Why this ride
From Al Muharraq it runs 934 km to Al Muharraq; allow about 16 h 58 of riding. It crosses from Bahrain into Qatar - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Badr Ghulum House and Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 934 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 16 h 58
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Badr Ghulum House
Badr Ghulum house is the last of the Muharraq pearl houses on this list, and it is a good place to say something about the island as a whole. Muharraq is small, flat and low, joined by causeways to Manama and, farther south, to the main island of Bahrain, and the whole country of Bahrain is a little archipelago in the Gulf,. From here a longer causeway runs west to Saudi Arabia, and it carries heavy traffic at weekends, which gives the island a feeling of being at a crossroads.
Read the complete Badr Ghulum House write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Badr Ghulum House is where the day begins. Next is Hayr Shtayyah.
2. Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Out on the north-west coast of Qatar, where the desert slides into a shallow turquoise sea, stand the low ruins of Al Zubarah, once one of the busiest pearling and trading towns in the Gulf. In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the town thrived on pearls dived from the oyster beds offshore, traded on to India, Persia and beyond. Then it declined, was abandoned in the early twentieth century, and the sand covered it. Archaeologists have since uncovered streets, houses, a souk, mosques and a long town wall running in an arc around the old harbour. UNESCO inscribed the site in 2013.
Read the complete Al Zubarah Archaeological Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 471 km into the recorded legs you reach Al Zubarah Archaeological Site. Next is back through Hayr Shtayyah.
3. Badr Ghulum House
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Badr Ghulum House write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Badr Ghulum House. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Badr Ghulum House to Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Badr Ghulum House → Al Zubarah Archaeological Site is 471 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site to Badr Ghulum House
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site → Badr Ghulum House is 471 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.