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.
A 189 km round trip from Bahlā’ - roughly 3 h 34 in the saddle. The stops in between: Falaj Daris, Falaj Al-Malki and back through Falaj Daris. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 32 km this is Oman Jebel Akhdar Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bahla Fort is where the day begins. Next is Falaj Daris.
Water has always been the measure of wealth in the Omani interior, and at Nizwa it arrives through a channel that has been flowing for centuries. Falaj Daris is the largest of the aflaj, the traditional irrigation systems of Oman, and it carries water from underground sources in the foothills of the Jebel Akhdar to the date gardens and fields of Nizwa. The system works by gravity, with tunnels and open channels sometimes running for kilometres, and the water is shared among farmers according to an ancient system of time-based rights, managed by a local official. Falaj Daris is one of five aflaj inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2006, recognising a technology that may go back two thousand years or more.
Read the complete Falaj Daris write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Falaj Daris comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Falaj Al-Malki.
The Falaj Al-Malki is one of the irrigation channels that UNESCO listed in 2006 as part of the aflaj of Oman, and it lies near Izki, in the valley below the great wall of Jebel Akhdar. Izki is an old oasis town with palm groves and a ruined mud-brick quarter, strategically placed at the Sumail Gap, the natural pass that has linked the coast and the interior for thousands of years. Caravans, armies and traders all passed here, and the town has always had its share of tribal rivalries and politics.
Read the complete Falaj Al-Malki write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Falaj Al-Malki. Next is back through Falaj Daris.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Falaj Daris write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Falaj Daris, late in the day. Next is Bahla Fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bahla Fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Bahla Fort. That is the ride.
Bahla Fort → Falaj Daris is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Falaj Daris → Falaj Al-Malki is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Falaj Al-Malki → back through Falaj Daris is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Falaj Daris → Bahla Fort is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.