Ramblers Holidays - Jewels of Jordan

In November this year I enjoyed a Ramblers holidays trip to Jordan. I'd selected this holiday as I didn't think I could manage to travel independently in Jordan due to language difficulties and internal transport. It also included the longest time in Petra of all of the comparable companies. I'm going to try and describe what we did to help people decide if this holiday is for them, but not get too involved about reviewing the accommodation as this can change.

Day 1

The flight to Jordan was with Royal Jordanian. The planes are new Airbus, with seat back media and movies on demand. We were greeted in the airport by Alaa, who had a 'Ramblers Holidays' sign and a big smile. He collected our passports and got them all stamped with the Visa for entry into Jordan. After that we were whisked off to our coach (operated by JET) and transported to our hotel in downtown Amman, The Amman Inn.

Day 2

We met our guide for the holiday this morning - Mahdi. Whilst Ramblers provided their own guide, he wasn't needed as Mahdi spoke such great English, knew exactly where we were going and looked after our needs so thoroughly. We had a driving tour around the city, and then we went to look at a model of the city to bring it all into context. After that we had a walk into the city, past many shops selling everything from bedouin coffee pots to herbs to traditional headscarves.

We drank our first cup of arabic tea (Shay) from a man walking around with a giant copper tea pot. Sweet, minty and delicious. From there we visited the 'Citadel' above the city, which has Roman ruins and a small museum, sadly the museum no longer has a dead sea scroll.Mahdi explained the Call to Prayers, and how it was the same broadcast throughout Amman. When we heard this from the citadel, it was an amazing experience, hearing it bouncing around the city.  As we'd arrived very late the night before we were 'owed' a meal. Mahdi took us to a shawarma restaurant where we had a delicious chicken kebab and some freshly made felafel.

Day 3

We awake to heavy rain, which was really unexpected. We board our bus, driven by the very capable Mehrab, who would be our driver until Petra. We drive through the busy streets of Amman, stopping en route to buy things from a bakery for our picnic. When we arrive in Jerash the weather is terrible, so Mahdi decides to take us to Aljoun Castle as we would be mostly undercover. We tried Bedouin coffee with cardamom, which was hot sweet and delicious. There were many interesting features in Aljoun Castle, as it was designed by Izz al-Din Usama who had been held captive in a Crusader castle and used his experience to improve things such as the design of the arrow slits. The castle was used for carrier pigeons, and pictures of pigeons are on the doorway into the castle.

We also made a visit to an olive pressing facility, again the people were very welcoming, allowing us to walk through the factory and see the different processes.

We returned to Jerash, which is a fantastically preserved Roman City. After an earthquake the city had been buried in sand, which protected it from the elements and theft. Sadly it was still raining, and as we walked around the site there were several men selling umbrellas (once it stopped raining they were a discount price). The site of Jerash was huge, there was a long collonaded street with many temples and civic buildings that were described by Mahdi. There were two ampitheatres on the site, both of which had been restored and were very impressive. Whilst walking round the site I kept hearing bagpipes, which seemed really odd, until we see there were Jordanians playing Scottish bagpipes , celebrating the influence of the British military.

Day 4

This was our first 'real' walking day, a walk in the river gorge of Ibm Hammad. There was a lot of trepidation about this walk as the rain had been so strong on the previous day that we would be up to our waists in the water, so people did defensive packing, putting cameras in the tops of backpacks, clean clothes in a separate bag.

We drive south to near the town of Kerak. We transfer to a smaller local bus as our bus would not be able to get round the twisty road down to the gorge. After about an hour of driving (and listening to our driver be phoned all the way down), our local bus driver drops us at the bottom of the gorge and we prepare for our walk.

The water was surprisingly warm and milky white, as it was fed from a hot spring. It was quite fast flowing, and generally only went up to knee height, but my hiking poles were really useful in helping me balance in the water and test whether I'd found unexpected depths. We walked for about an hour until we reached a small waterfall - if we had kept walking we'd have eventually reached the Dead Sea. We returned, walking upstream until we met our local bus again.

