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.
298 km one way from Şalālah - plan on about 5 h 20 of riding. The stops in between: Wadi Darbat, Jebel Samhan and Mirbat. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 950 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 56 km this is Oman Salalah Mountain and Coast Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Salalah is a city that does not match anyone's picture of Arabia. It lies on a green coastal plain in Dhofar, in the south of Oman, backed by a ridge of mountains that catch the monsoon. From about June to September the clouds roll in, the khareef begins, and the hills turn the colour of an Irish valley, with drizzle, mist and waterfalls, and Gulf visitors drive down in their thousands to enjoy the cool. The rest of the year the plain is hot, but the coconut palms, banana plantations and the sea breeze keep it gentle, and the mountains stay dry and brown.
Read the complete Salalah write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Salalah is where the day begins. Next is Wadi Darbat.
Wadi Darbat lies in the hills behind Salalah, in Dhofar, the southern province of Oman, and it is one of those places that does not seem to belong to Arabia. For three months in summer, from roughly late June to September, the khareef, the south-west monsoon, wraps the coastal mountains in mist and drizzle, and the slopes turn from brown to green. The wadi fills with water, a lake forms, a waterfall tumbles over a limestone cliff, and the grass is thick enough for cattle and camels to graze in the cool damp.
Read the complete Wadi Darbat write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wadi Darbat comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jebel Samhan.
Jebel Samhan is the highest part of the mountain wall that rises behind the Dhofar coast, east of Salalah, and it is one of the wildest corners of Oman. The plateau, a rolling limestone upland of about eighteen hundred metres in places, is cut by deep wadis and cliffs that fall steeply toward the Arabian Sea, and much of it is protected as a nature reserve, home to the Arabian leopard, one of the rarest big cats in the world. You are very unlikely to see one, since they are shy and few, but the idea that they are up there adds to the mood.
Read the complete Jebel Samhan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 107 km into the recorded legs you reach Jebel Samhan. Next is Mirbat.
Mirbat is a small, quiet town on the Arabian Sea, about seventy kilometres east of Salalah, and it has more history than its size suggests. For centuries it was a trading port, exporting frankincense and fine horses to India, and a few old houses with carved doors and wooden shutters survive in the old quarter, though many are in ruins. The town has a low white fort, a pretty beach and a fishing harbour where the boats come in at dawn, and the calm of the place is a relief after the traffic of Salalah.
Read the complete Mirbat write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mirbat, late in the day. Next is Mughsail.
At Mughsail the mountains of southern Oman run straight into the Arabian Sea and stop. The cliffs here, pale and weather-stained, drop in sheer walls to a long beach of pale sand, and in the middle of the rock you will find the blowholes, natural chimneys through which the sea is forced up and sprays into the air. They perform best in the khareef, the monsoon season from about July to September, when the swell is heavy and the spray rises high above the platform. Salalah lies about thirty-seven kilometres to the east, and that is where you will find fuel and a proper meal before you come out here.
Read the complete Mughsail write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Mughsail. That is the ride.
Salalah → Wadi Darbat is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wadi Darbat → Jebel Samhan is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Samhan → Mirbat is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mirbat → Mughsail is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.