Why this ride
On the way it passes Bahla Fort, Falaj Al-Muyasser and back through Bahla Fort. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Archaeological Sites of Bat and Falaj Al-Muyasser
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 685 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 36
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Oman Jebel Shams Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 223 km this is Oman Jebel Shams Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 223 km
- Named road
- Oman Jebel Shams Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Archaeological Sites of Bat
There is a ridge in the Omani interior where stone beehive towers still stand in a line against the sky, and they are about five thousand years old. The Bat area, near the oasis town of Ibri on the edge of the Hajar mountains, holds some of the best preserved remains of the Bronze Age in the Arabian peninsula, along with the nearby sites of Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn. The beehive tombs were built in the third millennium BC, in the so-called Umm an-Nar period, from stacked, dressed stones, and the settlement towers beside them watched over a landscape of wadis and date palms.
Read the complete Archaeological Sites of Bat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Archaeological Sites of Bat is where the day begins. Next is Bahla Fort.
2. Bahla Fort
Bahla Fort rises above the oasis like a mountain made of mud. Its massive walls and towers of adobe and stone, built on a rocky outcrop in the plain below the Hajar mountains, were the stronghold of the Banu Nebhan, a tribe that dominated the region from roughly the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Around the fort, the old town of Bahla is enclosed by a wall that runs for kilometres across the oasis, and the date palms and fields inside are watered by aflaj, ancient irrigation channels that carry water from underground sources and springs. UNESCO listed the fort in 1987, and after years of restoration, it is open to visitors.
Read the complete Bahla Fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bahla Fort comes up about 120 km into the recorded legs. Next is Falaj Al-Muyasser.
3. Falaj Al-Muyasser
Water decides everything in Oman's interior, and the falaj is how people have managed it for well over a thousand years, by some accounts much longer. A falaj is a channel that brings water from a mountain spring, a wadi or an underground source, sometimes through tunnels dug by hand, and divides it among the farms of a village according to a strict timetable of shares. Falaj al-Muyassar in Rustaq is one of five aflaj inscribed by UNESCO in 2006 as examples of this system, which still keeps date palm gardens green at the edge of the desert.
Read the complete Falaj Al-Muyasser write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 343 km into the recorded legs you reach Falaj Al-Muyasser. Next is back through Bahla Fort.
4. back through Bahla Fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bahla Fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bahla Fort, late in the day. Next is Archaeological Sites of Bat.
5. Archaeological Sites of Bat
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Sites of Bat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Archaeological Sites of Bat. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Archaeological Sites of Bat to Bahla Fort
Archaeological Sites of Bat → Bahla Fort is 120 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bahla Fort to Falaj Al-Muyasser
Bahla Fort → Falaj Al-Muyasser is 223 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Falaj Al-Muyasser to back through Bahla Fort
Falaj Al-Muyasser → back through Bahla Fort is 223 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bahla Fort to Archaeological Sites of Bat
back through Bahla Fort → Archaeological Sites of Bat is 119 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.