What on earth is “Nam of Opal” ?
The long definition: If you look it up in a Dirt Bike dictionary you will discover it’s the name given to an off-road ride completely around the Sultanate of Oman. Starting in Muscat and following an anti-clockwise direction it takes in the North West coast, follows a path Southwards close-by its neighboring countries borders all the way to Salalah, and then back up to Muscat again following the coast. This is basically a reverse route of the so called Lap Of Oman, first completed in March 2007 by 3 of Oman’s Dirt Bikers…..
The short definition: Lap of Oman….spelt backwards (cunning hey!)….on Honda Dirt bikes
The Curlys
Curly Ian: Known to his mates as Grumpy, yet remained remarkably composed for once, all things considered. Spent the 3 evenings leading up to the ride running in his newly rebuilt CRF450X engine. A veteran of this circumnavigational sillyness. The new “King of Rock”, stage name Rick O’Shea.
Curly Scott: Finally made it onto the scorecards, after a first refusal in the pre-ride warm ups held in Kenya earlier in the year….where he netted an eye watering hole in one, which unfortunately eliminated him. The bike which was prepped immaculately 9 months earlier, was dusted down, and his body filled with rocket fuel. The bringer of Biltong!
Curly Sean: Rumors are he abandoned a booming career abroad, purely to be back for this. Meticulous in preparation as ever, he offered Curly Scott a curry the night before the off. With visions of 8 days of curry to follow, Curly politely chose Pizza! The rider previously known as AFTB is back, with new bike, same style…… Curly waits for no-one. The straight line specialist.
Curly Roeland: Nervously quiet with preparation and sand dune surfing. Nervously vocal with rocky paths. Nervously confused about skeletal puppets and British humour, oh, and most decidedly Nervously nervous when finding himself in the desert, in the dark, with the 3 other Curlys……. A vastly improved rider, most of the time.
The Facts
8 days riding, 3,600km around Oman, avoiding tarmac, but riding dunes, as much as possible and have fun!!!
|
Date |
Day km’s |
Day hrs |
Avg speed |
Tot km’s |
Tot hrs |
| Day 1 Friday |
14/12/2007 |
570 |
08:00 |
70 |
570 |
08:00 |
| Day 2 Saturday |
15/12/2007 |
150 |
02:00 |
75 |
720 |
10:00 |
| Day 3 Sunday |
16/12/2007 |
509 |
09:00 |
69 |
1229 |
19:00 |
| Day 4 Monday |
17/12/2007 |
314 |
06:30 |
44 |
1543 |
25:30 |
| Day 5 Tuesday |
18/12/2007 |
368 |
05:15 |
71 |
1911 |
30:45 |
| Day 6 Wednesday |
19/12/2007 |
453 |
06:30 |
62 |
2364 |
37:15 |
| Day 7 Thursday |
20/12/2007 |
927 |
13:00 |
69 |
3291 |
50:15 |
| Day 8 Friday |
21/12/2007 |
269 |
04:15 |
57 |
3560 |
54:30 |
Day 1 Friday Muscat – Al Sawadi – Rustaq – Yanqul – Safa Dunes – Safa – Lekhwair
Day 2 Saturday Lekhwair – Fahud
Day 3 Sunday Fahud – Haima – Qitbit
Day 4 Monday Qitbit – Empty Quarter Dunes (near Saudi) – Ubar
Day 5 Tuesday Ubar – Rakhyut (near Yemen) – Salalah
Day 6 Wednesday Salalah – Marmul – Shelim – Wadi Shuwayima – Shelim
Day 7 Thursday Shelim – Duqm – Wadi – Khaluf beach – Mahoot – Wahiba Sands – Mintrib – Al Qabil
Day 8 Friday Al-Qabil – Hajar Mountains – Fins – Quriyat – Muscat
Day 1, Friday 14/12/07, Muscat to Lekhwair 570 km, 04:30–16:00
A Day Cut Short……
A long day was planned, some 650km or thereabouts. So starting off in a way we hoped not to continue, the alarm clocks were set for a time which Rolo prefers to be sipping his penultimate cocktail, and the others expect wives to be up feeding youngsters. We would meet at our usual Shell petrol station near Bowsher roundabout at 4am.
Glory be to stoooopid crazy friends. Adrian of Newness and Andy to whom we should all Bowe were there in their car, with hot chocolate, scarves, wooly hats, and cameras at the ready. They waved us off, and went straight home to bed. We set off up the highway, in the dark……after Curly Sean changed his headlight bulb…..which had just blown! Both S+S had slid out their back ends on the early morning damp tarmac. But it was relatively warm by the coast, so off we sped……slowly, of course.
Up near Al Sawadi we turned onto our first graded road and followed the course of the dunes, and through the mountains to Rustaq. An eerie ride along this dusty trail in the dark, which we had ridden so many times in daylight. But at night….watching out for the windrows and random rocks in the track, it came alive again. Following Sean’s front bulb blowing, Rolo discovered his rear didn’t work….but no spare, so he shrugged his shoulders in his very Dutch fashion, re-assembled the mass of Vidal Sassoon hair under his helmet, and toddled on. Whatever! We enjoyed a water crossing in the dark, which of course we rode through several times.
Rude not to hey?
