Why this ride
167 km from Dār Kulayb to Dār Kulayb, about 2 h 34 of riding. It goes by way of Janabiyah, Bū Māhir Seashore, Royal Mound 10 and Pearling.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field and Pearling
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 167 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 34
- 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: 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field
Bahrain was once covered with burial mounds. Over thousands of years, between roughly 2200 BC and the early centuries AD, the people of Dilmun, an ancient civilisation that controlled trade in the Gulf between Mesopotamia and the Indus valley, built tens of thousands of tombs across the northern part of the island. Many have been lost to modern development, but some fields survive, and in 2019 a selection of them, including the Madinat Hamad mound fields, was inscribed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Dilmun Burial Mounds.
Read the complete Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field is where the day begins. Next is Janabiyah.
2. Janabiyah
Bahrain is a small island, but it has been important for a very long time. Under the name Dilmun, it was a trading centre of the Bronze Age, linking Mesopotamia with the Indus valley, and the fresh water that bubbles up from beneath the seabed made it a stop for ships. Janabiyah lies on the western side of the main island, near the coast road, a village among low, flat land where date palms, farms and new housing meet the edge of the desert.
Read the complete Janabiyah write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Janabiyah comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bū Māhir Seashore.
3. Bū Māhir Seashore
Bahrain was once a pearl island, and its fortune depended on a harvest that took place under water. For centuries before oil, the men of Muharraq sailed out into the Gulf in the summer months to dive for oysters, going down on a single breath with a nose clip and a stone to carry them to the bottom, and bringing up baskets of shells in the hope of finding a pearl. The Bahraini pearls were famous, and their trade supported merchants, boat owners and whole districts. In the 1930s the Japanese invented cultured pearls, and the market collapsed, which is partly why Bahrain was so ready for oil.
Read the complete Bū Māhir Seashore write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Bū Māhir Seashore. Next is Royal Mound 10.
4. Royal Mound 10
The mounds at Hayr Shtayyah are part of something that is hard to grasp until you see it from above: the largest ancient burial landscape in the Gulf. Across the island of Bahrain, tens of thousands of low, rounded mounds, made of stone and sand, are scattered across the desert and in places, they stretch to the horizon. They were built mostly by the Dilmun civilisation, in the third and second millennia BC, when Bahrain was a rich trading hub between Mesopotamia and the Indus valley, and UNESCO has listed a selection of these burial grounds as World Heritage.
Read the complete Royal Mound 10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Royal Mound 10, about halfway. Next is Pearling.
5. Pearling
Pearling is the idea behind the whole route, not a single building, and the point on this map marks the heart of the old pearl trade in Muharraq. For centuries, divers set out from here each summer on wooden boats to work the oyster beds in the shallow Gulf, and the season, the long dive, lasted from about June to September. A diver went down with a clip on his nose, a stone to take him to the bottom, and a basket for the oysters, holding his breath for a minute or more and repeating the dive dozens of times a day. A rope hauled by a companion on deck brought him back up. The work was hard, the pay was poor, and many divers were in debt to the boat captain, the nokhada, for the whole of their working lives.
Read the complete Pearling write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pearling sits at 73 km, about halfway. Next is back through Royal Mound 10.
6. back through Royal Mound 10
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Royal Mound 10 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Royal Mound 10 comes up about 106 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Bū Māhir Seashore.
7. back through Bū Māhir Seashore
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bū Māhir Seashore write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 125 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Bū Māhir Seashore. Next is back through Janabiyah.
8. back through Janabiyah
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Janabiyah write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Janabiyah, late in the day. Next is Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field.
9. Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 167 km.
Leg by leg
Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field to Janabiyah
Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field → Janabiyah is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Janabiyah to Bū Māhir Seashore
Janabiyah → Bū Māhir Seashore is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bū Māhir Seashore to Royal Mound 10
Bū Māhir Seashore → Royal Mound 10 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Royal Mound 10 to Pearling
Royal Mound 10 → Pearling is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pearling to back through Royal Mound 10
Pearling → back through Royal Mound 10 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Royal Mound 10 to back through Bū Māhir Seashore
back through Royal Mound 10 → back through Bū Māhir Seashore is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bū Māhir Seashore to back through Janabiyah
back through Bū Māhir Seashore → back through Janabiyah is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Janabiyah to Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field
back through Janabiyah → Madinat Hamad 3 Burial Mound Field is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.