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Day 8

It's day 8 of the Red Sea Mountain Trail's virtual thru hike & the day the trail turns south to enter its final 3 day stretch. Upto now the trail has covered 120km winding deep into the northerly massif of Jebel Abu Dukhaan: a mysterious world of dark purple stone whose unusual beauty pulled faraway empires into the heart of these remote deserts thousands of years ago. The day begins at the ancient town of Mons Porphyrites before crossing high mountain passes to enter the vast, sweeping plains that divide the western & eastern halves of the Red Sea Mountains. This is a day of beauty, history & heritage so yalla beena join the digital caravan & experience the trail from home until the health crisis is over & we can all walk these deserts again!

At 24km day 8 is the longest day on the RSMT & is highlighted green. It begins on the northernmost section of the trail below Jebel Abu Dukhaan, before crossing a high pass & moving into wide, sweeping plains that divide the eastern and western halves of the Red Sea Mountains.

We wake up below Jebel Abu Dukhaan, as guests of a Bedouin family. Two young girls & budding shepherdesses sit next to RSMT head guide Mohammed Muteer at the fireside.

A goat kid was born in the family's herd yesterday & to keep him warm in the cold desert night he was wrapped in three fleece blankets. The girls are first to unwrap him in the morning & will care for him in the coming days & weeks until he is strong enough to sleep out with the herd.

Maaza tribesman Salama Abu Salah heats fresh goat milk by the fire. He is the head of this family & has lived in the desert his whole life. A century ago most of the tribe would have lived this way but today most Bedouin have abandoned the nomadic life and settled in nearby towns and villages. People like Salama are some of the last Bedouin in Egypt to keep this old way of life alive.

Jebel Abu Dukhaan is home to the 2000 year old Roman town of Mons Porphyrites. It is the second Roman town on the RSMT: the first one was Mons Claudianus & was visited on day 3. 'Mons' means mountain in Latin & 'Porphyrites' is 'porphyry', a rare kind of dark purple stone. This was the 'Mountain of Porphyry'. Thousands of tons of stone were quarried here over 5 centuries. Quarries are still visible in the hills, plus footpaths & slipways down which huge blocks of stone were slid to the wadis below. Rock quarried here was rolled out of the mountains on wagons, then hauled across the desert to the Nile & shipped to the Mediterranean where it was sailed over the seas to faraway parts of Rome's vast empire.

The Temple of Serapis stands near the old town of Mons Porphyrites. Serapis began as an Egyptian God & was later integrated into Greek & Roman religion. He was a deity of healing & fertility & was worshipped widely through Egypt.

A stone with ancient inscriptions lies near the Temple of Serapis. The writing is in Greek, which was used in the Eastern Roman Empire.

Ancient graffiti is found too, including this sailing boat, etched into plastered columns around a well.

After the town, the RSMT follows a 2000 year old zigzag path up a mountain pass. This is the view back to Mons Porphyrites. Look closely & you'll see footpaths & quarries, including one on the high mountain on the right. Jebel Abu Dukhaan's purple porphyry was much sought after & sculptures made from the rock of these deserts is seen all around the Mediterranean today, from the Basilica San Marco in Venice to the Hagia Sophia & Column of Constantine in downtown Istanbul. Purple was associated with birth & death in Rome & as well as statues & columns this porphyry was used to make the sarcophagus of the Emperor Constantine's mother Helena & to panel the birth chamber of Roman princes. It is from this the old English saying 'born into the purple' - meaning born into privilege - is derived.

A beautiful view opens up to the faraway peaks of Jebel Gattar from the top of the pass.

The Romans created thousands of kilometres of roads & footpaths in Egypt's deserts, many still in regular use by the Bedouin today. Most connected the Nile with Red Sea ports or with inland quarrying towns like Mons Porphyrites. 2000 years ago these deserts would have bustled with traffic & drama. Today, the desert is much quieter than it was in the past. Wagons carried trade over the desert & ruts left by their wheels are still visible in places. Small waymarker towers like this dotted paths. Each was visible from the last to guide people through the desert. On more important desert highways the waymarkers were bigger & usually stood in high parts of the landscape.

Broken pottery & other things the Romans dropped on the footpaths is still found today.

