Blogs With Dr John R Ward Kt Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud

This is a new one for Q.E.A. we have not kept blogs before or journals for that matter on our Adventures. So we have asked John if he could supply us with a few to start of with and see how it grows from there. If you feel you have somthing to contribute please do not hesitate to send in your peice with photographs if possible and we will post them here for you.

The build up and excitement amongst us at the prospect of our third and final trip to the wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud was akin to that of school children waiting to go out on a Saturday afternoon. The night previous we had all convened at the stables to go through a dry run fixing our bags to the saddles so we could carry more provisions with us just in case we were going to stay in the wadi over night. Well, you would have thought that in this day and age that it would be a simple task to attach two rather small rucksacks to the saddles, you were and we were mistaken, it turned out to be a much harder task than we first envisaged. Firstly how to strap the rucksacks to the under carriage of the horses without causing them discomfort or creating any friction burns. Remember these horses have never carried any type of saddle bags before, so this was as much a first for them as it was for us. Fortunately we found a discarded elastic strap with buckles at each end that served as the under belly strapping for one horse, now only three more to go. This was going to be huge undertaking. Please remember that this is Upper Egypt, we cannot just pop to our local saddler or B&Q for supplies, it just does not exist. We have to make everything usually from scratch or have it made to measure. Maria however came up with a brilliant idea of using the elastic putties which we had bought in Cairo for the horses, but never really got round to using them, they made the perfect under strapping. Stabilizing the bags in place without constricting the horse in any way. A packet of cable ties that I had bought back in the UK a couple of years previously became indispensable as we attached the brass rings of the saddles to the straps of the rucksacks with the cable ties. A perfect job and well done if I might say so myself. One last problem, dad did not have any bags for Ferrouz, now we had two bags on Khamsin with me, two bags on Dahab with Maria and two leather saddle bags cobbled together form two motorcycle side bags for Karima with Mohammed. We needed dad to have two as well, for the rest of the water reserves that would be needed for ourselves and the horses.

It was decided after much debate that we would be able to stuff two bottles into each pillow case that was going to carry the individual horses feed for the day. So each horse had 3 liters to drink while they were out there, not a lot for a horse but sufficient to see them through the day, or night, depending on the circumstances.

Anyway, we were supposed to meet at 6.00am for an early start knowing how to pack the horses and set out that little bit earlier, but as always, it never goes that smooth; firstly Mohammed could not wake up and was still in bed when dad went round to fetch him from his slumber. The pillow cases still had to be filled with feed and the water, the hot water had to be boiled for all the flasks, the bottles form the fridges had to be packed away and the camelbak's had to be filled as well, the morning was drawing out. We managed to get the all the rucksacks attached securely and tightened up; the pillow cases were filled by Maria and dad, and then tied into parcels by myself and Mohammed, when we realized that the water reserves for the horses had not been placed inside them. Good job really as there was no room for them at all. We had already had to squash the feed bags into the pillow cases to make them fit. We proceeded with attaching the pillow cases to the back of the saddles while dad and Mohammed figured out how to transport the horses water in two separate bags on the side of Ferrouz, this was not going to work, for one the 4 bottles came to 6 liters per bag , they were just too heavy. We decided to add one more rucksack to our bag list and this would be carried by Mohammed on his back, rather him than me. Unfortuanlty we would therefore have to leave 4 bottles behind and forfeit 6 liters of the horse's water.

With all the packing finally done and the horses finally strapped and ready, we headed out along the usual route taking us through the villages en-route to the desert, we made a short detour at Medinat Habu to allow the horses to drink, but as they say you can take a horse to water but you can't not make them drink, this was true of all 4 horses this time. Maria had her doubts over the quality of the water being offered to the horses, just goes to show how much we look after our horses at the Arabian Horse and Livery Stables. We pump fresh water from beneath us in the lower water course; the horses for some reason will not touch the tap water here even though we do.

We continued out past Medinat Habu and out to our usual first stop where we dismounted for our first cup of coffee of the day, a welcome break not just for us, but I do believe the horses required it as well. They had done a marvelous job at carrying the bags for the first time. No major problems, a little kicking here and there, but to be expected.