Past Rustaq, and back on tarmac S+S pulled out their I-Pods claiming morale victory over I+R….although after only 100km more they went away, never to appear again…..so that was a good idea then boys? All 4 of us put on our “blue tops”, or “wind cheaters” (or “anoraks” as some people like to call them). Either way, it was freezing in the mountains, and we needed them.
The new road to Ibri was scenic but dull, and at the first opportunity we pulled off and headed on the smaller road by-passing Ibri to Yanqul. Another quick oil check for Grumpy, whose smile was finally returning. Having experienced a rather terminal gearbox failure some weeks back the bike had been rebuilt, and the engine being 22,000km young was dealt new valves, piston, rings, crankshaft, cam chain, gears etc etc etc….A costly affair, and on start-up had begun using oil for the first time in its history. It would appear though that this is just “bedding in teething issues” as the oil consumption was slowly getting less and less.
By now we had made 300km and only a small amount of oil had been used. So, finally things were looking good, as we headed off the tarmac, and through the wadi which took us out near the Buraimi border.
We filled up with petrol and generally enjoyed ourselves, and rested ready for the next 300km of pure desert and dunes to Yibal. After a good 45 minutes of warming up, fuelling up and fooding up we got back on the bikes and…… “Scotts got a puncture”. Not a problem. We were at a fuel station, there was shade and we were carrying 2 spare fronts and 2 spare rear lubes….and a puncture repair kit. Rolo held the bike up on its side stand….a fine job, the others pulled out the wheel, removed the tube, checked for thorns…. and put in the spare (which wasn’t as new as it could have been).
Normally we would repair the punctured one and put it back in our kit for later, but we couldn’t find the leak. Anyway, we put the new(ish) one in, pumped it up, kitted up and…….. “Scotts still got a puncture”. Slight problem. Calls of “Nipper” were quashed when the inner tube came out and it was errrrrr littered with punctures. So in went our last decent front inner. And finally we set off, at 11:15am after a rather lengthy 1hr 45mins stop.
The dunes were, as they always are, absolutely awesome. We’d all been here before so knew what to expect. The temperature was relatively cool, the dunes huge and rolling. We were loving it. Easier it seemed, due to the early morning keeping the dunes firm, no soft sand. Rolo was riding expertly commented Scott from the back, who was politely reminding us that he was indeed a little rusty. Scott claimed a couple of technical “lay-downs” for himself, which we’d all noticed anyway(!) but nothing out of the ordinary. We were all getting our eyes in for the 1,000’s of km’s of virgin dunes which lay ahead.
After 4 hours of fabulous dune riding we were skirting the Lekhwair oil field and heading for our place of rest. No pun intended. We were riding free in the dunes and sabkha flats, ensuring we were not encroaching upon the oil field installations and graded roads. Time was pushing on and it was only a couple of hours until darkness would fall upon us. The decision was made for us, and we headed to Lekhwair, where we would spend a most comfortable evening. We were brought a delightful dish of chicken and chips, and we drank tea with our hosts, before wandering across the road for a couple of pleasantly surprising yet surreal swift nightcaps, to end our most extraordinary day.
Vast Lekwhair dune country A quick water break up high Navigational verification………..how far?!?!
Perhaps not the biggest worry of the moment, but certainly a very real one, was how we would wake up on time, as it wasn’t possible for any of us to use our alarm clocks built into our phones, as we didn’t have any. So we relied on our feeble watch alarms.
Day 2, Saturday 15/12/07, Lekhwair to Fahud, 150km, 09:00–11:30, Total 720km
A Long, oh so Long…… Short Day
You might think 150km up a graded and partly tarmac road is nothing compared to what we’d just done the day before, or even more impressively would do on day 7, but this day was equally tough, in its own way.
Curly Sean bored quickly of graded roads and did his own little bit of adventure sports, bouncing across the sections between un-commissioned tarmac and rattly graded roads. Wheels in the air, mainly the front but for entertainments sake he sometimes raised up just the rear. It was a ball to observe and broke the monotony of the ride. Greatly appreciated by everyone watching!
It was fairly clear that Grumpy’s XR400, which had been strapped to a trailer and left with “Good Man In Offering” (Youcef’s house) prior to the ride in case of mechanical need, was going to have to be called upon. So the phone call went out, eventually, and Youcef set off for Fahud with Tim – an original veteran of all things Loopy, and indeed in search of his very own self named Good Man sticker, assisting Youcef drive Tim’s car…….confused? Well, we gather so were they!
In simple terms, Tim and Youcef set off on a 3 hour drive in Tim’s car, pulling Grumpy’s spare bike on a trailer. The idea was for Tim to drive out, swap bikes in Fahud and Youcef drive home. But…….(oh why does a big but always ruin an easy life)…..but…….it went a bit wrong.
At Nizwa (or so they thought – actually they had already gone wrong, and were on the wrong road, and were not really in Nizwa) Tim remembered the dangers of night driving and the accompanying rules. He also realized that he had to be in a very important meeting first thing the next day. So with no less than an “enjoy my sandwiches” (which he didn’t thankfully) to Youcef he jumped out of his car and into a taxi and headed home for a 2 hour drive costing not much more than a 3 km hike across Muscat at night.
