Guest writer 4 - extreme hiking

My final entry as the good news is that Fi is coming back next week, so you might get to read something more interesting soon. Not sure exactly when but probably in time for the weekend which will be good. Things have continued to get easier and renewed conflict seems less and less likely - at least between Hizbullah and Israel. Interesting that Olmert's former chief-of-staff said this week it was a'scandalous' decision to go to war in the first place - perhaps he should have spoken up earlier... But the Spanish, French and Italian troops are coming ashore in the south. In fact the French are here in Beirut as I got caught up in a convoy of APCs near the port and told off for driving too close. People are a bit jumpy, understandably. But there was a great pic in the local paper of a hard-nosed Spanish marine in a wetsuit coming ashore at Tyre with this attractive Lebanese girl in a bikini giving him a slightly quizzical look. Not sure who is more surprised to see the other - Afghanistan it isn't!

This last week (of work) seemed to turn into a massive lunch and dinner fest. I guess I am seeing my old contacts and they are pleased I am back and taking me out. I had 6 meals out in a row and you can only do it so often - it is time consuming and you can't take notes so you forget half of what they tell you - but generosity is not a problem in this country. The mood continues to be mixed, and business people are still depressed, but we have increasing interest in the rebuilding programme from the UK which is good. I think I will be fairly busy this Autumn.

Today I went off hiking to a place called Bentael, which is east of Byblos in the foothills of the mountains. It seemed a great idea! But we went in late morning in about 30 degrees, the paths seemed to be mostly vertical up or down and by an hour or so we were really horribly sweaty and I am not very fit! So that was that and we went to visit an old church with medieval frescos - quite nice - with a priest who got his St Marks and St Johns mixed up. There was a fresco of St George - not a lot of people know that England's patron saint is in fact Lebanese, (or whatever the 12th century equivalent of Lebanon was - I think the crusader County of Tripoli) and the dragon was reportedly slain at the mouth of Beirut river! I don't think dragons or anything else would be tempted to go to the concrete horror that is Beirut river now.

Then to Byblos for lunch - they have cleaned up most of the oil but it is still staining a lot of the water and the medieval stonework. Getting there remains an adventure but a lot better than before - the holes in the bridges have not been fixed, but they have built temporary bypasses which mean you are only delayed minutes rather than up to an hour. But I am not sure if they will survive the rainy season...but for now the weather is lovely - still a bit too hot though.

Well it's been nice doing this - Fi will be back very soon. I just spoke to her - she has mixed feelings as did I, but it really is a great place to spend a few years (apart from the odd war), and I think will not be too long before it gets its mojo back. So come and visit sometime - but check the travel advice first!!