After coffee we continued along the well trodden pathway that leads to the mouth of the wadi, passing by the watering station, the reason for our recent expeditions, pass the opening to the second wadi ( Wadi el Sikkat el Taqa el Zeide) where we had been a few days previously. It was that particular wadi that we had discovered the tombs both pit and cliff faced. It was not until I returned that I was able to verify that those tombs were first discovered and documented by Howard Carter himself in 1916 when he documented the entire wadi in this area. He attributed the main tomb in this wadi to Queen Hatshepsut, complete with her unfinished sarcophagus, but bearing some exquisite hieroglyphic relief from the book of the dead (votive passages to Nut). (See full report Observations and theories regarding Howard Carter's 1916 expedition).

We continued pass the opening and on towards the next wadi opening on our right , this particular wadi has no name as such , but was documented by Howard Carter again in 1916 and he accounted for Coptic inscriptions only with no other relevant markings, tombs or other stone structures as to provide evidence to other human activity in the wadi. It was hoped that we would discover for ourselves something new and yet undiscovered or found by Howard himself. Our expectations were very high. It must be said though that Dad was probably the most excited and after making us all have good laugh this morning after his falling with style from his saddle before dismounting, his slow motion movement as he hit the deck flat on his back was not only amusing but also surreal, as we all just sat there on the backs of our respective horses while he fell in slow motion while still talking to us all, and making eye contact while falling to the floor. It must also be said that dad is the first to fall from Ferrouz, she's one of those horses that is so gentle and kind that no-one has ever fallen from her until now. But it must also be said in dads defense that the saddle was not exactly tight and that as he fell so did the saddle, so it s not exactly his fault.

