This was an independant trip to Jordan. We flew with Royal Jordanian Airline to Amman and then on to Aqaba. We stayed at "Wadi Rum Star Beds" approximately 20 mins drive from Rum Village.
Wadi Rum and the surrounding area proved to be a humbling environment. I knew what I expected, the desert, the rock, the sand, the sky but I wasn't ready for the sheer scale of the place. It is hauntingly beautiful by day and by night but it makes you feel tiny, insignificant even when you are surrounded by 400m plus faces of dense sandstone, arrow straight cracks and lofty domes rising up from the red sand into a perfect blue sky. I had totally underestimated the place. What was I thinking? Having only been back in the climbing game for about eight months! The big trad routes are huge undertakings of four to ten plus pitches and multiple abseil descents or navigationally confusing walk offs. We were definitely not up to that standard yet and I felt totally intimidated to the point of paralysis at the thought of attempting such lines. After an abortive attempt to try the first couple of pitches of Merlin's Wand (Super Crack of Rum) when I was carrying so much gear that I couldn't maintain my balance never mind make much upward progression we confined ourselves mainly to the more manageable (for us) sports routes.
