Biking in Oman – Oman

I was called to do a job in Muscat (Oman). As the weather was good and as my BMW R1100RT hadn’t had a decent run since it was purchased a year ago (together with the opportunity to take an all expenses paid bike ride), persuaded me without any hesitation at all, to do the trip by road on the bike.

On Saturday morning (18th Dec), I obtained a visa/road pass form at the Oman Embassy in Dubai, this saved time at the UAE/Oman (Hatta) border and coughed up Dhm 100 for a week’s Oman insurance cover. I left Dubai for the Hatta border at 0800 on Sunday morning and the border crossing took about 20 mins, in three stages, immigration – customs – traffic police. The latter checked the bike’s insurance, therefore if I didn’t have Oman insurance cover, I would have been turned back at this point, back through customs and immigration.

As I wanted to make the trip more interesting and take in some sights, I left the main road (Route 1) after As Suwayq and took the Rustaq – Awabi – Nakhl – Afi road, rejoining Route 1 at Birka. This detour proved to be one of the highlights of the trip; the road between Rustaq and Nakhl was beautiful, very scenic, twisties, empty. After this the road to Nizwah was a bit of a disappointment, after reports that I’d had, I expected the Nizwah road to be more ‘interesting’. I stopped at three forts along this stretch of the road.

Arrival at Muscat was at about 1500 and I spent about an hour or so driving around the city (beautiful, pretty, corners, hills etc, unlike boring UAE cities), before heading back out on the Seeb road to the ‘Intercon’ hotel, where the bike spent the time until I left, under-cover 5 metres from the front door, where the doormen spent an enjoyable time pooping off the proximity alarm, to entertain the rest of the hotel’s staff.

Monday was spent working, I left the ‘Intercon’ at 0800 on Tuesday after getting my thermos filled with coffee and a packed lunch. For non local readers, it is Ramadan here. No food available between sunrise and sunset. The ‘Intercon’ served beer in rooms after 1800, wine also, but no bottles of spirits.

To make a ’round trip’ – ie: not to ride roads I had ridden on Sunday, I returned to Dubai, via Nizwa, Ibri, Buraimi (using the Hafeet border), then Al Ain and home.

By the time my GPS was giving an altitude of 400 metres on the road up to Nizwa, it was time for a slurp of hot coffee, switch on the RT’s heaters and put on a sweater. On the subject of GPS, all roads ridden with the exception of the Rustaq ‘deviation’, were given on the Garmin’s III+ base map, a great improvement on the III.

I stopped sometime at Nizwa to visit the Souk and Fort, both very interesting, then off to Jabrin (a slight deviation off the Nizwa – Buraimi road) to visit the fort, probably the best in Oman. Then off up the road to Buraimi.

One worrying stretch was between Bhala and Ibri where there are no petrol stations. I had filled up before leaving Muscat and at 300+ kms, the fuel gauge was down to the third bar when I arrived at Ibri. I had the choice of Shell or BP, as Shell were paying for the trip, although I was ‘vetting’ a BP ship. There is a further filling station at the Dank turn off, then none until you get across the border. This indicates that the 27 litre tank gives a range of about 350 kms. Once across the border, it was a quick ‘belt’ up the al Ain road to Dubai, arriving at 1530.

Observations

With the exception of the Bahla – Ibri stretch of road, there are plenty of filling stations. Petrol in Oman is much more expensive than in Dubai.

The Omani people are great, very friendly, in fact too friendly. Whenever I stopped for a slurp of coffee and sandwich, cars would stop and ask me if I was OK or needed assistance. When ever I parked, people would surround the bike as if it was something that had arrived from another planet.

Omani’s are OK on the road, driving standards are much better than the UAE. They indicate, they are more patient etc, at no time did I feel I was being ‘threatened’. In over 1000 kms I had no ‘close quarter’ situations, although once I did have car a few inches from my rear while driving through a single lane road work area in Muscat city, I notice (while I gobbed at his windscreen as he passed, that he had a Sharjah (UAE) number plate.

Bike and Distance

The distance I travelled to Muscat was 544 kms out and 602 kms back. These distances are by GPS; the odometer gave 615 for the return trip. Travel speed ranged from 100 to 150, average speed around 115km/h.

The bike behaved perfectly, after 600 kms I could easily have carried on for another 100 at least, although I was glad that I had fitted at throttle lock. The RT is fitted with the standard seat, plus a sheepskin cover and spacers to lift the front up.

Result

I can’t wait to get the bike home to Southern Spain and use it for 2-3 months per year touring/camping Southern Europe.

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