Friday night- we managed to wangle a free room to shower in at a nearby hostel. I was in charge of cooking the chapatis (pitta things) on the camp fire, which was handy as it's rather cold here at night cos of the altitude and wind. I chatted to various people- to be fair to them, a few people are making an effort now Sarah has gone. Saturday: a chilled morning! Me and a German girl offered to do lunch as the Jews are not meant to do anything on Shabbat and yet ...

Thursday evening the American guy Daniel arrived back at camp with the lift he'd got during the day and announced he was taking a few days off and would rejoin us next week- he's not really the roughing it type and struggling with the walks I think. The coldest night so far! But I was ok in my sleeping bag and tent. Friday- we had to walk about 10km to where a bus would pick us up and then take us to a shop for lunch then drop us somewhere where we would walk an...

I'm still alive!! And the walk is everything I hoped it would be! So I had my last day of diving on Friday after an interesting night in the hostel with an odd polish girl kicking off in the middle of the night and shouting at us all! Diving included using a compass underwater to navigate, bear in mind that I've never understood how to use a compass overwater! But I'm now a pro, which could be handy for the walk! So I'm now officially a qualified diver (to 18m a...

Shalom (hello in Hebrew)! I thought I should update the blog now as tomorrow I meet the group for the 600 mile walk and so no wifi for the next two months as the camping begins! So I got picked up Monday morning and taken to a dive centre. It was just me and the instructor which makes things quicker and easier than if you're learning in a group. However, while some of the dive instructors I've seen are pretty fit, mine is a bit older and fat! But he's pleasant e...

Hey guys!! Since we last spoke, I've been to the Dead Sea and now at the Red Sea! I got the bus from Jerusalem for a 2 hour trip to Ein Boqeq where there is a nice beach for swimming in the Dead Sea! The weather was a bit cloudy, but it wasn't cold! The views on the way were lovely, through desert and around the coast of the Dead Sea. It's the lowest place on earth! The sea was strange- it felt a lot denser than water, more like bathing in oil! And you did just...