Slowly, the valley and plains appear out of the darkness
We got up really early today – 5.40 am – to see the sun rise over Wadi Ghul. It was uncomfortably cold outside, but the colours playing across the vast sky made up for it. At least for a while. Once the mornings glow had played out and the sun was up, it would take another 45 minutes for it to reach “our horizon”, the steep mountain across the valley. We decided that the time would be much better spend warming up and catching up on sleep hiding in the tent.
Ready to leave our little spot in the sky now
Once the sun was fully up and the tent warmed by the morning rays, we were ready to get out and start our day. We knew it would be the last packing up for a couple of days, so we took our time. Even so, the bike was packed and the road beneath us at about 9 am.
There was plenty of time in the day and our goal was only 300 km away in Sohar with no point being there before 5 pm. Based on that and the great condition of the gravel roads up here, I was able to convince Nina to explore a bit further. The highest point of Jebel Shams is another 1000m up. An Air Force radar station was build on top, so the map showed a road going all the way up. Naturally, I wanted to see how far we can go. I think the highest we had taken Rocinante so far was around 2400m.
Had to capture the epic-ness one more time
It turned out that this would have to stand for a while longer since there was a gate and guard house with a sign telling us that entry is prohibited. As we were about to turn around, an Air Force guard came out and after a moment invited us over. I am always up for coffee and we had nothing to do, so we accepted. Nasser and his aid Adi were amazing hosts. We got Omani dates and coffee until we thought we could take no more. Then they brought out the chai tea. We spent an hour with them, talking about out trip, their families and the world in general. What an amazingly warm experience.
When we were too full to eat any more dates or have any more tea, we received a “small” bag of dates for the road, about the size of a head. Glowing, we got ready and back onto the bike to leave Jebel Shams. Thank you Nasser and thank you Adi for such an amazing experience.
The beehive tombs are up on a ridge next to a dry wadi
There was one more box to tick before it was all about getting “home” again to Lina. Oman is famous for its many archaeological sites – the last one on our list was one of the groups of beehive tombs on the way. These towers were build more than 3000 years ago as burial mounds, but not much else is known about them. When we reached the site some time after lunch, we were surprised on how low key this was compared to so many other destinations in Oman. No big sign or infrastructure around. Just this amazing site at the other side of a wadi. Luckily, we had a point of interest in the GPS.
Wadi, gardens, a mosque and the mountain range give great context to the beehives
To get to the tombs, we had to cross a horticulture and gardens and then the dried up riverbed of the wadi itself on foot. It was actually pretty cool to get a good close up view of such an integral part of everyday Omani life. There were about a dozen towers in varying states of conservation, but for the most part it was pretty clear how this must have looked like. We wandered around a bit, took a heap more photos and walked back to the bike. There, we got talking to a farmer on his way back from his field. He told us that he emigrated 20 years ago from Islamabad and invited us for tea. With a heavy heart (we had 200 km to go) we declined as politely as we could and got back on the road. What a welcoming country!
The road between Ibri and Sohar leads through the mountains once more
The ride back was beautiful once more – even though we almost got lost at a road closure on the way. Oman is the country where our GPS data is probably most outdated – mainly because of the incredible speed with which new roads are being build or expanded. This road from Ibri to Sohar will soon be dualised and in prime condition. For now, it was still a beautiful highway through the mountains and then down a wadi towards the northern coastal plain.
The day ended in a little surprise. Last week, we checked with our friends whether they would be around during the weekend, to hang out one more time before we had to move on. We knew that we would arrive earlier in the week, though, and had sent texts to confirm today’s arrival. As it turned out, our texts got lost in limbo and Lina and Michael were quite surprised to have us right at their doorstep tonight. Soon the surprise had worn off, though. We got a nice dinner and the room prepared for us. It is so nice to be welcomed, even if one shows up “unannounced”.
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