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.
From Al Buraymī it runs 82 km to Al Buraymī; allow about 1 h 34 of riding. The stops in between: West Ridge Hafit Tombs, Jebel Hafit Desert Park and back through West Ridge Hafit Tombs. It crosses from Oman into United Arab Emirates - carry ID and check the toll rules. Dry, open country - carry water.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 15 km this is Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Jebel Hafit is the mountain that dominates the skyline here, a long, jagged limestone ridge rising abruptly from the desert plain on the border between Oman and the Emirates. Its slopes are littered with beehive-shaped stone tombs, built about five thousand years ago, among the oldest of their kind in the Arabian Peninsula. Hili North Tomb B belongs to the same oasis landscape as the better-known Hili sites and is a short ride from Buraimi, with the mountain filling the horizon to the south.
Read the complete Hili North Tomb B write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Hili North Tomb B is where the day begins. Next is West Ridge Hafit Tombs.
The road up Jebel Hafit is one of the best-known motorcycle climbs in the Gulf, and it is easy to understand why. It runs for about twelve kilometres, with dozens of well-surfaced bends and hairpins that wind up the flank of the mountain to a summit plateau at roughly 1,200 metres, and from there you can see the whole of Al Ain spread out below and the desert running into the haze. In a country of motorways and flat horizons, it is a gift.
Read the complete West Ridge Hafit Tombs write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
West Ridge Hafit Tombs comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jebel Hafit Desert Park.
For riders in the Gulf, there is a road that people talk about with real affection. Jebel Hafit, a long, rocky ridge that rises out of the flat gravel plain on the border between the United Arab Emirates and Oman, is about 1,240 metres high, and a smooth tarmac road snakes up its eastern flank in a long series of hairpins and bends to the top, a distance of about eleven kilometres. At the summit, a hotel and a viewing terrace look out over the oasis city of Al Ain, with the desert stretching away to the horizon, and at dusk the lights come on below like a field of stars. Motorcyclists and cyclists come here in the cooler months, usually early in the morning or at sunset, and the road is one of the best in the country.
Read the complete Jebel Hafit Desert Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Jebel Hafit Desert Park. Next is back through West Ridge Hafit Tombs.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete West Ridge Hafit Tombs write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through West Ridge Hafit Tombs, late in the day. Next is Hili North Tomb B.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hili North Tomb B write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Hili North Tomb B. That is the ride.
Hili North Tomb B → West Ridge Hafit Tombs is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
West Ridge Hafit Tombs → Jebel Hafit Desert Park is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Hafit Desert Park → back through West Ridge Hafit Tombs is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through West Ridge Hafit Tombs → Hili North Tomb B is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.