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 562 km round trip from Rustaq - roughly 9 h 41 in the saddle. It goes by way of Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman, Falaj Al-Malki and back through Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 51 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 145 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 281 km into the recorded legs you reach Falaj Al-Malki. 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.
Back at Falaj Al-Muyasser. That is the ride.
Falaj Al-Muyasser → Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman is 145 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman → Falaj Al-Malki is 136 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Falaj Al-Malki → back through Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman is 136 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 145 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.