A quick stop at a corner shop to buy a packed lunch and we head to Kerak castle. It was interesting to see the differing styles of construction - the crusader parts had very rough hewn walls, which would have been quite easy to scale, whereas the arabic portions had smooth walls.

Back into our coach again, for a drive alongside the dead sea, passing mineral extraction plants until we reach the visitor centre for Feynan Eco Lodge. We transfer into pickup trucks and SUVs to drive through the dark to the Lodge. My jeep broke down, running out of diesel, so our driver had to flag down someone with a jerry can. It felt pretty strange sitting in the jeep in the dark, waiting to see if it would restart. The Lodge itself was great, lit by candlelight, with great vegetarian food. It also had hot showers heated by solar power. The Lodge had a great story, helping the Bedouin learn sustainable trades and become involved in the tourist industry.

Day 5

We rise bright and early, and head off to walk through the Dana nature reserve to the town of Dana. The walk rose gradually for most of the 14km distance, but the last section was a steep switch-backing trail to bring us up to 1400m. We saw many things along the route, bedouin camps with flocks of goats,

spoil heaps from ancient copper mines and spectacular views along the valley.

We reach the town of Dana to a warm welcome from Mehrab, and we then stop for a cup of sage tea at the Dana Hotel. Back on our bus again, travelling towards Wadi Rum.We transferred into Jeeps and were driven through the desert at night to the Milky Way camp. Our tents were simple, with 2 single beds, covered in warm blankets. A vase with a candle provided the illumination. The evening meal was great, the chicken, rice and vegetables was slow cooked in an underground oven. We sat on long low couches, with camel saddles to act as arm rests.

Day 6

We walk to the natural bridge near to the camp, and take  group photos.

We get on board the pickups and SUVs for a tour round the desert. Our driver was a bit of a boy racer, lagging back and then speeding up to the other vans. We stopped to look at a Siq with Nabatean carvings and another wall showing carvings made by caravans.

We stopped at a giant dune, and the fitter amongst us climbed the steep side to the top. I sneaked up the slightly less steep side.  Our drivers showed us how quickly they could both run up and down the hill.

We stopped for lunch which was prepared by the jeep drivers, eaten in a picnic style under a shady overhang. Next we visit a large natural arch, and one of the drivers ran up to the top and walked along the top on his hands. My heart was in my mouth and I couldn't even take a photo I was so shaky. We were joined by the dog that lived in our camp. She was so sweet natured and loped behind the jeeps as we made our way to different stops in the desert.

We stopped to watch the sunset from a rocky outcrop, marvelling at how the light changed the colour of the rock formations.

Back at the camp we look we try star gazing, the Milky Way was so clear, but sometimes the constellations were hard to spot as there were so many other stars visible.

Day 7

We bid a sad goodbye to the Milky Way camp, it was such a lovely experience there and I saw so many great things. We drove to Shobak castle, which had some interesting features like an escape tunnel that lead outside the walls. The rock around Shobak castle was really unusual, with dwellings built into the hillside to take advantage of the rock formations.

After this we travelled to Petra, to stay at the Petra Palace hotel. A relaxing afternoon sat near the pool (unfortunately it was too cold for swimming). Some of the group decided to make the Petra by night tour. We walked down the candle lit path, through the Siq to the treasury. A short performance of local music was given and then there was a speech about the history and the bedouin way of life. I must have misheard some of it as I could have sworn he said 'first you give the coffee to the horse' and spent many minutes trying to work out how you'd get a horse to drink coffee. Eventually I realised he mean host. Doh! It was a great experience to see the treasury in the dark, but it was difficult to take photos without a tripod.







Day 8

We make our first official visit to Petra. The site is HUGE, and I can't even include a tiny fraction of the photos I took in this blog. The sellers of postcards were polite and did not pester too much, and respected Mahdi so that they did not interrupt as he described the tombs, the water management features, and the Djinn blocks.