Youcef, confident navigator to the end, tested the aerodynamics of a plastic coated brick, whose plastic comes off ……as he cruised at least 90km past the turnoff despite desperate calls from Fahud to remind him of the turnoff. (Apparently the turnoff sign is, and we quote, “bigger, during daylight hours”…..hmmmm).
So after probably something nearer 6 hours our tired Good Man arrived, just in time for closing time to becalled, which rounded off yet another perfect day, in no uncertain terms. Today, is not your day boys. Go to sleep and enjoy tomorrow! So we did.
Day 3, Sunday 16/12/07, Fahud to Qitbit, 509km, 07:30–18:00, Total 1,229km
New Horizons
Free at last……Free to ride the beautiful dunes, and explore the eternal emptiness of our beloved Oman! On exiting Fahud, Ian and Rolo attempted to enlighten the fascinated Scott by pointing out Oman’s first well, Fahud-1, and the story attached to the lack of oil discovery, subsequent pull-out and return years later, to which Sean quite rightly commented “OK, enough of the bl** history lesson, LETS GO !” So we did.
Our route would now take us due South. We looked at the maps and consulted our GPS’s. It looked like if we went in a completely straight line direct to Haima we could be there for a late lunch, and then enjoy and easy cruise down to Qitbit where we had previously planned to stay. Oh yes, this is called making the best from a bad lot, and it turned out to be better than ever we could have hoped for. Life was good.
If you look at a map of Oman you will see a mild band of dunes crossing the width of Oman East-West from the coast at the base of the Wahiba sands right across to the West of Oman which forms the section between North and South Empty Quarters. We had to pass right through this band, which looked like being about 100km from North to South. Never before had any of us crossed these dunes at this point, and there were no tracks shown on the map. So this is why we ride dirt bikes, to go where there are no tracks. Firstly a 100 km’s due South across gravel plains, and then 100km of dunes.
Starting with fast gravel plains, flat to the eye, we moved onto a rocky, rolling, riding terrain with the occasional big bump thrown in for pleasure. Castle Kopjes (huge weathered rocks to those not as geographically gifted as Sean) had been formed providing entertainment for “Team Curly” to ride upon and claim victory. Curly Sean, riding wing man to Curly Scott, observed Scotts rear flapping around more than usual and summoned an immediate halt. Good job too, the rear fender was about to fall off with its bolt missing. Hey ho, Sean pulled a bolt from his spares kit and we were off within seconds. No dramas, happy days…..
Graven, rolling rocky terrain to Haima Scott’s rear mud guard repair..no dramas Castle Kopjes in the desert
As beautiful as it was to ride uncharted plains, it was a sight for sore eyes, or sore thighs to see immense dunes building up on the horizon.
These dunes were awesome, and definitely somewhere we will return in the very near future. Huge, vegetation free, soft in places yet firm in most, rolling with short sabkha breaks in between. Perfect. A point of significant note was that Curly Sean fell off. This doesn’t happen many times, so when it does (or at least when it’s noticed!) we like to mention it. Unfortunately Scott was leading and Sean was at the rear when it happened so Scotty Dawg couldn’t return to do as he promised he would maybe 3 years ago on the famous zig zag Wahiba ride! But, let this written log act as a bonfire extinguishment on Scotts behalf.
There was also a point at which Grumpy, struggling to adapt to the XR (honest) lost his front wheel in the soft stuff over a dune, and was instantly joined by a “keen to follow Grumpys tracks” Rolo. The result = Rolo and bike on top of Grumpy and bike. Grumpy was….a little Grumpy and pointed out the lessons learned, but……given that we were having so much fun, and the previous cumstances….managed to pull a grimaced smile! S+S just looked down at the entangled couple, knowingly shaking their heads, tut tut.
By 2pm we were in Haima, after a ridiculous decision by Grumpy to stop right outside one of his places of work to show his mates. Oh silly boy. We exchanged id and handshakes with a passing authority and rapidly moved on vowing to think before we stop in future. Dooooh. Haima brought us our best curry of the trip. As Sean quoted “If I’d have known the curry would have been this good, I’d have ridden even quicker”. Scott, ever the perfect repartee commented on the fact that everywhere we went we got “plenty limes” with our meals…. “it’s a sign of things to come……ready for our Cor-o-na in Sa-la-lah”!!!
In Haima we topped up 300ml into each of the CRF’s which had all surprisingly used oil for the first time. Rolo had used a litre of coolant in the dunes, so also filled up that. Thankfully this was the only time we used significant coolant. The XR400 was showing its slightly shorter legs by consuming fuel at a rate of 15-20% greater than the CRF’s. The continual requirement for fuel on long sections showed its face for the first time some 15km short of Haima, with Grumps running dry, and begging fuel off Rolo.
After a relaxed extended hour at Haima we set off for Qitbit, enduring 200km of rear-end numbing tarmac, arriving slightly more than 2 hours later. At the fuel station Sean once again paid for everyone’s fuel, keenly happy to continue as general kitty holder. Debate over whether it was the beauty of the tiny bum bag or just the fact that he’d never been responsible for such a mammoth budget which was instilling this forcible desire.
