Yesterday was an easy day of cycling, although it required more skill and concentration to go down the hills. Today, the journey was reversed: we were currently 200 metres below sea level and Bethlehem is 800 metres above sea level.
We started by travelling to a place called ‘Maqam Musa’, a place where it is believed that Prophet Musa (Moses) is buried. There are two traditions from the Muslim tradition which give evidence to this. Firstly the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said “If I were there, I would show you his grave below the red sand hill on the side of the road” and Salahuddin Ayyubi once had a dream where he was shown this spot. I visited the maqam and then took the opportunity to pray 2 optional prayers. When I went outside, we were met by 1000’s of children who were visiting as part of a school trip. They were all very interested in us and our bikes.
We set off from Maqam Musa, on a road through the desert. It was the most beautiful part of the cycling trip to date, with no cars and hills either side. The road was reasonably flat and made a change from the steep hills we had faced on the previous days. As we were cycling on the road, we faced a caravan of camels and thoughts came to my head of jumping off my bike, onto a camel and surprising the rest of the group who were a few hundred metres behind.
All of a sudden, our yellow minibus slowed down and stopped. It was time to replace the bike with shoes and walk through the desert. I was a little dissapointed as we had only covered 8 miles and I was just getting into my groove. However the walk through the desert was breathtaking. It exercised very different muscles to those used in cycling and at times my legs felt quite sore on the steeper climbs. We arrived at a point facing a monastery in the desert; a remote and beautiful location. We then crossed the rocky path towards the monastery, crossing over a river with sewage water flowing from settler properties and walked up to the side of the monastery to have lunch: falafel wrap, chips and a soft drink. Before we left, I performed wudu (ablution) and prayed my prayers.
We jumped into the vans and drove over a very long and steep section before stopping and jumping on our bikes. We stopped at point where we could see Masjid Al Aqsa, in particular the Dome of the Rock from the outskirts of Bethlehem, a sight which made me smile and eager to press on to get to Al Quds (Jerusalem). We continued cycling and the terrain became hillier with lots and ups and downs. We headed towards the Church of the Nativity where it is believed that Jesus was born. We were shown around the church by a tour guide and as with everything in Palestine, no matter how may times you go, you always learn something new.
We cycled to the hotel which is very close to the separation wall and the powerful images drawn upon the wall. The biggest inspiration being Banksy. The separation wall is one of the saddest sights in the world, a wall which separates the West Bank from East Jerusalem and in effect has created an outdoor prison for the Palestinians. I read the paragraphs written by children on the wall and was humbled, saddened and teary eyed with their feelings and emotions. I still cannot believe that we allowed the wall to be built.
