Day 79 Friday 04/12/09

Gebel Katarina is 2642m high and we arranged to set off from the camp at 8am at the guide’s suggestion. When the guide saw our Land Rover the day’s plan suddenly changed. Now we were to drive for 90 minutes into the desert and climb the mountain from the other side.

We parked at a Bedouin house in the desert and after a cup of tea with the family, we finally set off walking at 9:50am across the desert to the foot of the mountain.

The walk up was up a wadi and then onto an easy track that was constructed by the Israelis. It was hot work slogging up the hill and just when you thought you were near the summit, there was a dip down and another false summit. We arrived at the summit after 5 hours of walking to be met by fantastic views of the surrounding mountains.

Walking down it was soon dusk and we were still high up. The temperature dropped like a stone when the sun went down. We were soon walking with headtorches. In the dark we were just following the guide and not knowing where we were. We got back to the car at 9:30pm – knackered!

It was then a drive back across the desert, with the guide fast asleep in the passenger seat, MC had to remember the way back! We finally got back to our camp at 11pm and went straight to bed.

JC had one of his best dive days today, diving the Thistlegorm. It was a wreck that he had wanted to dive for a long time and finally realized his wish.