In Qitbit we filled up our fuel tanks along with 10 x 1.5l empty water bottles with fuel which would extend our range into the Empty Quarter. With 26 litre tanks (22 for the XR400) and about 4 litres extra each in water bottles we should be fine for 400km+ of heavy dunes or 550km of easy going. We also added extra water bottles so we would all be carrying at least 5 litres of water. The fuel was strapped to the upside down forks of the bikes (except the XR4 which has conventional forks, so into Ian’s rucksack they went).
Torpedo Shankland…… Over 100ltr Fuel…….. Scorpion for breakfast..?????
Off for a curry (oh yes, another)
The hotelier, is best defined by Scott as “not the sharpest knife in the drawer”. But after a while the keys to the rooms were found, and S+S shared whilst Ian was subjected to Rolo’s snoring all night, interspersed with 10,000 breeding mosquitoes. Better nights sleep have been enjoyed.
The overnight power cut provided yet another obstacle to overcome….the midnight tinkle became the midnight sprinkle, which only blind men can master. Certain roles were reversed, with Curly Sean mistaking the bidet for duties normally assumed by its close neighbour!! Ooops.
Breakfast was agreed for 5.30am, but we were not confident our blunt friend would come good.
Day 4, Monday 17/12/07, Qitbit to Ubar, 314 km, 07:00–17:00 Total 1,543 km
Skeletal Ventriloquists – SILENCE!……I Keeeeeeeeeeeeel You!
Surprise, surprise. 5.30 am, total darkness and not a soul around. We woke our friend snoring in the hotel lobby and reminded him of his promise of breakfast 5 minutes ago. Off he trotted. We learnt that there was still no power, and that the most hoped for top-up of fuel would not take place (fuel always shrinks overnight we have noticed – or the tanks expand….or something). But there’s always room for a litre and a half of top up in the cold mornings). So after a happy cold omelets in the dark and then a lucky power resumption just as we pulled away, we topped up and set off into the misty desert at 7am.
Today’s route would be simple. 5 waypoints basically. Head straight out from Qitbit on a bearing direct into the empty quarter. Then follow the border direction but a significant distance of 20km this side of the border through the dunes before heading back out direct to Ubar. There is a well defined graded road which sort of follows this route which can be undertaken by 4×4 car, but we felt we would enjoy the simplistic straight line approach, (adopted famously by AFTB and Grumps over the years, much to the displeasure of dune master Uncle Woof!) taking in every dune thrown at us, and we looked forward to crossing our tracks from 9 months ago….would they still be there? Yes they were, in the sabkha, amazing. Clear as a bell. The wonders of GPS technology helped us find our old tracks, and there they were, embroided in the soft sabkha like 3 lines of perfect stitching, how long will they last?
The first 20km were soft low dunes, causing all sorts of amusement. Riding directly away from the rising sun caused “snow blindness” and the inevitable falls (or translated into English by our token Cloggie translator “leaning the bike over slowly”).
But it also brought about the most perfect photo, of the bikers riding in their own dust cloud in the early morning mist…… a bit like a Western film, except we had 45 horses under us, not just 1! We then entered big tall beautiful dunes amongst open sabkha flats. Then we turned to head towards Yemen and the dunes became intense. Monumental dunes but rolling in such a way that you could “ski off-piste’ through them. Gliding over crests, sliding the back end out as we rose up the big slip faces. Only on 1 or 2 occasions (OK, 3 or 4!) did the XR suffer and show its lack of horses.
Second attempts at steep crests were required more than normal. But then on one fateful dune, bouncing desperately to keep traction and encourage engine revs just wasn’t enough, even Grumpy had to admit defeat and skirt around this one dune. With Scott and Sean sitting on the top, I could see them smirking under their helmets….. “will he try again, or will he give up?” I could hear them chuckling. I tried, I tried, I tried….. I tried again….. this was taking everything I (and the XR) had, it even wheelied in 2nd gear as I changed down as it hit a firm patch….. but no, eventually it dug in again just meters from the top……I took the sensible option, and skirted round (obviously to avoid engine failure in this most remote part of the world)…….. to cheers everywhere. Defeat tasted….sandy. Grrrrrrr. “I keeeeeeeel you!”
Enormous rolling dunes…awsome! Scott’s catapult…………..I keeeeeeel you!
I wasn’t the only one enjoying a few incidents. Sean had another gentle “technical lay down” (hoorah – “Silence!”) and Scott performed a most pleasing overcooking of a crest, and went head over heels along with his bike on the opposite side of the dune. Not to mention a rapid reversing descent that had his heart in his mouth! Rolo lost count of his “bike leaning over” episodes, but we reckon it was up in the 20’s!! Rolo’s struggles with judging when to stop on crests of steep dunes, resulted in many, err…several….errr loads of overshoots. His specialty being projected over the handlebars, to be left lying face down in the sand, slapping the dune (as if it was the dunes fault) and cursing away in what we believe to be ancient and crude form of Dutch. At one point he mentioned he’d hurt his finger, to which all sorts of medical remedies were offered, one which involved keeping it nice and warm. It was later discovered that he’d probably dislocated it, as the symptoms were there, and it was completely black and blue!! Ooooops, sorry for the lack of concern Rolo.
Throughout the day there were numerous calls of “I keeeeel you” and “Silence!” which was rapidly becoming the call of the trip. Rolo had no idea what the boys were talking about, and unless you have seen this ventriloquist skeleton of a suicide bomber in action…..or ridden round Oman backwards…I doubt you will either. But we have, and we do, so there. “Silence! I keeeeel you!”