We walk round the site, learning about the burial practices and how Petra was 'rediscovered'. After lunch we climb to the High Place of Sacrifice, which had blood collection pools (they really should have learned to make black pudding!). Like everywhere in Petra, there were small souvenier stalls en route, and also semi-feral cats.

Day 9 

Today we visited 'Little Petra', a small settlement above the main area of Petra where the caravans would stay. From there we walked through the countryside into Petra, near where the steps lead to the Monastery. On this walk we joined up with a group of French tourists who had also been at the Milky Way camp. Their guide gave so much less information about the things we passed, and it  made me appreciate the knowledge of Mahdi all the more. We walked up the many, steep steps to the monastery and admired the view from a cafe at the top.

Day 10

This was the longest walk on the holiday, up to Jebel Haroun. Mahdi had arranged things to make the walk easier, such as a donkey to carry the water bottles so peoples' packs were lighter. However, I'd been feeling a bit under the weather so decided to take advantage of the 3 day ticket to Petra and was able to take photographs without feeling like I was slowing down the group.

Mark and I went for lunch in the Movenpick hotel. There is a small coffee bar called the 'Caravan Stop' which had delicious sandwiches and cakes. The weather turned dark and ominous, and we had a thunderstorm, luckily the long walk had finished by this point and they only had to walk a short distance in the rain.

Day 11

We leave Petra and start heading north. On our way we stopped for a walk in a wadi. This was different from our first Wadi walk, the water was much colder and the area was less unspoilt. There were large scrambles over boulders to progress along the valley.

After this we went to the Dead Sea for a float. This was a strange experience, as the water is so buoyant it was difficult to stand upright or swim in any way. There were buckets of mud so that you could make a full spa treatment of your float.  After this we had a sunset at the hotel near the sea. In some ways it reminded me of Ibiza, it was a beautiful sunset over the sea, with music in the background and a huge bar bill. We missed the opening times to Mount Nebo, but I wasn't too upset.

We call at a mosaic workshop, which made spectacular mosaic tabletops and faux-mosaic vases, and then arrive in Madeba

Day 11

Our final day on holiday, and I was feeling both happy to soon be home, but also sad that our break was ending. We made a tour of Madeba, which has a famous mosaic map of the region.

After a walk around the city, seeing a recently uncovered Roman mosaic and looking in local shops. Mahdi bought us freshly made felafel on the street, which was great to watch them being prepared, moulded in a little scoop and quickly fried before they were served. The afternoon was free to allow us to finish off our souvenir shopping.  Our final meal was a delicious meal in a local restaurant where we said our thanks to Mahdi and the other members of the group.











Final Thoughts

The holiday information warned that we would be separated from our main luggage for some of the holiday, but Mahdi arranged things otherwise. This was great! We still needed our small holdall for days when we needed to change into dry clothes after wadi walks, but knowing that we didn't have to plan our clothes for several days in advance was great.

The walking was very mixed, several days were 'sightseeing' walking (though that doesn't stop your feet from feeling tired at the end). Other days were quite tough. We also had long days travelling round the country in the bus - Mahdi tried to break this up as much as possible, by stopping at sights on the road, but at the end of the day, the miles had to be covered. This is not a holiday for you if you enjoy the consistency of 6-8 miles every day.

The majority of the places where we stayed did not serve alchohol. Major towns and cities have bottle shops to allow the purchase of beer and spirits, so if you do enjoy an occasional G and T on an evening I would suggest that you visit one of these in Amman (or even in Amman airport, there is a duty free  shop next to the baggage reclaim - though this may change when the airport is upgraded soon).

There were a lot of semi-domesticated cats around, I did feel so sorry for them as their welfare was not really cared for. The donkeys and horses in Petra seem to be treated  mostly ok, as a horse or donkey is an expensive investment, but still I saw drivers whipping them with pieces of electrical flex, which horrified me.

