Muscat is long, low and white, a city squeezed between the Gulf of Oman and the bare ridges of the Hajar mountains. Instead of towers it has a limit on building heights and a taste for cream-coloured walls, so the whole coast looks calm. The old heart is at Muttrah, where a corniche curves around a working harbour, the souq lies in a maze of alleys filled with silver, frankincense and cloth, and two sixteenth-century Portuguese forts, Jalali and Mirani, stand watch on rocks above the old palace of the sultan at Al Alam. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, finished in 2001, is the grand modern counterpart, with a vast carpet and a chandelier that dazzles even people who say they are not impressed.
For a rider the city is a gateway. The new expressways cut inland through the mountains toward Nizwa and the interior, climbing through rocky gorges where the rock is rust, black and grey and the air feels thin and dry. Beyond, there are forts, date gardens and the high plateau of Jebel Shams. Two of the rides here are about the falaj, the ancient irrigation channels that carry water from mountain springs to villages by gravity, and the World Heritage listing for the aflaj of Oman includes Falaj Daris at Nizwa and the Al-Khatmeen channel near Birkat Al Mawz. Some of these systems are believed to be well over a thousand years old, and a village committee still divides the water by time.
The weather settles the riding season. From late October to March the days are warm and pleasant, but in summer the heat is severe, with temperatures over forty degrees, and a ride in full gear is only for dawn and dusk. Roads are excellent, with good signs in English, and speed cameras are frequent and strictly enforced. Dust and sand blow across the road in places, and camels and goats do cross, particularly at night.
Fuel is cheap and available on every main road, and in the capital you will never be far from a station, a cafe or a workshop. Try the halwa, the sticky spiced sweet that Omanis serve with coffee, and take the coffee as it comes, small and flavoured with cardamom. A visit to the harbour at sunset is worth the time.