It’s been a very long time since we’ve posted anything. Since finishing up our 7 month adventure in Europe, we’ve had a few little trips closer to home: cycling the Mawson trail in South Australia, the Tasmanian Trail, following the Bikepacking.com Attack of the Buns route from Canberra to Sydney and a couple of jaunts through New Zealand. 

However, after getting a taste for prolonged life on the road we had been itching for more. So in April 2020 we had tickets booked to cycle the full length of the America’s. By March that plan became untenable with the COVID pandemic sweeping the world. So instead we stayed closer to home, buying an offgrid property and merging in with rural life. 

Then in 2023, with things stablising and international travel opening back up we thought we would dip our toe back into the global cycle touring water again, with a planed to cycle through Israel and Jordan. Only a few weeks after booking our tickets, Hamas attacked Israel and the the region descended into chaos. Our airline, sensibly, canceled our flights. So we found ourselves yet again with thwarted plans. 

Determined this time to make the most of it, we’ve decided to ditch the bicycles, and instead hike a big chunk of the Jordan Trail. We are not fit enough, having both fallen prey to a bout of COVID in September 2023 that really knocked us around. But we plan on taking it slowly (as is our motto) and just taking it one step at a time. 

It is uncharterd terriroty for us. We have never hiked in another country (outside of Australia and New Zealand), and have never hiked for more than 7 days in a row. 

The Jordan Trail, meanwhile, is a 675km route through the entire length of Jordan, taking most people 35 days of hiking (excluding rest days). We hope to do at least 500 kilometers of the route, and may have to split it into slightly shorter days until we build back up our fitness. 

It will also be winter in Jordan, and their rainy season. We’ve read that flash flooding is a genuine concern, so will have to be prepared to hole up in a town or skip some sections when the weather refuses to cooperate. 

Other than that we are looking forward to swapping the sweltering Australian heat for the cool winter of Jordan, and to getting back to being outside every day and using our bodies, rather than sitting inside in front of our computers.

We’re not taking a computer with us, so are going to attempt to blog from our phones, so things may be a little clunky at times. But hopefully it will work to record some of the memories, and to give an alternate view of what the trail can be like for anyone who isn’t an experienced thru hiker.