Back to the wadi, the going was little tough but we managed to find a sort of pathway through it all winding our way to the mouth of the third wadi with no name. The mouth looked totally impassable at first glance, huge boulders blocked our pathway with no evident way to discern, but Mohammed went on a quick scout to find a pathway through which we all agreed was a best bet to get in there. Single file we entered the wadi, spirits were high and expectations were through the roof, albeit it that we knew that Howard had only found the Coptic inscriptions and nothing else. We were more than hopeful. Once we had passed the initial 20 meters or so of boulders and stone stacked upon each other the pathway opened in front of us with a sandy track leading into the wadi, what could be better? We made great headway as we made our way in deeper. We finally came to stop by a small outcrop that allowed the horses some kind of shade even though the sun was moving quickly around which would place them in direct sunlight while we would be off exploring the rest of this small wadi. The wadi itself came to an abrupt bowl shaped ending with high cliff faces at the curvature preventing us from climbing over and on top of the wadi the surrounding cliff faces were as steep and dangerous to climb. After securing the horse's we glanced around our new environment to ascertain in which direction to first head in when it hit us all, a white painted symbol similar in design to that which we had seen previously in the other wadi before. This time it was a single symbol resembling �User� hieroglyph which basically translates to strength. We all decided to take a closer look; the shale limestone was steep but naturally stepped which made it a little easier to climb but treacherous under the feet giving way with every step taken. Thankfully however I was not wearing my riding boots that was one mistake I was not going to repeat again. Good heavy military issues and boots was the order of the day which made the ascent faster and safer. On reaching the ledge at the top just beneath the over hang I was able to see that there was a small but well trodden pathway leading off in both directions along the ledge, the symbol lay just around the corner to my right, a further small climb and I would be there. I looked back and could see Maria making her way up the face and dad below Mohamed who was waiting for him patiently. Already a little out of breath I continued around to the symbol, and there it was. The same white powder paint as used previously in the other wadi and the same brush marks, obviously by the same hand, but for what reason was still evading us. Eventually everyone was together; we took a small breather before continuing along the ledge to the left this time making our way towards the bowl of the wadi but at this height. The pathways were slim, not human but animal tracks instead. It was far too thin in its width to make by human feet. Carefully we continued, paying close attention not only to our footing but also to the naked walls that were devoid of any markings, no inscriptions, no scratching, nothing! We came to the point where we had to descend; there was a convenient run off that descended to the bottom of the face, before leaving though I ascended a little higher to a small outcrop that provided me with a great view of the wadi to its mouth till the bowl at its end. There was a central area in the wadi that was obviously cut by the water that once flowed through here leaving this island styled mound in the center. Again all uniform and natural in its appearance nothing out of the ordinary. I decided to descend with the others. Trudging carefully behind Maria I made my descent only to find that there was another ledge that was hidden from view a little further down, I took the opportunity to climb around and walk along this ledge to explore and find out where it lead. It rose for a while and then again descended to a cavern which had been made by the cliff face coming apart from the main hill and producing this raised cavern open to its roof and to one side. There seemed to be what can be best described as steps leading up to the ledge from where I had just came from , with larger blocks being placed on each rise. Very un-natural in its appearance. It lead me to thinking whether we had missed something as we walked from the symbol along the ledge or whether there was something further on from the symbol. Unfortuanlty I was too far away now and the others had already made their descent to the floor below; it would be foolish to return without letting them know. I decided to continue downwards. Again scouring the walls for any interference but there was none. Just as I was about to climb down the last part, an Owl cried and flew from where I was about to place my left boot. I must admit I was taken aback for a slight moment, but what a beautiful sight, so close. Again same as the other wadi, as it flew across the wadi itself another cry came from above as a Eagle swooped down and attacked it in its dive. The Owl quickly flew to the deck and took cover under a large boulder, leaving the Eagle to circle above it in its frustration it took a dive at the Owl as it sat tight under the boulder the Eagle unable to tear at it with its talons. Then from behind me came another cry and yet another Eagle came in and joined the fight. Both diving bombing the Poor Owl as it hid beneath the Overhang of the boulder, it could not stay there indefinitely, then all of a sudden it took its chance and flew quickly from beneath the boulder hugging the ground as it did so while the two Eagles took chances at trying to attack it, both without success. Then another cry came, this time it was more of a hoot to be honest, another Owl! I climbed down to the floor and as I took that last step down the second Owl came from behind me and swooped in front of me flying a mere meter of the ground, as it did so the Eagles came for it both taking their eyes of the other Owl and in doing so allowing it to escape to safety, the second owl took to the sky and flew for the safety of the cliff face, both Eagles in vain trying to capture it having lost their original prey. And as they say all in a day's work, sometimes I feel we are truly blessed by the events that take place around us while we out on our mini adventures or expeditions. A truly amazing experience to be able to watch it unfold and see nature in her true habitat and not behind bars of a cage in some zoo.

By this time Mohammed, Maria and dad had joined me, we continued on foot around the base of the cliff face coming closer to the end of the wadi, when we found a stacked stone cairn which had been placed there as a marker. And there he was, Howard himself; H.C. 1916, a great sight to see, together with the Coptic inscriptions. I had printed of a picture of Howard the night previously and placed a little blessing on the reverse and laminated it.

I placed the card in a crevice beside the inscriptions as way of saying thank you to Howard for showing us the way and as a fitting reminder to all his hard work and determination in his endeavors.