Mahdi was a great local guide, and ran things so efficiently and kept us so informed that the Ramblers guide was unnecessary. He arranged stops to buy packed lunches every day they were needed, and he always counted us in and out of places.

I met some great people on this holiday, and I hope I'll run into them on another Ramblers holiday soon. 

Epilation - Braun Silk Epil 7

Epilation has come a long way from the early days in the '80s. I remember when the 'Lady Remington Smooth and Silky was launched - it promised great things, but I remember trying it and gave up crying in pain.

Every couple of years I'd be tempted into buying a new epilator as I'd get tired of shaving my legs, giving myself ankle hickies trying to home wax or struggling to book into a salon. There would be gimmicks all the time to try and convince you that the epilation would be painless, quick and simple.

I've had an epilator with an ice pack that was supposed to numb the skin (who remembers to keep their ice pack in the freezer? I certainly didn't.) My last purchase had a comb that a comb with the word 'MASSAGE' emblazoned on it, well, actually I honestly can't think what it actually did, but it was luridly purple. I always had the same problems, epilation was just one more job to do after a bath or shower, it hurt, and it was difficult to spot when you'd missed a bit.

Braun have come up with an answer for at least some of these problems - the Silk Epil 7. It's a wet and dry epilator, that is fast to charge (about an hour) and gives up to 40 minutes usage. There's 2 different heads for large area epilation, both of which swivel to help you position the head at the best distance from your skin. It's not just an epilator for your legs. It comes with additional heads - 2 'guards' to give precise hair removal on facial areas or bikini lines. There's also a razor head to allow you to shave areas that you might find a bit sensitive for epilation. A small light, which didn't seem that useful at first, casts light close up on your skin so you can see any stray hairs that you've missed.

 One thing I did notice was on my previous epilator the tweezers were in straight lines, and you could easily not get them aligned perfectly with your skin. The Silk Epil 7 has offset tweezers which can operate at several angles without loss of performance.

This product has given me good results, and has removed even the shortest hairs. However, I'll be honest, it still hurts (What did you expect? You're still ripping out hairs!) but as it does the job so efficiently you spend less time on it, and so have less unpleasantness.

Ramblers Holidays, Walking from Port de Soller

I've recently returned from a walking holiday organised via Ramblers Holidays, based from Port de Soller in Mallorca. Ramblers Holidays  are a firm that has been organizing holidays for keen walkers for many years. I chose to go with them on this holiday as I was going to be travelling by myself, the single supplement was reasonable, local flight departure and the quality of the leaders. Ramblers is quite a traditional firm, and sometimes the booking process felt slow and frustrating in the internet age. Everything once confirmed was great, you receive an information pack several weeks before departure so you know what to pack, the flight tickets arrived in plenty of time, and little details like luggage labels were included.

The hotel used for this holiday was Hotel Marbell - I had many negative points about this hotel, but as I look at my latest Rambler's brochure they don't seem to be using this hotel next year, so I'll take my grumbling to Tripadvisor and not clutter up this blog post.

The holiday is graded as 'D'. While the length of the walking days fit the profile of a 'D' grade, the walking underfoot is quite hard work as the paths are stony and  very easy on which to trip and slip. The location in the island meant that the walks were generally quite steep, as Port de Soller is surrounded by steep hills. As a very overweight asthmatic, of average fitness I was able to walk with the group and keep up, so as long as you're happy with walking on steep and rocky paths it's all fine. The local transport, operated by Repic were great - they were always there to meet us at the end of the day, and were only slightly late once to collect us at the start of the day.

The leader of our holiday was Bob, a regular leader for Ramblers. He was always there with a dry comment on the walk, and was knowledgeable about the terrain we should expect when giving the pre-walk briefings.

