PRIORITIES!🍺On My First Day In Jordan

Days 358-359. 30km (72838kms 6yrs) Around 2:30am I was woken by the manic flapping of the fly. There’d been no serious weather forecast and so I’d simply popped the tent down without pegs on the concrete floor of the shelter. But the force of the wind was such that I now had to tie the corner of the tent to one of the beams. Unable to peg onto the concrete I rolled the fly up to stop the flapping and allow the breeze through, snuggled down into my sleep bags and tried to get some more sleep. The wind had not abated by morning so dismantling the tent was tiresomely challenging. Short of sleep and grumpy at the wind this was not my usual mood for new country day! I was off to Jordan and needed to cheer up! Almost within view of my camp the border was easily reached whereupon I met two other touring cyclists heading the same way. Aqaba has special economic status meaning that my Jordan paperwork wasn’t checked and other than giving my fingerprints to exit Saudi, the immigration process was very quick and easy. Aqaba lies 20kms north of the border, on the Red Sea. If I’d planned to continue any further today I quickly threw out those plans. The headwind was miserable, and I was tired. Bisecting a stinky and ugly fertiliser plant the road to Aqaba dragged on. Entering town around midday I rode along a street of fish restaurants starting up their barbecues. I made a mental note to return for dinner. With good fortune I found an affordable hostel in the centre of town and on discovering the northerly wind was forecasted to be even stronger the following day, checked in for two nights. The next day I enjoyed wandering the city’s ancient church and mosque ruins, its fort and beach. Awash with tourists and travel agents, swimwear shops and bottle shops Jordan already feels verrrry different from Saudi Arabia. I did go back to that fish restaurant street and naturally also found myself some long-awaited beers 🍻 If you enjoy my vlogs, blogs, and photogs please consider joining me on Patreon 😃 https://www.patreon.com/helsonwheels?... #jordan #aqaba #travel