Last night, at 3:00 a.m. in the morning I was woken by the sound of cars pulling into the campsite and people moving around erecting tents. A little late to arrive, I suppose being the start of the weekend they had travelled a long way after work to get here.
Nahal Pratsim, down which I hiked first thing, began as a small, narrow canyon between walls of soft sediment. The layers of sediment were deposited in a lake as thin, flat, parallel layers. Periodically, maybe due to an earthquake, some of the sediment slumped down the slope into deeper parts of the lake. Such events have been preserved as contorted lines, artistically displayed in the morning sunlight. The wadi gradually opened out ending in a plain.
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| Slump structures (about a metre in thickness) preserved in the sediments on the walls of Wadi Pratsim |
In the distance was a "Dalek" petrol station with a convenience store offering coffee and croissants. I diverted down the road to reach it eagerly anticipating a late second breakfast. Sadly, although lights were on in the shop, it was firmly closed, despite a man beating on the door. They were certainly missing a lot of custom as many people were out for the weekend, parked at the petrol station unloading bikes and nursing babies, casting eyes at the closed shop. There were no times written on the door, maybe it would open later, who knows? If there had been no petrol station I would have been happy, but having hoped, indeed expected, a morning coffee, I was unreasonably depressed at not getting one.
I walked up the next wadi between its high sides, disturbing a group with a guide who was giving a talk by a dry waterfall. Despite my attempts to be quiet and not disturb his lecture, the loose pebbles made loud crunching noises as I walked around the people searching for the next waymark, essential to find how to overcome the wall of rock in front of me. Climbing further I encountered several smaller groups enjoying a sunny weekend. Then it was down the next narrow canyon. The guidebook warned I might need to use my utility rope to lower my large rucksack down some difficult bits. What utility rope you might ask? I had not packed such luxuries in an unsuccessful effort to get my rucksack weight below ten kilograms (excluding food and water). Fortunately I managed to squeeze by the rocks and boulders with my big bag on my back, maybe not in an elegant fashion, but it's the outcome that counts.
At the end of the wadi, beyond a road and a line of palm trees, there was the Dead Sea. Beyond a beach of sorts, there was an expanse of white, crystalline salt before open water. It crunched as I walked on it, the coarse crystals catching the sun. My GPS read an elevation of minus 380. 380 metres below sea level (surprisingly close to the guidebook's value of minus 385 metres).
In the distance the hotels of Ein Bokek shone white in the sun competing with the white lumps of salt in the water. On arriving at the town it was apparent that most of Ein Bokek consists of hotels, through there are a few shops selling cosmetics and a mall with expensive brand names written on the side. My phone had been refusing to assist in the selection of hotels. I think it had been picking up expensive Jordanian mobile transmissions which had drained the £70 on my mobile and hit the maximum data allowance permitted when roaming. So I chose a hotel (Leonardo's Inn) away from the beach (normally they are less expensive) and booked in for two nights. After walking every day for 18 days I was due for a rest.
However...before resting there was one thing I wanted to try. I put on my swimming trunks (a very tiny pair for weight saving reasons) and went down to the public beach. Yes I can report, you do float very easily in the Dead Sea. What I had not anticipated was that under the water there was a layer of crystalline salt, a bit rough to walk on!
22.6 kilometres walked today, including wasted diversion to closed petrol station.
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| Beach at Ein Bokek, the layer of salt that surrounds the Dead Sea elsewhere must have been cleared away at this location |
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