The town of Port de Soller was very walker friendly, you could order a sandwich to take on your walk from the Spar and there was a small outdoor goods shop Tramuntana Tours


I'll describe the walks we did as part of the holiday, other departures may vary, as the weather can make some of the walks difficult. A map covering the majority of the area used for the holiday is   ISBN 9788480903585. It seems to be available more cheaply in the local outdoors shop in Soller. The map is 1:25,000 and very clear. Sadly the paper used for the map is very low quality and it is prone to splitting.

Day 2

Just to get us started, we had a walk taking us from Soller, to the village of Fornalutz where we had a tea break in a lovely cafe. From there we went uphill and then back down via the Hermitage which was our late lunchstop. The Hermitage had this little chapel which had very unusual decoration inside, like a grotto with rock formations and statues of the Virgin Mary.

After that it was a walk down to Soller town. We were given the option to walk the 3km into to Port de Soller, or to explore the town and catch the tram home. I went for an explore and visited the train/tram yard

Unfortunately the church in Soller was closed for refurbishment so I couldn't explore there, but the small streets, interesting shops and cafes kept me busy.


Day 3

A walk along the coastal path to Deia, calling at Cala Deia on the way. We stopped for coffee at a farmhouse cafe run by this charming french lady. The chocolate cake looked fabulous. Onwards to Cala Deia, this would usually give us a chance to have a swim, but some wild weather had blown in from the north, making the sea at Cala Deia very rough. Surprisingly, one of the cafes was still open (Patro March), so there was chance for a cup of tea and watching the waves crash against the shore.

From there it was a walk up through the valley towards the village of Deia. We had an hour to explore and get a restorative cup of tea. I walked up the hill, past the stations of the cross embedded in the walls to visit the very humble grave of Robert Graves (author of I, Claudius). The grave was marked with a simple concrete marker, that appeared to have had his name written in whilst still wet.

Day 4

The scheduled walk on this day was to travel by bus to Cuber reservoir, walk up for a total ascent of about 100m, and then walk down the Pilgrim's steps to the village of Biniarix (approximately 650m).

I played hooky this day, and went for a walk to the lighthouse at Es Cap Gros which gives stunning views along the coast.

I had a coffee at the newly refurbished refuge, part of the network of refuges support the Pedra En Sec walking route

Day 5

Official rest day!  I decided to visit Palma city. There are two methods for getting to Palma, tram to Soller and  train onto Palma  , or the express bus 211 operated by TIB  . The train + tram combination costs €14 single, and the bus is €2.90 single. There is a long siesta gap in the train service which could make getting home quite awkward.


I'd done some research on the internet and discovered a cafe that sells churros and the thick hot chocolate that is very filling and rich. So on my way into city I stopped at
Xurreria Rosaleda
Costa de la Pols, 12 Baixos
07003 Palma de Mallorca

Fabulous! So unhealthy but so tasty! After that I had to try and work off the huge amount of calories so I visited the cathedral which while small, has a large number of alters around the church. One was a recent installation by a modern artist, which was very unusual

The cathedral is also pretty impressive when viewed from the outside.

Day 6

A walk starting from the Ses Barques mirador (viewpoint) over Soller, walking eastbound to Platja Tuent. There was a stop in a valley where we could purchase freshly squeezed orange juice from a small farmhouse. It was needed as following this was a steep ascent out of the valley. Once over the saddle of the hills, we had great views along the coast, and our lunch was taken on a large rocky outcrop.

The walk continued along the coast, gently undulating until we reach Tuent. There we could stop for a refreshing drink at the cafe, or go down to the beach for a swim.

Our group of walkers had some very keen swimmers, who took every chance they could to go into the sea, as it was still warm and pleasant.


Day 7 (Or "You can see Ibiza from here!")

This is the crowning glory of the week! A bus journey to Valdemossa, from where we walked steeply uphill to join the 'Archdukes Walk'. This walk may be at the very top of the grade but the scenery is more than worth the extra effort. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Valdemossa is a pretty tourist town, featuring many cafe serving local delicacies such as almond cake, and horchata made with almonds which was very refreshing after a tough day walking.