Lunch was taken in the dunes, in the middle of nowhere. Biltong to the rescue. It re-energized us and really did prove to be the best food there is in the desert. Light, nutritious and tasty. What a wonderful lunch spot it was too. We never saw a single living creature all day. Ah ha…. the empty quarter…yeah, I get it !!! By 3pm we’d been in dunes all day. Ian had learnt that no matter how hard you kick the XR4, if you don’t have the ignition on, it just won’t start. Ah, 2 years of electric start have softened me. But it made the boys smile.
Once again, 20km from the point of final destination the XR400 ran out of fuel, but the CRF’s had plenty and we topped up and followed a hideously badly rutted graded road into Hotel Ubar, where cheap, basic, pink fuel awaited us along with a mediocre mild curry, wonderfully worn out and unsprung mattresses. Full GSM reception, incredibly friendly people staffing the petrol station cum hotel. Very generous other folk offering us all sorts of delights which we politely refused.
Ubar – 0.5 star restaurant … Luxury sleeping arrangements… Sleep tight, don’t let the goats bite!
The night was spent in our open air hotel, strangely and rather unexpectedly warm but reassuringly safe in that we could ride our bikes right up to our beds, and fall asleep to the sounds of a 4 stroke engine running – oh no, that was Rolo snoring, again. Described by his friends as the “Son of Woof” or the “snoriest” man in the world. At 3am Sean observed a goat being taken into one of the rooms next to where we lay sleeping. We assume this was for Eid which was due to be called the day after next, but then again……
Day 5 Tuesday, 18/12/07, Ubar to Salalah, 368 km, 08:00–13:30 Total 1,911 km
Arriving in Salalah for Eid
Rolo’s first moan of the trip “Why is everyone talking so early in the day?” He wasn’t happy about being woken up before day break. Like we cared? We’d already been told that breakfast wasn’t possible so armed with crisps, popcorn, biscuits and Biltong we set off (literally from our bedsides) straight into the desert along the bumpiest graded road known to man. On searching for a known tarmac road Scott found a brilliantly camouflaged ditch and led Curly Sean and Curly Rolo straight through it. Most amusing, but no-one fell off.
After a brief respite from rutted tracks we rejoined a most wonderful smooth graded road which lead us through and over Oman’s moon landscape. Either side was Oman’s grand canyons. The scenery was spectacular, rocks everywhere, contrasting enormously from the previous days dunes. A quick roadside breakfast of popcorn and biscuits as the sun rose properly and warmed us.
The road between Yemen and Salalah was crossed and we dropped down off the cliffs into Rakhyut. A spectacular winding road, covered perfectly in camel, goat, and cattle droppings to spice up the ride. Coming back out of Rakhyut the dirt track was taken providing a fantastically exciting enduro style hill climb….but of course, we weren’t racing!
The XR – right on cue ran out of petrol exactly at the Army check-point, but thankfully we were waved on through by a smiling soldier, and we free-wheeled a km down the hill before Rolo once again donated some fuel, just 4 or 5km before the fuel station. The views over the coast were immense, real picture postcard stuff. Wild rocky cliffs and water blue-er than a Persil wash.
Salalalalalah…..at last… OMASCO Service Go on then….one more……box!
Into Salalah and a most efficient oil change and wash at Honda OMASCO. Suresh was the perfect gentleman, and after all 4 of us had completed our servicing in under the hour we were escorted to our luxury pad at the Salalah Crowne Plaza. We were treated as royalty, and helped to our villa, where we cleaned up and returned to the civilized world. Eid had been called, so after a fair pre evening meal feast of burgers and “grilled vegetables for the earthy Dutch amongst us” we retired to our villa for some private rehydration, before wobbling across for our evening meal proper quite late. Curly Sean showed off his delectable talent of flicking bottle tops great distances, and the rest was a blur. I think it dripped a few drops of rain at one point, but it didn’t dampen our spirits.
Day 6, Wednesday 19/12/07, Salalah to Shelim, 453 km, 08:00–18:30 Total 2,364 km
The King of Rock – Elvis lives
Bizarrely an early wake up at 6am, followed by a fully fried breaky, with all sorts of healthy stuff thrown in too. Ahhh this is the life, but time waits for no-one, it was time to move on. So we did.
But rather than take the easy and obvious route out of Salalah to Thumrait we decided to take a more adventurous route over a rocky and graded (in places) road, and through the wadis, which should eventually come out somewhere between Thumrait and Marmul. Curly Rolo tried to wimp out and take the easy path, but we were a team and we assured him (although we hadn’t seen the difficult route) “Follow us, its easy” Lets go! We were on Muscat to Takah Rally – which felt like Paris to Dakar Rally….
The winding road leading up the mountain was awesome, fantastic views, and as today was Eid there were many a camel or goat with its hide being peeled back to be dried in the sun. Everyone was in party mood and waving as we passed.
At the Army checkpoint near Jitbit they advised us the road was “difficult”, but a quick inspection of our tyres, some hearty handshakes and “Eid Mubarak” and we were given the all clear to continue. It looked fairly easy….after all. The call by Curly to spend the day talking in silly accents worked for a while, Brummies, Geordies, Saaf Africans, Jamaicans, and all featured heavily. Rolo even related his Eastern brothers accents from Germany – much to our amusement, but then it got tricky, and silly accents were the last thing on our minds! The easy graded goat path road had suddenly become 400metres of storm damaged rubble. The path was now a wadi which had flowed and brought down rocks everywhere.
