The alarm call comes much too early at 1am. I head down for some tea and then to the mini-bus for the short ride to the start of the walk up Mount Sinai, the location believed by the three major religions, to be where Moses received the ten commandments from god. No such grand scheme here: by leaving at this ungodly hour I should see the sunrise from the top.

A friend, far more well travelled than I am, told me that her favourite place on Earth is Wadi Rum so to say that expectations were high for this part of the trip would be an understatement. Of course viewing the world through someone else’s eyes can be a curse as well as a blessing.

The day started from Petra in four wheel drives, rumbling along tarmac for a while. We nipped off road a couple of times to take in some views and the tame conditions just off the main road made me question how rough things were going to get.

Whenever you see Petra in the media you see a picture of the Treasury. I just did a web search and the top three links with pictures all used such an image, often with a camel sat in front.

Let’s not beat around the bush here: Al Khazneh, the “proper” name of the Treasury, is spectacular. It’s a two thousand year old, forty metre high carving straight into the sandstone rock face.

The surprising thing, given that it’s about the only image of the place you’ve seen beforehand, is that there is so much more to Petra than just the Treasury.

Leaving Jerash around lunchtime, I head south towards Kerak, known variously as Karak and Al Karak, stopping briefly for a float in the Dead Sea and a distant view of Israel.

It’s already dark when I arrive making it difficult to see much of anything. I am assured that the building in front of me is the castle but it just looks like another hotel at this time of evening. I take dinner in a restaurant right next to the (alleged) castle. They are filming for something and there are eerie bright lights shining through the windows — slightly disconcerting when you know it’s dark out.

I remember when I was at school doing history I loved the Romans. They were so advanced and yet had these brutal elements, a combination that I found fascinating. Even now I continue to be amazed by Roman ruins. Nothing we build now seems to last more than a few decades yet this massive, two thousand year old empire still has buildings standing.

[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephendarlington/10817487986/ ““No Camels & Horses” sign, Dahab, Egypt by stephendarlington, on Flickr”)

I always have immense difficulty choosing my next travel destination. The bottom line is that I’d happily visit almost anywhere I’ve not been before. And even then, many of the places I have been to I’d happily go back to. With around two hundred countries in the world this presents a problem. Then you need to combine this with the fact that I love reading about travel — books, brochures, back issues of Wanderlust — and you can easily believe that it can take me months to decide where to travel to next.

Today really marks the beginning of the end as I return to Ajaccio in preparation for the flight home tomorrow. It’s kind of odd not to have to get up early in order to cram in five hours walking, but, given this is a holiday, it?s also rather welcome. (Well, I could have gone for the early bus to the capital, but I decided to relax in laid-back Porto instead.)

Today is the last day of walking, and is a relatively east stroll from Evisa to Porto via Ota. The first half is, according to the guidebook, one of the highlights of this part of Corsica.

I’m not entirely convinced, though. Mostly it’s descending through pine forest, which is pretty but not stunning. I’d probably have been more impressed had we not experienced the scenery on the first couple of days. I cross a couple of old bridges. Pretty and something that I’ve not seen yet this week but I’d hesitate to call it a highlight of my week here.

I “cheat” on the walk from Calalucca, starting a taxi ride away. The basic idea of the tour so far has been to do the Mare a Mare Nord starting from Sermano heading towards to Porto. My walk up to Lac de Nino meant that I skipped one part.

As it turns out, I find the walk easy, at least in comparison with the last couple of days. I arrive at the hotel mid-afternoon and just mellow out until dinner. This is easy to do as the location is great, looking down the valley and over the hotel pool.

In a change to our advertised programme — mainly the Mare a Mare Nord — I decide to walk up to the Lac de Nino, as recommended by the lady running the hotel I’m staying in.

The walk starts in a pine forest a ten-minute taxi ride up hill. The path begins fairly gently but soon consists of large rocks. As I ascend the rocks get smaller and loser. Walking gives way to scrambling and a little climbing. I realise that I’m lucky to be heading upwards as the opposite direction looks to be almost impossible for people as dextrous as me.