Day 78 Thursday 03/12/09

We decided to climb Mount Sinai (Gebel Musa) today. Arriving at the car park at lunchtime there were many coaches and tourists wandering around the gift shops. We set off, only to arrive at a Police checkpoint and were told we needed a guide to climb the mountain. We were allocated a local guide for E£85 and set off in the heat. The climb up was an easy slog up a wide path, past huts selling drinks and people offering camel rides up the hill. We seemed to have the mountain to ourselves and arriving at the summit there was only one other person up there. We chose to take the alternative route down, the Steps of Repentance – 3750 steps built by a monk as a form of repentance. Here we met many other tourists heading up.

In the evening, at the Fox Camp, we arranged a guide to climb Egypt’s highest mountain next day.