It took 15 minutes to walk up and prove this was the route. We had no choice…..we had to push on. We all rode as far as we could then took off our packs and carried, lifted, and pulled Rolo’s bike up the 1st mountain section. Then Ian rode Rolo’s bike up the 2nd bit, there was no way Rolo was even considering to try that! Sean rode up half of the 1st bit and we pulled his bike up ready for the 2nd bit. He managed half that section before… crunch.
These rocks could end our ride if the tanks split. On the trusty torquey XR Ian managed to ride the whole 1st section…taking everyone (including himself) by surprise, literally bouncing all over the place where we had just carried the other bikes. The 2nd bit was easier and was caught on camera by Scotty, who was struggling just to walk up the hill! But for the 4th bike, Scotts, we were all exhausted. Ian was riding but as he stopped at one point and the bike went down, he couldn’t lift it.
The others were too tired to come and help quickly. Shattered, all of us. The lifting, the pulling the riding, the walking up and down in the heat was taking its toll. Finally with Scotts bike at the top it had taken us well over an hour to move 400 metres. We rode on to cool down. After 5km, Ian stopped, got off his bike and lay down. Our ride time had been 1 hour 28 mins, with stopped time 1 hour 26 mins…..and counting! Completely shattered and now freezing cold from the cool wind blowing on our sweat filled clothes, a 20 minute stop was essential. Exhausted… But what a feeling, we’d made it up that hill. If we had had to pull our bikes up that hill we wouldn’t have made it, it was just too steep and too far.
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3……easy did you say Ian????
We dried out, Sean repaired his boots with gaffer tape where the rocks had taken their claim, and we moved on through the wadi. Thankfully it got easier. And then….deja vu….Scott got a puncture. Ian and Rolo rode on a little with Rolo proving his long dreadlocked dusty hair blocks his eyes in the back of his head…..and didn’t notice Scott and Sean stopping. By the time Ian returned (Rolo waited due to the plethora of tracks here to ensure we didn’t pass each other) the wheel was out. Scotty ever the technical one held the bike, while Sean sweated over the tyres. A brand new inner was supplied, kindly brought to us in Fahud by Youcef. At this point we discovered Rolo’s Thuraya with GSM sim card wasn’t working….. grrrrrr……. Thuraya isn’t as reliable as it should be, we swore we would never ever rely on omantel sim cards again, they so frequently fail with Thuraya.
We set off again, and at the first hairy corner Scotty enjoyed one of those clenching moments as he pulled hard on the front brake only to realize he’d forgotten to pump the brake after changing the tyre…..ooooooops! But the master of gravel made it round the corner…at speed. Good man!
Finally we made it out of the wadi, after razzing along what can only be equated to Dakar type tracks….. for an hour or so we were all Marc Coma, albeit a little slower.
Coming out on the main Thumrait-Marmul road was a relief, and a shame. We continued on the easy track to Marmul where a welcome refuel (bikes and bodies) was enjoyed. It was here we learnt of Dave’s little breakage….again. Oooops, not the news we hoped to hear. Someone mentioned the debate in the previous week about steering stabilisers…..and someone mentioned just “stabilizers’…..and someone chuckled heartlessly….. sorry Dave! At least we’re honest.
We rode carefully through the Marmul oilfields with Scotty noticing than some of the beam pumps (or as he now calls them, nodding donkeys) rotate clockwise, and some rotate anti-clockwise….. and no, we don’t know why! Milkmen, hey! A few stops for bladder lightening and text messages solving the worlds problems (and lots of moans by 3 Curlys) and we continued on.
The speed increased and we hit Shelim quite quickly enjoying a good graded road and perfect vision for once. We went straight through to Wadi Shuwaymiah, where no matter how many times you visit the stunning views looking down the several hundred meter drops just never cease to amaze. Its all tarmac road now, so we hit the village quickly and then made it up the 20km of wadi to the very end enjoying the stalagmites and tites. A lone family had just arrived and “Madame” looked decidedly grumpy when we 4 turned up on noisy bikes just as the sun was setting.
You could just feel the relief in the air as we rode off! (We noticed the bike tracks from 9 months ago right at the end where cars can’t get, but we didn’t find the missing padlock). We got back to Shelim, after a few wheelies for a most appreciative school bus up and around the steep cornered road.
Arrived at Shelim in the dark. Kids everywhere. Thankfully the “Shelim motel” was open, and business was un-surprisingly low, so we were ushered into the main lobby (bikes and all) and shown our rooms. A vast improvement from 9 months ago, although still towels and soap were not exactly in plentiful supply. Riding up the stairs into the hotel was complicated slightly by a rather inconveniently parked 7 series shinny BMW, but we all made it up the stairs 1st attempt…except Rolo…he he.
Wadi Shuwaymiah from Shaleem cliff face The Curlys! (Ian, Scott, Sean & Roeland)
In Wadi Shuwaymiah……stunning Into the Motel!
