Our second long stretch was the toughest for us - 14 km over some really rugged terrain. Again, John's photos will give you a much better idea than I can. We stopped en route at a small village to collect provisions for a picnic. The women were making bread for us outside so Rani and I were able to talk to them. I've got photos of the process which I'll post later when I've figured out how to do it, but the oven looks like a an oil drum cut in half and upended. A fire is lit inside it and the base which is covered with stones serves as griddle. Needless to say, this bread was simply delicious. Two of the women were in their late teens and had either one child or expecting one and the twenty three year old was expecting her third. The women often asked me if I had children and were perplexed/saddened when I said no. How do you explain Western choices??
Our picnic as you'll see, was high up in the Wadi Samia, overlooking a Bedouin camp. Then the final and quite daunting stretch to Kufr Malek skirting a ravine and finding your way amongst such huge rocks and boulders. We saw the village on the mountain top far in the distance and gasped. But it's amazing just how you can get there and what a feeling of achievement when you do. At one stage I had to hold on to the guide and not look down!
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