The past few weeks has been a mixture of many emotions. The journey got off to a bad start with the flight delays and it seemed such an effort just to get to my first destination. My mood is not good.

When I woke up on my first morning I just sat there soaking up the moment whilst I was waiting for Hadama to bring me breakfast. It was cold which I didn’t expect but what was nice was the peace and quiet of my surroundings after many chaotic days.

In hindsight I feel that going to Aswan was maybe not such a good choice as the first stop because I was gently eased into the way of life in Egypt and I think that a smack in the face baptism of fire welcoming would have been better to prepare me for the weeks ahead.

Egypt has so much to offer the traveller however there are many individuals that will cross your path that will begin to shatter your love of what’s on offer. You are just a piece of shite and you attract copious amounts of flies and dung beetles to your orbit and every one of them want to feed on you. I was not prepared for this onslaught and I was way too polite and should have told many of these flies to just fuck off.

I didn’t get really ripped off but I did pay a wee bit over the odds a couple of times, but because Egypt was so cheap the amounts were small. All of these flies and dung beetles blindside you to the good folk that cross your path and that’s sad. If there’s a next time then I’ll be better prepared.

The history of Egypt is staggering and if you have the opportunity to go you just have too. What’s been left behind for us to marvel at is breathtaking and it’s just a shame that many of the visitors don’t take the time to savour the moment through their own eyes, instead they’d rather see it for a split second on the screen of their phone before it’s sent to the ether to be cast before swine.

Jordan was next on the agenda and it was great to have arrived in a country that felt more civilised and the chaos of the last few weeks melted away ever so slowly as the days passed.

Petra was the highlight of this part of the journey and day one was spectacular. I wandered around for eight hours and met three young travellers along the way. A great first day and I was already planning the next two days.

Day 2

I went to Little Petra to walk the track that runs to the Monastery. I got off to a good start but after about two hours I realised something was wrong. After checking the map I had the choice of two paths and I chose the more difficult of the two.

I ran into a few dead ends where the only way was down and possibly it would have been the last thing I would have done. After what seemed like a lifetime and many scratches from the small trees that grew here I made it back to the beginning of the path. I looked at the time and it was only just after 1pm, so I thought that’s still time to get to the Monastery.

This time the map and me were in sinc and all was well. I veered off the track slightly and so to correct it I made my way down this steep gully full of loose rocks but every so often I could see the foot prints of a previous traveller and so I was confident that I was doing fine and I was taking care to place every step due to the nature of the terrain.

I came across a section where I had no choice but to drop down about two metres. I eased towards it and looked for some holds. I placed my left foot into a depression and my right into another and got a hand hold and prepared for my next move, however before I even took a breath gravity took over and I was flying through the air.

I landed with a thump on my back. My right leg came clattering down and it screamed. I scrambled to get a hold but I was still. I lay there trying to figure out what had happened and to survey the damage, checking body parts to see what the damage was. To my surprise there was almost no claret but my right foot, my ankle in particular was shouting at me. I moved my toes and then tried to move it up and down and then side to side, everything worked thankfully.

I sat up and found my phone, the screen was cracked but it had survived. I looked back at where I’d come from and still couldn’t understand what the hell happened. I tried to stand which I could do but now my ankle was beginning to complain. I moved to a shady spot and drank water. I realised I was shaking. I’m still a fair way up this gully and I’m lucky I’ve only dropped a couple of metres.

As I eat, I’m looking to see how to get out. Fear is genuine now because I can’t really believe what’s going on. After a while I realise I need to pull myself together and find a way out. I try getting back up the way I came but the holds available to me are precarious at best and I just can’t reach the one I need. My only choice is to go down to the bottom and look for a way out.

I re-tie my shoes and make them as tight as possible. I’m favouring my left side and doing my best to not fall again. As I reach the bottom I can see there are maybe three options. The first is through soft sand and between rocks but this comes to a dead end. My second choice looks promising and as I proceed I hear again the sound of the bells from the goats and I also notice that there is a fair bit of goat shit on the path, a good sign?

As I exit onto a small plateau I can see further down on the valley floor, a four wheel drive and some tents, civilisation. The goats come around the mountain so to speak and one of two look bemused as they cast their eyes on this bedraggled human. I video them as they walk on. I hear someone shouting at me, telling me to come down. A young girl was waving at me to come down to where she was. It’s still a bit difficult so I ease my way down to her and I could still come a cropper if I rush now. If I’d only found the path the goats had used.

We sit together and she asks me what happened and I tell her. I’m so relieved not to be alone and I finally feel safe. She offers to take me back to where I can get a taxi to Petra. It’s about a kilometre and with every step my ankle is complaining and my limp is becoming more pronounced. My young guide slowly walks and turns every so often to see how I’m doing. We share small talk, the usual questions,

Where are you from?

