This is the Hauran, the volcanic plateau of southern Syria, where black basalt lies across the land like spilled coal and the villages are built of the same stone, so that houses seem to grow from the fields. Bosra, the famous Roman city, lies less than a kilometre from the spot, and everything around it follows the same dark theme.
The soil is the secret. Lava flows from the volcanic field to the east, which rises to the Jabal al-Druze mountain, broke down over millennia into deep, red-brown earth that grows excellent wheat. The Romans valued the region as a granary, and farmers still plough stony fields, stack the boulders into walls and plant olives and fruit trees where the ground allows. In spring the contrast of green shoots against black stone is unusually striking, and the sky is huge.
For motorcyclists, the terrain means long, straight roads across open plateau, with the occasional gentle bend around a wadi or old lava hill. Crosswinds can be strong, dust blows in summer, and the heat between June and September is severe, so start at dawn. Fuel and supplies are best taken in larger towns, since smaller villages have limited services, and the distances between settlements encourage careful planning. Sabha and Daraa lie in the surrounding area.
The area has been touched by conflict in recent years, and anyone drawn by the region's archaeology should consult up-to-date travel advice before making plans. Beyond that, it is worth knowing that the ride's other stop, Umm ar-Rasas, lies across the border in Jordan, with its mosaics and the tall stylite tower, evidence of the way this whole basalt country once formed a single cultural landscape linked by trade, faith and the road that led to Damascus. It is a landscape to understand slowly.