CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
100 km one way from Nizwá - plan on about 2 h 33 of riding. On the way it passes Al Hamra and Wadi Ghul. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 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 about 43 km this is Oman Jebel Shams Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Nizwá was the capital of Oman for centuries, and it still feels like the heart of the interior. About seventy thousand people live in this oasis city, at the foot of the Hajar Mountains, among date palms watered by falaj channels, the ancient irrigation systems that carry water from the hills by gravity, some of which have been in use for more than a thousand years. UNESCO has recognised the aflaj of Oman for their importance.
Read the complete Nizwá write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nizwa is where the day begins. Next is Al Hamra.
Al Hamra is a town of old mud-brick houses at the foot of the Hajar mountains, and the pale walls and flat roofs of its old quarter blend so completely into the hillside that you can ride past without noticing them. The old town is built of mud, stone and palm trunks, and much of it is a tangle of narrow lanes and tall, windowless walls, where families lived for centuries. A few houses have been restored, and one of them is a small museum showing how people lived, with kitchens, grain stores and stables. The new town lies below, with its shops, mosque and petrol stations, and a modern road runs through it.
Read the complete Al Hamra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Al Hamra comes up about 49 km into the recorded legs. Next is Wadi Ghul.
Wadi Ghul lies at the foot of Jebel Shams, where a deep canyon opens in the mountain wall, and it has the nickname of the Grand Canyon of Oman, a title the locals are happy to use even if the scale is smaller. From the rim, the cliffs fall away for about a kilometre, a vast trench of grey and ochre rock, with the dry bed of the wadi twisting at the bottom. On the canyon wall, a few abandoned villages cling to the slopes, houses of stone and mud that look like a bird's nest on a ledge. A narrow footpath, known as the Balcony Walk, follows the rim at a dizzying height, and it is a popular walk for those with a head for heights.
Read the complete Wadi Ghul write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 92 km into the recorded legs you reach Wadi Ghul. Next is Jebel Shams viewpoint.
Jebel Shams, the Mountain of the Sun, is the highest peak in Oman, at about 3,000 metres, and the road to the viewpoint brings you to the edge of Wadi Ghul, often called the Grand Canyon of Arabia. The canyon is about a kilometre deep, with walls that drop almost vertically into a gorge of ochre and grey rock, and the abandoned village of Ghul clings to a ledge far below. The plateau is cool, with a thin atmosphere and long views, and in winter, it can be cold enough for frost. The nearest towns, Rustaq, Bahla and Bayt al Awabi, are thirty kilometres or so away on the plain.
Read the complete Jebel Shams viewpoint write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jebel Shams viewpoint closes the day.
Nizwa → Al Hamra is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Al Hamra → Wadi Ghul is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wadi Ghul → Jebel Shams viewpoint is 8 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.