Jebel Shams - Sep 13

It has been awhile since we've gone camping due to the heat of summer so decided it was time to break out the gear and try and find some cooler weather. Jebel Shams (the Sun Mountain) is the highest point in Oman reaching just under 3,000m in elevation. Along with cooler temperatures, it's also home to 2 of the nicest (and best marked) hiking trails, double bonus!

We decided relatively last minute to go and managed to round up a group of 7 - Pete, Zan, Lizzie, Matt and Caroline (2 South Africans, 2 Brits, 2 Canadians and 1 American - a very multinational camping group!). Our convoy left from the Wave Thursday morning and we managed to pack, literally to the roof, all of our gear into two Jeeps (1 Wrangler / 1 Grand Cherokee aka Jake). The drive to Jebel Shams is only 215km from Muscat and takes about 3 hours. The drive takes you through Nizwa where we stopped for gas and food before finishing the final 80km to the top of Shams, or the "Plateau" as it's referred to.

From Nizwa the road takes you through Al Hamra and past an abandoned village at the end of the Oman Grand Canyon (Wadi An Nakhur). Up to this point we really hadn't been climbing so we were expecting to suddenly begin the ascent as at this point we were still only at 750m elevation and had to get to 1950m in only 30km. Needless to say the road began to climb quite steeply with typical Oman switchbacks. A very similar road to Jebel Akhdar, which is interesting as the Jebel Akhdar road has a checkpoint monitored by the ROP and one must have a 4x4 to go up. You can very easily get to the top of Jebel Shams in a car and even the small sections of gravel are still very passable in a regular car.

Upon reaching the Plateau, the temperature had dropped from 44 in Nizwa to a downright cold 28! (you get very skewed here). We stopped at the scenic lookout to see the Canyon for the first time and it was truly breathtaking. We got our fill of touristy pics and the girls bought some handmade Omani bracelets from the local women. There were several spots were you can buy local crafts such as bracelets and other trinkets. It was getting late and with only a couple hours of sunlight we quickly set-up camp near the start of the W4 hike and drove to the start of the W6 hike (Balcony Walk) in the village of Al Khitaym. The Balcony Walk was absolutely stunning and is about a 2-3 hr roundtrip. We lucked out by starting late in the day as the entire walk was in the shade (recommend that to anyone doing the hike to start late in the afternoon). Unfortunately we weren't able to reach the abandoned village at the end of the hike as we started running out of daylight and had to turn around. Returning to camp it was dark already by 6:30 and the rest of the night was spent braaiing, eatting, drinking, telling stories and listening to music.

The following morning two of the more eager members of our group (Janelle and Caroline) went for a short run. The rest of the group held down camp keeping the goats at bay (something else that is common here, fighting to keep the goats from eatting your food!). After a relaxed morning breakfast with a bit of bocci ball we packed up camp and decided to check out the W4 hike. This is the hike to the summit at 3000m and is anywhere from a 10-15 hr roundtrip (with 1000m of elevation gain). It was already late in the morning and the temperature had picked up, combined with the late night prior our group managed about an hour of hiking before returning to the Jeeps for the return trip.

A stop in Nizwa for some Sheesh Tawouk and sharwarmas

Abandoned village built into the mtn at Wadi Ghul - base of Jebel Shams

Photo op at the top!

Matt said it was a 5 sec free fall and luckily made it out alive, unlike Thelma and Louise.

Village at the start of W6

Us and the Oman grand canyon

Trail markers

Watch out for the thorns!!

Campground au sommet de Jebel Shams

No vegetarians here

The W4 trail - hike to the summit (we only covered 1/20th of the trail)

9 and Dine at Almouj

The golf course at The Wave was fully open ( all 18) early this summer and we finally decided the weather was "cool" enough to get out for a round. Cool as in 35C at 7 pm...
They offer a 9 hole par 3 course and dine special on Mondays, which we happened to stumble upon. Our golf clubs didn't make the cut in deciding what to bring to Oman, and let's face it, didn't think there would be many golf courses in the desert. But after seeing this Greg Norman designed, oceanfront, fully lit course, we were starting to miss golf.
There's 2 clubs in Muscat - Muscat Hills and the newly opened Almouj at The Wave.  We've only been to the driving range and club house at Muscat Hills and the par 3 course at Almouj, so can't really compare courses, but Almouj has the advantage of being lit.
It was a pretty good deal for 9 holes and buffet dinner for 12 RO (~$32 cdn), which included full use of the facilities (lovely changes rooms), rental clubs (surprisingly they had a ladies left hand set, bonus!), shoes and use of the driving range.
The food was excellent - often times places can be hit or miss, and this was our second time here. Both nights were good and had different themes, BBQ and Italian, so judging by consistency and quality, a visit is highly recommended.