At the bottom of the high pass the trail crosses the open spaces of Wadi Billi. The word 'Billi' is the name of a Bedouin tribe who lived in the Hejaz mountains of Arabia, on the other side of the Red Sea to Hurghada. They were one of the first tribes to arrive in Egypt after the Islamic Conquest 1500 years ago. It's said they camped in this wadi.

High, rugged passes are crossed as the trail runs south from Wadi Billi. Mohammed gazes back to the highlands of Jebel Abu Dukhaan.

Jebel Gattar's beautiful northern summits tower above the Plain of El Radda. These tops are 1500m higher than the flatlands below.

Mohammed leads the way below the northerly peaks of Jebel Gattar. Can you see him ahead?

A bush known to English speakers as the Toothbrush Tree grows around the bottom of Jebel Gattar. The Bedouin know this as 'araak' & it's one of the most useful plants in the mountains. The fruits of the tree are sometimes eaten & an infusion of the leaves made to treat urinary tract infections. Nevertheless the best-known use is for cleaning teeth & gums. The Bedouin & people all over the Middle East use sticks of 'araak' for this purpose & call them 'miswak'.

A small twig is cut away & stripped of bark to expose moist woody fibres inside.

A small twig is cut away & stripped of bark to expose moist woody fibres inside.

Also useful is this small shrub called 'mishta' by the Bedouin & known commonly in English as 'Spider Flower'. A plant with small, sticky leaves & a strong, menthol scent, it is usually found growing in lowland wadis & plains. Sometimes the Bedouin make an infusion of its leaves, using it as an antiseptic solution for cleansing cuts, grazes & rashes & also as a mouthwash. Sometimes it's also used to soothe coughs. The Bedouin say camels rub their faces in this plant when irritated by ticks: 'misht' is a 'comb' in Arabic & camels might use it as a way of 'combing' out troublesome ticks.

Walking over the Plain of Monfia small whirlwinds or 'dust devils' can fly up. They carry sand & tumbleweeds high into the air but aren't usually a hazard. Nevertheless, according to the Bedouin the world is changing & other hazards are emerging. The Bedouin of today live in a different world to their forefathers. The Bedouin say summers are hotter than they used to be & winters colder. Droughts are more frequent & severe. Plants are appearing on high mountains where they never used to grow as conditions warm. Climate change has been real for the Bedouin for a long time: they live closer to nature than most people & observe small changes with great sensitivity. They have much to say & integrating their nomadic experience deeper into scientific research & global climate & environmental policy would be of benefit to all humanity.

The trail continues over rugged passes to the Plain of Monfia: the divide between the western & eastern halves of the Red Sea Mountains.

Jebel Shayib towers high on the horizon: hikers spend the last night of the hike on its summit.

Bedouin culture is rich in proverbs, poems & song. Knowledge was greatly respected by the Bedouin. It was key to survival in one of the hardest environments on earth. Knowledge of the natural world & its ways, water sources, plants, animals & stars, along with knowledge of culutral traditions & Islam & the human soul held great value. Knowledge was never learned in a school or from books, it was passed verbally between generations & has been kept alive in the collective consciousness; Bedouin knowledge has been passed like a light from one generation to the next from the most ancient times to today. Bedouin who live the nomadic life today are the last guardians of this knowledge & as they increasingly leave the desert to settle in towns it is becoming irrelevant & forgotten. It is one of humanity's great cultural treasures & stands on the brink of an irreversible loss in our times.

Head guides Mohammed & Hassan at the end of the longest day on the RSMT.

Under the red sky: sunset on the Plain of Monfia.

The Bedouin have traditionally used the stars to find north, read seasonal switchovers & predict fortune & danger. The Bedouin also had many legends about the stars which they used to communicate important lessons. This constellation is known to English speakers as 'The Plough' & as 'El Sabaa' ('The Seven') to the Bedouin. For thousands of years a fable has been told about this group of stars. The three stars at the 'handle' end of the 'plough' represent three sisters & the four stars at the bottom symbolise their father's coffin. Their father was murdered by an unknown killer & the sisters walk together, wheeling his coffin on a bier to his burial every night.

Suspicion falls on the North & South Stars. The North Star stays in place all night, shining bright & never moving but the South Star disappears for long periods & is hard to see. Which one of the two stars do you think killed the sisters' father?