Dad and Mohammed continued while Maria and I stayed and photographed the inscriptions while looking for any others that we may have missed. Then came a call from Mohammed to join them, he had obviously found something! Maria decided to stay behind so that she could walk at a slower pace as not to miss any other inscriptions along the pathway. On turning the corner I noticed Mohamed a short distance from me obscured by a large fallen piece of limestone. I continued to where he was squatting and there starring me back in the face was the �key of life� an ankh. Approximately 1 meter in height painted of course in the usual white powder paint slightly dis-coloured due to its angle on the cliff face that it had been painted on which had allowed it to gather dust, giving it that aged appearance that the others do not posses. Mohamed then pointed a little further up the limestone runoff where I could make out 2 falcon styled birds painted again in the white powder paint. I made my way up the slope to take a closer a look , both were different from each other one wing had been criss crossed with a pattern while the other was left blank one was obviously smaller than the other and their features although looked the same were slightly different in their appearance as well. I looked round to find Mohamed who was at this time taking advantage of the shade and sat squatting in front of the Ankh, but what was most unusual was not how Mohammed was sitting but what he was sitting on. One could was not able to make this out before when standing there inspecting the Ankh previously. The ground had been flattened to provide a circular platform, its base made of rather large but smaller enough to move stones which gave it that kind of patio appearance about it. It was perfect in the every sense of the word, but why? By this time dad had joined me at the level with the eagles and Maria had just turned the corner when her face said it all, Maria also commented immediately on the flat surface before even mentioning the Ankh. Maria then joined me with dad in front of the Eagles. As I took still photographs, dad and Maria continued up the slope where she called out to me to join them. Yet another set of symbols this time a series of stripes that resemble some kind of steps one would presume leading to a circle fully blocked in with the white powder paint as to resemble some kind of planet or sun surrounded by what appeared to be 3 stars on first impression but were actually three 5 pointed stars. Not your usual star configuration either these had been painted by placing the brush twice across the stone surface to provide a cross and then a single dot with the paintbrush between the two upper points thus placing the 5 th point in the central upper quadrant. Above the sun/moon was painted a rectangle, sitting quite coincidentally in a rectangle that had naturally formed in the cliff face. To the right hand side of the ladder/stairs was what can be best described as a face with continuing facial hair around the entire head in a uniform manner. A bit like the main of a lion in a way but the facial features were that of a man a nose and two eyes no ears. Then dad pointed out two painted Owls above us at the top of the slope. Could it get any more bizarre?? These two Owls were again similar to the two Eagles both being slightly different but painted perfectly never the less. Why here, and why so many?

So what were we looking at? My thoughts turned to conspiracy theories, the brotherhood of Luxor came to mind, Masonic initiations, Bilderberg groups, the Bohemian grove society, what? The two Owls previously that had been attacked by the two Eagles, was this significant to the symbols we were now gazing upon, was it coincidence. I'm one of those persons who believe there is no such thing as a coincidence just fate. We were all a bit freaked by what we were presented with in this wadi, no other inscriptions other than that which Howard had found previously, no evidence of human interference, no stacked stones to provide shelters etc. all very bizarre. The wadi itself was perfect in every way to accommodate inscriptions with its smooth surfaces and the huge gigantic crevices were more than adequate for the installation of tombs and given the loose limestone chippings it would have been very easy to dig through to the bed rock. All the right ingredients but no cake.

Frustration set in. Maria looked me I looked at her and dad was just as baffled, Mohamed was for intensive purposes oblivious to the set of circumstances that we were now faced with. The questions were racing through my mind. Was someone playing with us? For what purpose were these symbols placed here. Again I turned my mind to my research to try and gather some snippets on information that may shed light on these images, but I was drawing a blank each time. The flattened stone surface at the base of the slope was also intriguing to say the least; there was not one piece of evidence to suggest human interference except for the stones themselves, no rubbish not even a cigarette butt had been found, not ashes to suggest a fire of any kind. Again same as the symbols themselves a total mystery.

We decided to return to the horse's, each one of us departing in a different direction, I decided to investigate the other side of the wadi on my return track to the horses, the cliff face had fallen in areas providing perfect habitats for shelter etc, but nothing, not even a piece of discarded pottery anywhere. We had found only two pieces of pottery in the wadi and they were mot probably from the same broken amphorae pot. I was becoming disheartened in the whole exercise, even though we had found Howards inscriptions, the wadi itself made no sense at all. It had a certain strange feeling about it. Possibly due to the sub-conscious mind playing on the symbols etc and the discussions we had on the conspiracy theories etc. but it did, feel very uncomfortable towards the last leg of my journey back to the horses, all I could keep on asking myself was why. And I had no answers for myself.