Day 8

It was sad to say goodbye to the people in the group, who were all very kind and friendly to me, and to the beautiful scenery around Port de Soller. Hopefully I'll meet them again on other Ramblers Holidays, as they have a very loyal customer base.

Great Manchester Run Race Report

Well, the day dawned bloody confusing on the weather front. BBC seemed to imply that while it was cold now, by lunchtime it would be sunny and getting warmer. After much to-ing and fro-ing about what I was going to wear, I opted for a short sleeve shirt, capris and no coat (and a fetching line in goosepimples at the start line).

The start times are getting later and later for the slow wave in this race, it was 12:20 before the last wave got under way, with the usual pointless warm up 30 minutes before the start. The usual shuffle over the line, getting funnelled into the narrow starting gates. Once over the line, everyone exploded off like champagne corks, with a few people regretting it almost instantly and having a breather outside the Rain Bar. The route was the same as last year, with a lot of the pinch points removed, but less scenic.

Fun things spotted en route:
- a girl dressed as Rose Tyler carrying a cutout of David Tennant.
- The Bupa Boost section with a guy proffering vaseline on a gloved index finger (well it made me run faster).

Bad things en route:
- Running out of jelly babies before the pink wave went through.
- Cherry powerade at the start making me gip.
- The giant 30 ft long caterpiller that ran me into the barriers 200m before the finish.

So in the end I finished in 1:19:12 a new PB for me, inside my target time of 1hour 20 and 3 minutes faster than last year. (Beat my race number too ;-) )

MrKitty finished in 55 minutes and the two guys from work managed to get round in 1hr5 and 1hr11, slightly outside their target times, but still feeling very proud of themselves.

Apparently the fat walker factor was high in the Blue wave (target time 1hr) MrKitty was going mental at all the people who were walking by the Rain bar, when they were in a wave where you expect people to be at least jogging.

Nokia - You took your time

But at least you've given E71 users free navigation

http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/04/06/nokia-e71-and-e66-get-free-navigation-today/

A great 5K Series for the Summer

Sale Harriers are organizing their great 5K series of races in Wythenshawe Park. All the organization of the event is flawless, with marshals encouraging you throughout the race. It's so inclusive too - when they say everyone is welcome, they are! The race timings are put up on the internet usually within an hour of the race finish, there's prizes and there are goodies at the end of the race.

Fancy it? You can enter for the individual events on the day or you can get a discount by registering in advance using this form.

Hopefully this year I'll actually get to run them - last year I sprained my ankle so badly I could barely walk while they were going on.

British weather :-(

Booked to go camping in the Lake District ... what does the weather forecast say?

Overnight temperatures of -3!

Going to need my woolly hat I think.

Changes..

Lots of changes in my life at the minute. The failing company I work for has been acquired by giant evil megacorp, and we are going through our 'onboarding' process.

The thing that has thrown me the most - changing my email address from my maiden name to my double barreled married name. Why does this feel so weird? Had I never accepted the name change really?

Nokia - Economical with the truth

There has been a lot of buzz about Nokia making their navigation free forever.

However, it isn't that simple, unless you are on the short list of phones that support Ovi Maps 3.0.3, you don't get the free navigation at all. This means if you have a smartphone such as the E71 you don't get the free navigation, and there are some rumours that you cannot buy new navigation licenses.

Next time, no nokia for me.

Best Warcraft boss encounter strategy walkthrough - EVER!

This strategy was originally written by Numi, of the My Little Pwnies guild. Their wiki has vanished and the guild's forums no longer seem very active. The pictures alone meant that we started calling Obsidian Sanctum the DUVET of DEATH!

Alright guys, Sartharion is a serious boss, and it's going to take a serious strategy to beat him. I drew up a strat for taking him out, and I want everyone to follow it to TO THE LETTER.

The encounter starts with the raid at one end of a rectangular area surrounded by lava, with Sartharion at the other. I'll be referring to where the raid starts as the "bottom" of the area, with "left" and right" being relative to this perspective.