How old are you?

Are you on your own, married?

What’s your name?

At the hotel I grab a towel and soak it in cold water and then wrap it around my ankle and then I sit there. I prod and touch my foot to assess the damage. I’m sure I haven’t broken anything and I continue with the cold towel treatment.

I hobble down to reception and briefly explain the problem and they send out to the chemist for a bandage and cream which I put on as soon as it arrives. I put it on fairly tight but then I have to undo it because I feel my foot is about to explode and my toes look almost double in size. I strap up my ankle again but not so tight and then I try to get some sleep. I can’t believe just how quickly I’ve become incapacitated and with each step I have to hold onto something to steady myself.

When I wake in the morning I’m hoping that it’s all just a bad dream and I can get on with things as normal but reality smacks me in the face when I look at my foot, ankle and lower calf. The swelling has continued overnight and I realise that I’m not going to be able to do much over the coming days if not weeks. I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m at a loss to know what the future holds and what about the rest of my trip, I’m only half way through. It’s at this moment I should have seen a doctor but I didn’t…. Maybe my recovery would have been much better.

I’ve strapped up my ankle and I put on my boots once more and find that this is the best way for me to move around. Getting to breakfast was quite the challenge and instead of bouncing down the stairs I had to settle for the lift. Everything is an effort. I’m not sure if I can continue my journey.

I need money, so I head down to the cash exchange which is a five minute walk away unless you’ve been hobbled.

I have no choice but to stay close to home, my next stop is the desert so that will give me a few days to recover and then I’ll leave Jordan in a week and by then I should be out running marathons.

After a couple of days in the desert I managed to walk down to the spot where you can watch the sunset. It was only about 400m but I managed to walk there and back in a normal fashion with very little distress, this is good news. I really enjoyed Wadi Rum and I would love to go back and combine it with a few other locations and I’d hire a car.

Aqaba was to be three days of rest after all this hiking and walking that I should have done but it served to let me rest my foot a little longer so that when I arrived in Istanbul I’d at least be able to walk everywhere I wanted and this was more of less the case. As long as I wore my boots and kept my ankle supported I managed not too bad although I did walk a bit too far because I felt that it was becoming easier with less difficulty.

It was snowing in Istanbul and I just didn’t have enough clothes, I’d been smart enough to leave them at home and bring more summer clothes because Google assured me that the average temperature would be X, but I did not factor in a global warming component.

I enjoyed the food and the culture trip I went on and would highly recommend going there even although everyone looks dodgy. The Pudding Shop restaurant was a life saver here with its ever changing menu.

Mixed feelings about Greece, Santorini was OK an if I could have walked would have been so much better. I didn’t go there for the sunset or the beaches, however there are some pretty places here worth seeing.

Athens was my next stop and of course the Parthenon is what you come to see. I was targeted by a group of coloured individuals as I exited the metro heading to my hotel. I didn’t know it at the time but they had marked the back of my jacket to let the hunters see their prey.

I saw at least three of them there may have been more and they got wind of that, although one of them an Indian guy was quite persistent but he eventually fucked off because I stopped outside a restaurant and waited till there were more folk going my way. I don’t feel I did anything wrong this time but I guess when they see an old dog limping and bedraggled looking, well I guess I was fair game.

I’ll go back to Greece and chase the culture and heritage on some of the islands and I think and I would return to Athens as there is so much to see.

Qatar is the final destination, I bought a new phone… A Xiaomi phone which is about $200 cheaper here than Australia but then the stop over has cost me around $600 or maybe more. That’s brains fur ye!

Quite the adventure I’ve had. It’s been a long time since I’ve been travelling as much as this and I’ve enjoyed most of it.

I’m looking forward to getting back to the hoose, getting life back to normal, not having to pack my suitcase, eating good healthy food again and to lose the weight that I’ve put on which must be at least 2kg. Mind you this is not just down to the bad diet but to the lack of exercise, if I’d been able to walk everywhere then I would have been in better shape.

I’ll soon get rid of the weight and I’m going to see my doctor the day after I return just so that he can check out my ankle and help me to get that back to 100%. I still don’t have full flexibility and it can be slightly uncomfortable if I am walking on a slight incline where my foot is having to compensate for the right to left aspects. Going upstairs is no problem but coming down is still a bit tricky. So not all is well but I still feel extremely lucky to have been able to continue with my trip.

I still have nightmares about the fall and I can visualise every rock and piece of goat shit on that trail because it has been etched into my brain and I’m sure as long as that is not a distant memory it will hopefully protect me from myself.