Cycling Jordan not in March

we are just back from 2 weeks in Jordan. The 2nd half of March wasn´t that bad. Maybe you were unlucky with the bad weather in early March. We saw snow on the pass before Dana. April should be a better month for touring in Jordan, but the weather wasn´t too bad for us. We had 2 rainy day out of 10.

Did you tour with a MTB? Because we did, and didn´t push a single bit. Except short bits on the sandy trails from Wadi Rum to Aqaba. Jordan is definitly a challenging country to explore on a bicycle. But if I didn´t like it that way I´d cycle along the Danube.

I cycled Jordan in feb 06. It was freezing cold but I had clear blue sky's everyday. Which was beautiful. I did wake up to snow the night I camped in Dana though. I actually thought the roads were ok. All tarmac along the kings highway. I was super fit though as I'd cycled from europe so by then it seemed ok. Too many kids threw stones at me though. I much preferred Syria, although did have bad weather there. If your thinking about another ME cycle trip would strongly suggest syria. One of my farourite places on earth.

I was concerned about the stone throwing also. But it only happened once. Arriving in Wadi Musa just as all the kids were heading home from school a few of them in one group tried blocking my way and threatened to throw stones at me. They did only after I passed them - with my back to them. They missed me but hit my spokes. It was raining and cold so I just kept going looking for a place to get out of the rain.

we had stones thrown after us 3 or 4 times between Wadi Mujib and Dana. And always turned around and chased they guys who did it. Maybe they think twice about it next time maybe not.

But we saw kids throw stones after tour buses as well. So it´s not just cyclists.

Amman weather (BBC)
On average there are only 4 wet days (over 1mm rainfall) in March in Amman, so you were just unlucky. A friend who went in April hit a heatwave, he was unlucky. I went in Dec/Jan and found it warm and sunny - I was lucky. As ever, weather happens and you can be lucky or unlucky.

My first 'proper' bike tour was in early April 2002 starting in Amman, cycling north via Irbid to the Syrian border. The weather was perfect for me - sunny but cool. The only negative was that i was surprised by high winds at night - first night camping i had to quickly retreat to a nearby hotel (I was camping in the hotels grounds, so it wasn't a big issue). I loved Jordan, i never encountered any of the negatives some people report - seems to be more of a southern Jordan phenomenon. But the hills are tough, the gradients are very steep, if your bike isn't geared for them you'll struggle big time. I found that the local breakfasts didn't agree with me energy wise - delicious but I was bonking within a couple of hours setting off. Problem solved by drinking lots of full sugar soft drinks for breakfast - not healthy but successful.

But I have to say i found Syria a much more interesting country for cycling - lovely people, some fascinating sights and lots of semi-empty roads, even the major highways (such as the road from Damascus to the Bekaa Valley) were not bad for cycling. I did find very high winds when i got to the Mediteranean coast of Syria and north Lebanon.