As soon as the battle starts, the tank will pull Sartharion over to the right, rotating him 90 degrees. The tank (represented here by a bear druid) will be backed up to just before the lava, and roughly centered between the top and bottom of the area.

Here's what that looks like from the tank's perspective:

That's all there is to the initial pull. Positioning is important, but if we're a little off, it should be easy to correct mid-fight.

Melee DPS (represented here by two cat druids) will be on Sartharion's side, a bit spread out. They MUST avoid being near Sartharion's face, as he has a nasty cleave. Being near his tail will make it easier to hit Sartharion when he rotates (more on that later) and dodge lava walls (more on that later). Thankfully, Sartharion has a HUGE hitbox, so you can be a bit flexible with the positioning.

Ranged DPS (represented here by a moonkin druid) will be a little ways back from Sartharion. They should err a little more towards Sartharion's tail, because...

Healers (represented here by a restoration druid) will be in the same row as ranged DPS, more towards his head. Again, don't get too close, or his Cleave will destroy you.
Here's what the positioning will look like for most of the fight, from the DPS's perspective:

Now, the major thing about the positioning is that the platform is divided up into five or so zones:

Lava walls will occasionally rise up from either the left or the right, and slowly sweep across every other zone. This is preceded by an emote about Lava Surging around the Platform or something.
When they rise from the right:

...they'll cover the even zones (2n). If we're in position, the tank will not have to move, and everyone else (possibly even the melee, depending on Sartharion's position and how close to the edge of his hitbox they are) will have to run up to Sartharion's belly to give him a hug. Er, avoid the lava wall, like so:

Until the main tank has experience with exactly where the safe zone is, he should try to keep an eye behind him to make sure the first lava wall doesn't catch him by surprise.
When they rise from the left:

...they've cover the odd zones (2n-1). If we're not in position, THAT'S A FIFTY DKP MINUS. Otherwise, the tank will have to strafe right, the melee will have to back off, and the ranged classes will be safe. That'll look like this:

Notice that Sartharion has rotated. It's possible the melee DPS will be able to clump up near his tail and continue to hit him (he doesn't have a tail swipe, apparently). (EDIT: Sartharion does have a tail swipe that stuns.) If it's possible, go for it, otherwise chill out until the lava wall has passed and the tank has rotated him back into position. From the tank's perspective, it'll look like this:

Try to keep your camera zoomed out so you can see the lava wall forming on the horizon. Even if it's hard to see behind Sartharion, you should be able to simply look back and to your left whenever the lava emotes to see if a wall is forming there or not. If it isn't, you'll have to move!
Also, occasionally adds will spawn in the raid. These will look like fire elementals, exactly like this:

The off-tank will need to pick these up right away, followed by the DPS burning them down with AoE.

The off-tank must continue to watch for lava walls during this period. It would be nasty enough to get hit by a lava wall while tanking the fire elemental pack, but even worse, the walls will turn a normal marshmallow seal...

...a burnt marshmallow seal! Burnt marshmallows deal 400% more damage, which will probably wipe us if a whole pack gets hit by it. Therefore, the off-tank must do whatever it takes to get the elementals out of the path of the lava waves. He/she should probably keep them away from the edges of the area, to avoid surprise lava walls. Sartharion will normally summon 2-4 elementals at a time; however, when his HP gets low enough, he will start summoning more. When he does so, healers will need to give extra love to the off-tank.
...also Sartharion will occasionally lob slow-moving fireballs / meteors at a random person in the raid. You can and should dodge these. It's also a good reason to stay spread out, so he doesn't constantly drop meteors on the giant raider clump. Think Void Reaver, but a lot less frequent. I just don't know which of my stuffed animals best represents an AoE meteor.

Follow these steps, and we should be taking a success screenshot this very night!

NEXT WEEK: KEL'THUZAD, RIGHT HAND OF THE LICH KING