We all met up at the horses and decided to leave the wadi and find shade for the horses before having our next break and making a fresh cup of coffee. We left the wadi in good speed and the pathway was easy to determine on leaving. Rejoining the main wadi (Valley of the Apes) we headed over to the Western side which was beginning to gather shade from the suns passing. We tethered the horses up and set down to prepare lunch, Maria had brought with her some of her home baked croissants and blueberry muffins together with some biscuits all washed down with a beautiful cup of God's nectar. Maria on the other hand tucked into her bran bread and assorted nuts together with some freshly cut carrots, which had been carefully prepared in the morning. Maria even brought her herbal tea bags with her. The only thing that was missing was a sponge cake, candelabra and a silver tea service to serve it all on.

It was during lunch that we observed the next strange occurrence of the day , the horses, well it was Khamsin that we first noticed was starring to the far end of the wadi , ignoring her food all together , with her ears peered forward and so upright you could of used them as a paper spike. Her gaze was that transfixed that we were becoming un-nerved by her apparent concentration. Mohammed mentioned the Jin, an Arab superstition of spirits that dwell in the mountains hiding amongst the shadows. Thankfully we are all open minded and took it all in our stride. There was however something about this wadi, the further we travelled in the more intensified the feeling of being watched. Both Maria and I have had these feeling before while on expeditions across Egypt, dad however was having nothing of it. He is open minded but skeptical at the same time, a good mixture to be honest. Our conversation over dinner returned to the symbols but more importantly the Owls and how they were involved especially after the previous trip where the single Owl had followed us out of the wadi and then when we were safely back in the main wadi itself, it left us to return back to the wadi from which we had emerged from. As if it was there to safely guide us out and watch over us. was this the same today, had we witnessed some kind of natural ritual where the Owls were there to protect us and then the Eagles came in to attack them as if playing out some strange mythical battle between good and evil. Maybe one too many blueberry muffins had gone to my mind.

We concluded out lunch and with our tanks refilled we proceeded to explore the rest of the main wadi on foot.

Howard had documented many inscriptions in this part of the upper wadi itself and had also documented the possible location of the tomb belonging to Nefrure, the daughter of Hatshepsut. We split into two groups, dad accompanying me and Mohammed with Maria. Both Maria and Mohammed had a burst of energy and decided to climb the Eastern cliff face to investigate the crevices at the top while dad and I continued to the Eastern bowl/bay. The pathway was well trodden and made easy going, a slight incline was easy for me and dad to walk in single file while discussing the events that had so far unfolded and what we hoped to find in the rest of the days investigation. On entering the bay, we were confronted with a number of loose chipping mounds that had obviously been made by local tomb robbers in the hopefully event of finding some antiquity. Thankfully it seemed as if their toils had been fruitless, the usually tell tale sign that a tomb or shallow grave has been plundered is the plethora of broken pottery shard that littler the floor surrounding the illegal excavation, discarded after the robbers had smashed the pots they had found in the hope that they would contain either gold or other precious items that would be easy to carry out of the valley. In this case there were none, plus the holes were all very shallow, but the amount of chippings I thought were not in line with the amount of holes nor were the holes themselves in the right places, the chippings had come from somewhere else originally, but where. On climbing the chippings to higher position so dad and I could achieve a better view of the bay we noticed half way up in the northern cliff face a perfect rectangular aperture, using the spy glasses we were able to see that the entrance had a sloping ceiling therefore this was the tomb that Howard had assumed belonged to Nefrure. There were no obvious foot holes in the cliff face to be able to ascend the face nor was there any descending either form on top. One would need a good ladder or rope and tackle to abseil down from above. Neither of which we had. So we contented ourselves with gazing upon the opening and allowing our minds to imagine what it must have been like for Howard to have discovered it and what state it was in when he was here.

Maria and Mohammed joined us soon afterwards, having found nothing in the higher up regions of the face. We all took a good look around the base of the tomb before leaving the bay. Mohammed and I decided to climb the face to the upper part where there were signs of fresh excavation at the summit while Maria and dad continued on foot around the base of the northern face.

