TAKE A HIKE

Sinaitrail.org coordinates Bedouin guides. Hikes can be tailored to groups of all sizes. Prices start at approx £380 per person. Cost includes all meals. Flights not included.

generation to generation, and the only way to walk the trail is with the locals. As we moved slowly across the desert, Musallem brought his homeland to life, identifying medicinal plants, pointing out rusty barbed wire from the Six-Day War in 1967, and sharing ancient Bedouin myths.

The pattern of our days and nights fell into a routine. The sun was our alarm clock. Up at dawn, a pot of tea boiling in the fire, and freshly made bread, baked in the sand. Then while the camels were loaded, we would set out to walk. At the beginning I was worried I would find walking for hours each day, well, frankly, boring. But my fears were unfounded and I began to appreciate the meditative rhythm. Bursts of adrenalin came via sudden scrambles up canyons and gullies, and human interest came with halts for tea at remote Bedouin villages where Musallem would shoot the breeze with his fellow tribal leaders while I tended my feet, which were holding up well. We slept on the ground without tents, and although the nights were sometimes chilly, our reward was to fall asleep watching shooting stars, and awake to a celestial dawn, rather than a nylon fly sheet.

Our route was a circular one, ending with a long, dry riverbed taking us back to the coast. After nearly two weeks of living outside, it was something of a shock to return to the “civilisation” of a hotel room – a plastered ceiling for the sky and a 60-watt bulb for the sun. Upon waking, I was struck by the realisation and then, unexpectedly, disappointment: I didn’t have to walk anywhere today.

I was going to miss the simple routine of walk, sleep, eat, repeat but it had been an important lesson in slowing down – high-octane thrills and spills are fun, but sometimes we all need a bit of “shway-shway”.