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: 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.
A 642 km round trip from Rustaq - roughly 11 h 05 in the saddle. It goes by way of Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman, Falaj Al-Katmeen, Falaj Daris and Bahla Fort. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 21 km this is Oman Jebel Akhdar Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Falaj Al-Muyasser is where the day begins. Next is Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman.
Nizwa lies at the foot of the Hajar mountains in the interior of Oman, and its date groves exist because of a method of bringing water that is older than the town. The aflaj, plural of falaj, are channels that carry water by gravity from mountain springs or underground sources to fields and villages, sometimes for many kilometres. UNESCO listed a group of five in 2006, among them Falaj Daris, which feeds Nizwa and is one of the largest in the country. Some aflaj are believed to be very old, perhaps thousands of years, and they are still in use, with the water divided among families by time, measured by sundials in the daytime and by the stars at night.
Read the complete Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman comes up about 137 km into the recorded legs. Next is Falaj Al-Katmeen.
At the foot of the Hajar mountains, near the old town of Birkat al Mouz between Izki and Nizwa, the Falaj al Khatmeen is one of five Omani irrigation systems listed by UNESCO as the Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman. A falaj is a channel that brings water from a spring or an underground source, sometimes kilometres away, to villages and date gardens, and this one has been running for centuries. What makes the aflaj remarkable is the system of sharing: the water is divided among the owners of shares by time, traditionally measured by the shadow of a sundial by day and the movement of the stars by night, and the rules are managed by the community with great precision. Walking along the narrow stone channel, with fish darting in the clear water and the shade of the palms overhead, you feel the coolness that comes from water in the desert.
Read the complete Falaj Al-Katmeen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 190 km into the recorded legs you reach Falaj Al-Katmeen. 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, about halfway. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bahla Fort sits at 322 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 403 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Falaj Al-Katmeen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Falaj Al-Katmeen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 454 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Falaj Al-Katmeen. Next is back through Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman, late in the day. Next is Falaj Al-Muyasser.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Falaj Al-Muyasser write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 642 km.
Falaj Al-Muyasser → Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman is 137 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman → Falaj Al-Katmeen is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Falaj Al-Katmeen → Falaj Daris is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Falaj Daris → Bahla Fort is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bahla Fort → back through Falaj Daris is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Falaj Daris → back through Falaj Al-Katmeen is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Falaj Al-Katmeen → back through Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman → Falaj Al-Muyasser is 137 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.