I could see from above that there were three pit tombs where dad and Maria were standing and I could see dad had taken to laying down while taking a cigarette, while Mohamed and I gambled with our lives while trying to traverse the loose chipping and narrow pathway that led around the ledge of the northern face. There was nothing up here of any significance, I managed to find one piece of broken pottery but as I said on camera, it had either been brought up there by someone else or it had come from the small shallow pits at the base of the overhang. Either way there was nothing else visible that gave me any cause to remain in such a dangerous place. We both descended together, joining Maria and dad at the base of the face in front of the pit tombs.

The pit tombs have unfortuanlty been subject to much illegal excavation leading to what I assumed after looking at the debris that the floor had even been removed in the vain attempt of finding anything in them. We left the pit tombs and continued around to the last part of the bay where it came to a head. According to Howard's basic map, he had discovered numerous inscriptions along this path and in the head of the wadi itself. It was not long till both Maria and I were gazing upon them all. Next to each one engraved into the stone a short distance from the actual inscriptions themselves the comforting H.C.1916. It was gratifying to know that we were able to find the inscriptions at the same as Howard had so many years before us and using our knowledge of how to read the local environment we were able t track down the inscriptions just as he had.

Mohamed and ad had walked on further ahead of us making their way tot eh head of the wadi; it was not long till we had met up with them. In the head of the wadi a large fissure had formed which I could see had been dressed to accommodate either a tomb or passage leading to a tomb. Again due to its height and inaccessibility we could not inspect it internally. We took a five minute break at its base. The base to one side was piled high with chippings, obviously on first inspection one would assume coming from the tomb itself, but I remarked that the fallen limestone blocks that littered the ground were of such a size that the area in which we were all sitting should have also have them , but it was clear. This lead me to surmise that they had been removed after the tomb had been finished. Due to the size of the other broken off pieces of limestone I deduced that the amount of stone that had fallen into this particular bay would have been sufficient to allow access directly into the fissure and provide a good working ramp to which gain access to the tomb. Upon completion of the tomb the ramp and fallen stone was then dismantled and spread outside of the bay as we could see to this very day hence the amount of chippings that lay about. And not to mention of course the heap that was pushed to one side of the bay in the manner in which led us to discuss the matter in the first place.

After our short break we checked the time and decided to head back to the horses, on our return journey we remembered that we still had to climb above where the horses were standing to get a closer look at the other symbols we had noticed earlier after we had finished lunch. It was at this point that Mohammed noticed that we were missing a horse, Dahab was nowhere to be seen, at this Mohammed quickly began to run towards them, it was much further than we had first envisaged. Dad and I continued to climb the Western face to view the symbols a little further on. Along the well trodden path we noticed a few shallow pit graves that had been obviously plundered and by the amount of back fill I would suggest this had taken place in antiquity itself. The climb was easy, the gradient not too hard going, but still left dad and myself a little breathless when we reached the top. The view afforded from up there was magnificent. One could see the entire wadi stretched out in front of us and we could also see over into the next wadi. It was then that dad pointed out that there were in fact other symbols painted in there too. We could just make them out, not to any discernable detail but it was clear that they had added them there aswell. Another expedition had to take place for us to reach there though, a good reason to return though. We continued and as we did so we could see Maria arriving by the horses, Dahab was fine, he had just decided to take a roll thankfully.

On reaching the symbols, there were painted much larger than the others and were not exactly hidden from sight , but having said that, we did not see them until we were on top on them ourselves earlier in the day. It was directly after lunch when we were about to cross over to the Eastern side of the wadi when we looked up at the Western face and could just make out the symbols on the cliff face, due to the size and distance away from us it was difficult to make them out but we were certain of their origin, the same as we have seen before.

This time they consisted of two wasps head to head with no other markings by them, the wasp as a hieroglyphic character usually refers to the King himself, if a singular wasp is utilized without any other characters this then usually denotes the King of the North. Approximately a meter or so to the right of the wasps, what can be best described as a Neter hieroglyph can be made out with a wiggly line under, similar to a snake and beneath this the letter �e� in lower case with a straight line coming from it like an umlaut or similar. Again we have no idea at this time what theses symbols are trying to convey or what the message is behind them. But I will try and decipher these when I get back to the office and have time to research them.

