CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
460 km from Amman to Aqaba, about 6 h 52 of riding. It goes by way of Mount Nebo, Dead Sea and Wadi Mujib. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 58 km this is Jordan Kings Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Amman is the starting point of Jordan's King's Highway, the old road that runs south through the country to the Red Sea, and it is also a city worth a day of its own. It is built on a series of hills, once seven, and the oldest part is the Citadel, which holds the pillars of a Roman temple to Hercules, a Byzantine church and an Umayyad palace, all on the same ridge. The ancient name was Philadelphia, after the Ptolemaic king who rebuilt it, and before that Rabbath Ammon, the capital of the Ammonites. Down in the valley below, a large Roman theatre, carved into the hillside and seating around six thousand people, still stages concerts.
Read the complete Amman write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Amman is where the day begins. Next is Mount Nebo.
Mount Nebo is a modest ridge, a little over 800 metres high, in the hills above the Dead Sea in Jordan, but it has one of the most famous viewpoints in the Middle East. According to the Bible, this is the place where Moses was shown the Promised Land, before he died without crossing the Jordan. From the terrace, the land falls away dramatically, and on a clear day you can see the Jordan Valley, the northern end of the Dead Sea, the oasis of Jericho, and, in good light, the hills around Jerusalem. The haze often hides the farthest views, so the morning and late afternoon are best.
Read the complete Mount Nebo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mount Nebo comes up 172 km in. Next is Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the surface of the Earth, about 430 metres below sea level, and it is a strange experience to ride down to it. From Amman the road drops through the hills, with the temperature rising noticeably, until the great expanse of pale blue water appears beneath dry, ochre-coloured cliffs. The salt content is almost ten times that of the ocean, so nothing lives in it, and swimmers float effortlessly on the surface, reading a newspaper if they wish.
Read the complete Dead Sea write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
344 km in you reach Dead Sea. Next is Wadi Mujib.
Wadi Mujib is the lowest nature reserve on Earth, and the Kings Highway crosses it in one of the most dramatic descents in Jordan. The road drops from the plateau near Madaba down the side of a great canyon, in a long series of bends, to a bridge at the bottom, and then climbs the other side, a change of several hundred metres in a few kilometres. The canyon, which the Bible calls the Arnon, was the boundary between the kingdoms of Moab and the Amorites, and it carves a deep red-brown gash through the sandstone toward the Dead Sea.
Read the complete Wadi Mujib write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wadi Mujib, late in the day. Next is Aqaba.
Aqaba is the end of the line, and the reward is the sea. Jordan has just a few dozen kilometres of coastline, all of it on the Gulf of Aqaba at the top of the Red Sea, and this is where it is. After a long day crossing the desert from Amman, either on the fast Desert Highway or the lower, rift-valley road along the Dead Sea and Wadi Araba, you arrive in a town of about ninety-five thousand people where the water is turquoise and the hills behind it are the colour of rust.
Read the complete Aqaba write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Aqaba. That is the ride.
Amman → Mount Nebo is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mount Nebo → Dead Sea is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dead Sea → Wadi Mujib is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wadi Mujib → Aqaba is 490 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.