We hired a driver to take us from Amman to Ajloun Castle – the start of our walk.  As we drove out of Amman, we peered out of the windows at the towering hills and steep valleys and silently wondered how we were going to go walking up and down them instead of cruising past in the car. 

We checked out the castle (which was huge!) and then got on our way.  Most of the day followed quiet country roads, but with ridiculously steep gradients.  When we hit the bottom of the valley we passed a stream, and what would have been our last water point before camping.  Not looking forward to lugging the extra water all the way up the next big hill (our packs were already over 20 kilos with 4 days worth of food), we decided instead to push onto the next camping spot where there was supposed to be water nearby. 

There were small towns along the way, and everyone we saw (children and adults) would greet us with huge smiles, and calls of ‘salam’, ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’, even though most of the time the reply could not be understood. 

It’s surprisingly green in this part of Jordan (at this time of year).  The land is mostly covered by olive trees, but there are also some pine forests and even rolling green pasture at times.

Of course, the gps route ended up taking us to a fence we couldn’t get through, and so a couple of detours later we ended up walking a bit further than we expected (bit over 15km).  But at least there was water!!  We camped on top of an old ruin, looking out over a valley, and watched the sun set as we cooked pasta.  We then fell into bed and into a hikers coma, sleeping very soundly.

In the morning we woke to the sound of the morning call to prayer echoing softly across the valley.  Being winter, the sun doesn’t rise until well after 7am, so we started packing up in the pre-dawn chill.  Having pushed it a bit further than expected the day before, we reminded ourselves that we aren’t particularly fit and that this is a holiday, so we forced ourselves to slow back down. We covered just under 11km on our second day, and thankfully the hills weren’t quite so big (even if they were just as steep).  We met a few shephards along the way, who had huge smiles on seeing us and wanted to take photos with us.

We ended the day on a grassy knoll above the town of Burma.  Yet again, we had a secluded campsite, all to ourselves, with no one around. We had expected Jordan, and particularly the populated north, to be like Morocco – every time you stop, even in the middle of nowhere, someone would pop up. But so far we have been blessed by really quiet, uninterrupted camping.

The next day we looped around Burma and decended out of the hills, through olive groves, to the King Talal Dam.  For some reason one this section the people were not so friendly, with solemn looks rather than smiles.  At one point we passed a house with a lot of kids and got mobbed.  One of the older kids stole one of Matt’s hiking sticks and wouldn’t give it back. The smaller kids then tried to steal our other sticks and anything else we had hanging from our packs.  After much patience and stern looks Matt finally managed to get his stick back (by grabbing it and yanking), and we took off down the hill away from the house, walking backwards at times to keep an eye on the kids so they couldn’t take anything from the back of our packs.  A little further on a shepherd then followed us on a donkey asking for money.  But all in all, nothing too bad.

Once we were at the dam we found water from a really cool underground spring, and then had a brutal but quick climb up to our camp spot for the night.  Another stunning spot all to ourselves overlooking the dam.

After camping for three days we decided a shower might be in order, so booked a homestay in Remiemeen for the following night.  The day’s walking was warm and pleasant, through olive groves with few people around, before coming into more varied cropping land – with pomegranate and lemon groves, and cabbage and passionfruit farms.  In one of the small villages a lovely grandma and her grandkids also called us over for tea as we walked, and we spent a pleasant half an hour drinking sweet tea and arabic coffee and kicking a ball round with her kids.

Our first homestay experience was with Muhhammad, and it was definately an experience!  He is an older gentleman (very much bachelor grandpa vibes), who lived in a clean but slightly cluttered house at the top of the hill overlooking the town.  He took great delight in telling us stories about his life before cooking us a massive meal of kabsa: chicken with rice, cooked slowly together with spices in a pot before being turned upside down on a platter and covered with fried almonds and saltanas. He also served it with a mild but zingy home made chili sauce. The whole time he cooked we stood with him in his kitchen, watching what he was doing in the hope we might be able to replicate it, and trying to work out what all the spices were that he was using from his extensive collection.  The meal was absolutley delicious, as was breakfast the next morning (with shakshuoka, olives, zaatar, and sheeps cheese to have with bread).

We left Muhhammad with big smiles, full bellies and a takeaway bag of the kabsa for lunch, and headed up the hills to Salt (the end of our first trail stage).  On the last section into town the so far consistenly blue skies clouded over, and we walked in drizzle and heavy mist, receiving waves and smiles from cars driving by and hearing the sounds of the city unfold around us through the fog (horns, arabic blasting out of lound speakers and für elise and happy birthday being played by gas bottle delivery trucks).  We arrived tired but satisfied into a beautiful hotel room ready for a day off.

Section summary:
Day 1 – Ajloun castle to sarabees ruin, 15.1km, 798m ascent, 758m descent, wild camp
Day 2 – Sarabees ruin to Burma well, 10.9km, 390m ascent, 590m descent, wild camp
Day 3 – Burma well to King Talal dam, 12.0km, 265m ascent, 722m descent, wild camp
Day 4 – King Talal dam to Rmiemeem, 16.5km, 739m ascent, 468m descent, homestay
Day 5 – Rmiemeem to As-Salt, 17.9km, 895m ascent, 639m descent, hotel (Jordan Heritage Madhafa)