The third set of symbols on this escarpment is situated a little further around from the wasps; together we walked the pathway and came to the last of the symbols. This time we were confronted by what can be best described as a space ship with a caterpillar track beneath it or I should say attached to it on it's under carriage. With a set of windows and what looks like a burner or booster at one end by the side of the spaceship are two further symbols these this time do resemble straight forward hieroglyphics. The snail without the shell and the foot, the snail usually denotes the masculine in the sentence �his etc� and the foot translates as the letter �g� both having arrows pointing away from them and towards the spaceship. The foot's arrow points to the nose of the spaceship while the snail's arrow points to the undercarriage caterpillar track. Positioned just beneath he spaceship and to the right a little other symbol, this time a pyramid with a circle on top , this did not however have any arrows pointing towards the space ship and coupled with the other made for a very confusing image.

As dad and I took a breather Maria and Mohammed after securing the horses once more made their way up to us joining us on the small area in front of the symbols. All of us together could not understand why the use of a spaceship and the pyramid with the circle above it, not to mention the foot or the snail. I left the group and continued around the pathway towards the south and climbed down a few meters , it was during my descent that Maria once more called me back up to her, I had just walked or climbed I should say straight pass another set of symbols this time hidden completely from view in a small crevice. This time the symbol resembled the fusion of the Maat symbols with that of the User symbol with a backwards 3 and what at first we thought was the symbol for �om� with the degree sign above it (small circle) beneath this to the left slightly the map compass on its side. Make of this what you will; we are totally at a loss. As I said before only further research will hopefully shed some light upon these symbols and there association with these wadis.

We all began our descent; the going was pretty tough as there was no discernable pathway to follow only the loose runoff. Further down though we came across the last of the days markers that Howard had documented on his map, a ruined Coptic Kaneesa (church). In a very bad condition having been torn apart by looters. It is said that the early Christians hid their gold in the walls of their churches and ever since , local inhabitants have torn down some of the more out of the way churches in the vain attempt to find gold hidden within the walls. Of course each attempt is in vain and nothing is ever found. It reminded me though of a similar story of a church at Dabadib in the Western desert that had been bulldozed by a local who had taken days to drive out there thinking that there was gold hidden in the walls of the church. Of course he found nothing and thankfully the local police had followed his tracks to the site and arrested shortly afterwards.

The dry stone walls of the church though were partly still standing here that provided us with one complete room the others had been torn down, but one could still see the mud plaster that had been applied to the walls and then having a fine gypsum plaster rendered over afterwards. The gypsum plaster had all but disappeared but there was still a very small part remaining. The ground outside the church was littered with pottery sherds from the Coptic/Roman period. It was a shame that Howard did not document the church in finer detail only stating its location and label.

We made our way down the rest of the cliff face towards the bottom and back into the wadi below. The horses were waiting for us and we felt that we had enough time for a quick cup of coffee before returning to the stables. One last experiment. Mum had come up with an idea the night previous, on how to water the horses without taking a bucket with us. She suggested we use a shower cap held tightly and thus allowing the horses to drink from it, she was unsure though whether the cap itself was strong enough to hold the water and the abuse the horse would prevail upon it while drinking. Anyway, it worked just fine, all the horses had their 1.5 Lt's of water and with us all ready , we left the wadi, firstly walking the horses back to the watering station and then riding back from there. With our packs almost empty not carrying the food or water supplies the horses made light work of the return trip taking us safely back to the stables.


Day 1 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 2 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 3 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 4 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 5 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 6 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt


Day 1 Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (Valley of the Apes) The Watering Station by Horse Back 19 th April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt	Day 2 Wadi el Sikkat el Taqa el Zeide Off Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (The Western Wadi) By Horse Back 22 nd April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt	Day 3 Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (Valley of the Apes) The Watering Station by Horse Back 19 th April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt


The Ancient Nome of Gebelein Pathyris /Aphroditopolis, Ezbet Abu Humus. �The two mountains� 18 th April 2008	Wadi Hammamat Between Quseir and Quft. May 2 nd 2008	Deir el Shelwit Isis Temple Thebe's, Luxor April 28 th 2008