Curry and chilly chicken, various juices and a mammoth 8 rials later…. definitely our most expensive meal of the trip, we hit the sack, but not until Sean showed us his rapidly bruising rear end…..not a pretty picture to sleep on.
Day 7, Thursday 20/12/07, Shelim to Al Qabil, 927 km, 07:00–01:00 Total 3,291 km
Dakar Training
What a day! Oh what a day! You don’t get many longer Dakar days than this. We were riding the bikes for 18 hours, we did over 900km, we started and finished in the dark, and by the end…. we knew it. But again, what fun. Sean and Ian were buzzing with excitement at the end to the extent we’d never have got to sleep, if we hadn’t have been so exhausted!! There’s logic for you.
It wasn’t the intention but we set off early around 6.45 after a quick breaky of omelettes and bread. 
We rode the bikes out of the hotel, down the steps….we all made it down the stairs at 1st attempt …. except Rolo …. who stalled and toppled over landing in a huge pile of festering rubbish. Absolutely priceless. Scotty and Grumps were reeling with laughter, mainly cos Scott had just commented how well Rolo had been riding to date. Perfect timing, couldn’t have been scripted better. Rolo didn’t find it quite so amusing.
We blatted along for an hour or so on graded roads with the sun slowly rising in our eyes. Spotting the windrows became tricky but finally we hit tarmac. It was a long ride to Duqm. A simple ride is never as simple as it sounds. Bedhous driving around roundabouts the wrong way – or was it us?…after all, he’d been going round his roundabout that way for 30 years probably!
Then we went down the little extra section to Ras al Madrakah which Ian had passed by so many times before and never visited. It would only add 45 minutes to our journey time (ooops, you’ll see the significance of this later!) Well we made it to the beautiful beach but when we turned round again to go back and view the 3 Palm Tree campsite, and it turned out to be 4 satellite dishes… the boys started to show their impatience…..so we rode on…..a little faster than before!
Zoooooooom.
The tarmac road to Duqm was a little tiresome and various riding positions were tried, “elbow on knee and helmet resting on fist, with bored expression” was a favourite. That and side saddle, legs down, standing, oh this road was long and dull.
By 12:00 we were in Duqm, and numb. Another disappointing curry, although lets be honest…..its a bit like that other famous quote…. “have you ever had a bad…curry?” Of course not!! You should enjoy every….curry like its your last! Another fantastically naive “is there any toilet roll in the toilet” question by Curly Sean, left Scott bent over in stitches…. “Yes mate, a choice of pink or white….of course”. Sean took his own along, admitting defeat.
Rolo and Sean were suffering from rapidly disintegrating rear chain sliders, so the pliers came out and some bent metal was removed, no problem, they’ll get us home. We couldn’t get in touch with Tim, who was supposed to meet us in Salalah but there were no flights. He was now camping at Bar al Hickman and kind of on our way……but he was clearly suffering Thuraya problems too. Hmmm, kind of worried us in case we actually needed Thuraya in case of real emergency….its not as good as it should be. Get a dedicated sim card like our other one.
So with this decision not to visit Tim….a suggestion was put to the table……and it went like this:- “I reckon if we motor on we can be in Mahoot by 4-ish and that will give us a couple of hours before dark to basically ride most of the Wahibas and find the main track to get up to Mintrib in the dark….I’ve only ridden in dunes once in the dark, and its almost impossible….. but on easy tracks its OK…shall we?”
Yes-es all round. So instead of sensibly missing out the shipwrecked steam engine we razzed over, took some photos, wheelied on the beach and then started the famous wadi, beach Khaluf ride via Filim to Mahoot. This is a great ride, and new for Sean and Rolo so we had a ball, thankfully it was low tide so we could get some good speed up the beach.
Scotty and Sean decided to compare top speeds, rolling throttle response and various other manly pastimes. Result? You know you need to know!!! Well the GPS never lies. Seans top speed 136km/hr…..Scotts 137km/hr. Scott knew he’d won as Sean waved a single finger at him afterwards, he didn’t need the GPS to prove it. We’re not allowed to talk about it anymore….so of course we wont, much.
We got to Mahoot at 4.30pm, still time to quickly fill with fuel and move on…..except no fuel. The power had gone of at 4pm, so the pumps don’t work. (note 45 mins to Ras al Madrakah) We rode 15km up to the main road to a 2nd petrol station…no power there either, so back to Mahoot. We were all gutted, it had sounded like such fun. We’d done 670km today, and we were up for the Wahibas…. but no fuel till probably 6pm meant we’d have to do it all in the dark, which with our sensible heads on meant we’d have to sleep in Mahoot. Heads hung low, we ate crisps and biscuits, and drank water…just in case.
Scotty dismantled his steering damper as he was having steering problems….and discovered it was his bearings, not his damper….he’ll make it home though, hopefully. The XR was of course perfect, although the tyres were shedding knobblies as they weren’t really the right ones for the job, but it was a stand in bike after all!
The Steam Engine Beach Khaluf Waiting for power at Mahoot fuel station!
Suddenly the power was back on. It was 6pm. We didn’t even discuss it, we just filled up and went…..40km to the Mesirah turnoff. It was pitch black but the moon was out. We adjusted headlights to help vision and considered riding in moonlight only….trust us… this is definitely not an option!! On stayed the lights.
