAY THREE gentle ride to Nebo and then we had to go down the windy highway for ages. I was dreading it, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought and actually better than yesterday! The pace was much better. The last part of day was a flat, hot slog along a motorway [!] to the Dead Sea. DAY FIVE Pleasantly undulating! My favourite day of cycling. Little Petra was fab too! DAY SIX I was of course sick by this point. The big bad long day! There are maybe two super steep sections and maybe two long ascents, but it was definitely a great day’s ride. Iz didn’t want to tell us about the ride, for some reason, but he eventually described it as section one downhill, section two undulating, section three flat, and that’s broadly true. DAY SEVEN needed a bag for swimming, a bag for wadi rum camp ,and a bag for the bus. So that was a mental challenge!! Today’s ride was another flat, hot slog, but great. I’m starting to think I actually prefer undulating! At one point the guide, Iz, told me to get a move on! Wadi Rum completely exceeded expectations. Loved the camels. Loved the stargazing. Loved everything – food, culture, the sights, the hotels, it was all great. I give this trip 10/10 for experience. Consider if the cycling is the right level for you, it WAS the right level for me, but I was always at the back because of the scary downhills, but i’m SO GLAD I did it! Also, our group was just gorgeous.
