Why this ride
920 km from Jidd Ḩafş to Jidd Ḩafş, about 16 h 44 of riding. It crosses from Bahrain into Qatar - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Core zone 2 and Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 920 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 16 h 44
- 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. Core zone 2
Bahrain's pearl-diving history is the reason this scrap of coast matters. For centuries, before oil, the island's wealth came from the oyster beds in the shallow waters, and divers went out for months each summer, working with a nose clip, a stone weight and a basket. Pearls from these waters were prized from India to Europe. Then in the 1930s cultured pearls from Japan collapsed the market, and oil, struck in 1932, took over. The Pearling Path, a UNESCO listing since 2012, preserves buildings and sea sites connected with that older economy, including Fakhro House and the offshore oyster beds called Hayr Shtayyah.
Read the complete Core zone 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Core zone 2 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 463 km into the recorded legs you reach Al Zubarah Archaeological Site. Next is back through Hayr Shtayyah.
3. Core zone 2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Core zone 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Core zone 2. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Core zone 2 to Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Core zone 2 → Al Zubarah Archaeological Site is 463 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site to Core zone 2
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site → Core zone 2 is 463 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.