We had a basic track log on the GPS, but Ian had deleted his accidentally, so swapped with Scott, cos Scott couldn’t read his anyway!! (he he, poor old chap). Off we set, following a track from years ago Grumps and Mellor had taken going North – South. We quickly discovered this track no longer existed…..ooooops, sorry boys. For 60km we rode off-piste averaging about 20km/hr. We had been on the bikes for over 700km and 12 hours….. were we being sensible? Of course not, but we were prepared to sleep the night in the desert if need be, we’d be OK, no dramas, hey Curly?! No need to check over your shoulder in the dark, if you can see your shadow you know the guy is behind you. Easy, but makes the view in front interesting!
After 3 hours and 60km we were tiring. Our wrists were taking a hammering. We had been stopping every 5, 10, 15, 20km to rest and feed. Biltong, energy bars, biscuits, whatever we had was being consumed. This was brilliant fun! We were tired yet exhilarated. We discussed the safety. (Even the Thuraya sim card wasn’t working now! Beware, Thuraya is NOT as good as they claim. We must investigate this when back). It was safe, we were riding slowly, we knew the Wahibas, we were in no danger… this was fun, we were properly prepared, they do this every day on the Dakar.
At 8:55pm we still had 129km to Mintrib! Legendary riders of the night!
Although using the imaginary track-log as a guide to get us through we zig zagged slightly to try to find a good track, but ensuring we avoided any rogue dune sets. There were a few surprises, a couple of near offs, and 1 or 2 real offs, but nothing that hurt. Sand is soft and we were going slowly. Scott saw a desert fox, or was it a hallucination? Suddenly a track appeared, it looked good, we followed it, and it got bigger and bigger. We were on the M1…YES! Only 120km to go!!! We started at 18:45 707km for the day, by 19:45 737km, by 20:50 770km, 21:50 810km, 22:50 850km and finally midnight 900km.
We passed right by the Desert camp and decided to continue, the last thing we wanted was too much attention from the folk who were clearly enjoying a party at the camp driving cars all over and up and down dunes in the dark, so we continued on to Mintrib. No hotel in Mintrib!! But there was a curry at midnight, so we tucked in knowing of the Al Qabil hotel only 25km up the road. Curry down and off we set, oh please let there be room at the inn….!There was room, and the hotel boys remembered Ian and Sean from our Wahiba Challenge weekend only a few weeks ago. He he, we weren’t quite in such a stupor this time!
Sean and Scott were offered a bed to share which was politely refused and so 3 rooms were taken….and we all collapsed. Happy. Rolo didn’t snore that night……well he might have, but no-one heard him!!
So who’s tired? 934km……………….!!!!
Day 8, Friday 21/12/07, Al Qabil to Muscat, 269 km, 10:00–17:00 Total 3,560 km
The Super Heroes Route…….
Ah-ha, just when it all seemed like it was all downhill!! Another twist to the tale.
Breaky tasted good after a long lie-in. (Very long for Curly Scott who we just couldn’t wake!) Toast, cereal, scrambled…..something? And coffee – fantastic. We left Qabil by 10am. A great ride up and over the Hajar mountains, 1800metres of altitude, cool and beautiful. It was all downhill from here. It had to be, we were riding in the clouds, looking down into Fins engulfed in misty clouds, this was great. There are 2 ways down, famously named by the Dirty Bikers a couple of years ago as “The Heroes route” and “The Homos route” . Naturally to the cries of “Do we look like homo’s” we took the heroes route; it looked fine from the top.
Oh how wrong we were. Once again, rain has transformed a difficult descent into a near impossible descent. Much bike swapping on this now named “Super Heroes Route”. It involved a lot of riding of bikes down the hill by Ian and Sean, and then walking up for the very sensible Rolo and Scotty who decided it just wasn’t worth falling at the last fence. We had to carry all 4 bikes over one bit, not what we wanted so close to home. We were still tired from yesterdays marathon, and in no way were we going to risk an injury at the last stretch, only 100km or so from home. We just hoped it got easier, not more difficult or we could end up stranded!! It took us 2 hours to do what usually takes 15 minutes. At the bottom were a couple from Dubai in a Range Rover. “D’you think we can make it up there?”. “No”.
A view to a keeeeel! Riding in the clouds What goes up must come down!
We hit Fins and followed the new road to Quriyat. 2:30pm, perfect time….for a curry. All the tyres were shredded now, with Rolo’s rear in the best condition, although his front had just about disintegrated.
After the leisurely curry we decided no need to do the Rally route home, we wanted that BBQ and drinks promised by Dave and Anouk. Straight up the main road for 60km and home by 5pm. Sausages never tasted so good!
Worthy Good People
Crowne Plaza Salalah – for providing wonderful luxury accommodation and food for 4 very hungry bikers. An awesome location, fully recommended for a perfect family holiday in Salalah. Many thanks Edward.
Honda (OMASCO) – for providing an excellent welcome in Salalah, and enabling us to use their servicing facilities for free. Suresh, you are a Good Man.
Youcef – For driving all the way out there, and elsewhere, and back.
Tim – For proving the thought counts, but its thinking which really counts!
Dave & Anouk – for providing a fantastic welcome home BBQ and celebration.
Andy and Adrian – for either getting up early or going to bed late at the start.