1st hole, ocean 400 y left

Closest to the pin goes to... Adam

Lounge (sans alcohol) overlooking the driving range

Dessert

Salad bar

There was more in between, but I was busy eating ;)

Wonderful shower, towel included

Ireland (Aug 17-24)

After 30 days of Ramadan, fasting and charitable deeds is celebrated with Eid Al Fitr. It was officially announced that the public sector would have the entire week off for Eid Al Fitr! This is quite a novel thing...getting an entire week off without having to take any holidays, and we really didn't believe it until it was announced in the news across the GCCs. 
Our good friends Pete and Zan had plans to visit her parent in Buncrana, Donegal (in the Republic of Ireland) for the holidays and invited us to join them. After managing to the survive the dry, summer heat (~48 C with the humidity for the past few weeks), we were eager to get into some rain, moderate temps, and real Irish pubs!  

We landed in Dublin and took a bus up to Buncrana in Donegal where we stayed with a family friend who lived a few blocks from the beach, perfect! The first thing we did was put on a sweater... and then went for a walk in the cooler climate and fresh air. I had a good chuckle at the white bodies on the beach catching some rays in ~20C ;) And at that point realized how skewed by the heat I've become, having a sweater on at the beach.

Driving into Londonderry

Walking to the beach

Golfing was high on the list of things to do, and noticably at the airport lots of other had this in mind too as there were 2 large golf groups arriving with close to 15 people in each one all with the clubs in tow

Zan's parents, Margaret (Margs) and Justice (Just) had already lined up clubs for us to play with and that first night everyone went golfing. Just and his fellow doctor colleagues Owen and Stephen are all members at the local Northwest Golf Club which if you can believe it has been a golf club since 1891, unbelievable. It was our first experience on true links course right on the ocean with proper wind. The course was immaculate with very fast greens considering how much rain they get, but the real danger of the course was the rough. There was no forgiveness if you missed the fairway and that first round we all lost 6 to 7 balls each on only 9 holes. Amazingly the only way you can find golf balls in the rough is by stepping on them.

That night our host for the week, Owen, had a true South African braai at his house with all the golfers of the day (true South African as Janelle and I were the only non South African's out of the 8, although we did try our hand at speaking Afrikaans when we could). The food was fantastic, Aberdeen Steak, local lamb chops and chicken sausage along with wonderful SA wine.

The following day took us for a bit of shopping and touring around Buncrana and into the nearby larger center of Derry (or LondonDerry if you're from Northern Ireland). Derry is famous as being the site of Bloody Sunday and the Free Derry Wall. We learned more about the Troubles later in our trip but it's an amazing history that has occurred quite recently. It is definitely worth reading about to grasp how divided the two countries are and the extent of violence that occurred. Pete and Zan picked up ingredients as they were cooking that night and we were treated to another wonderful meal of pasta and local Salmon. The trend of good food would definitely continue throughout the trip.

Wood-fired Braai, the best kind by SA standards ;)

 One of the common interests that Janelle and I share with Pete and Zan is cycling (and triathlon in general). So prior to coming, Margs had found a local bike shop and rented road bikes for us to use that day and tour around the local roads. We picked up our bikes at 10am and went off for an 80k ride. Margs escorted us in their tiny Fiat named "Dopy" for half the trip and supplied us snacks and motivation as needed. Drivers were incredibly courteous and either waited to pass until the road was clear or made sure to give you lots of room - the stranger thing to adjust to was cycling on the left hand shoulder. We ended up riding through some heavy rain going through Buncrana but it couldn't wipe the smile off our faces as it was fantastic, the coolness and fresh smell was well worth it. Typical Ireland that rain didn't last and soon we had  bit of sun before finding more rain as we encountered the "Gap" (The Mamore Gap, past Clonmany). The "Gap" was the highlight of the cycle as we had been warned before starting the ride of it and its 30% gradient. Adam didn't believe it, as this was Ireland and there are no "mountains" but true to form when we arrived at the Gap it was as steep as forwarned. All 4 of us eventually made it to the top, taking a couple breaks on the way up and summitting completely exhausted. The return trip through Buncrana brought us back into beautiful weather with warm sun and blue sky and we stopped for our first pub poured Guinness.

Mamore Gap. The summit in sight!

Just outside of Buncrana

Made it to the pub at last

The Guiness and Smithwick's went down easy :)

 That evening, went to a local hotspot Firebox Grill for dinner. Pete and Zan were very excited to take us as they had been before and had rave reviews. We weren't let down, eating some of the best food we've had in 8 months and of course choosing pork ribs (we have a tendancy to get very excited about anything that contains pork on a menu now).

The following day we made our way to Giant's Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The causeway was formed from a volcanic eruption 50-60 million years ago. As the rock cooled, it cracked and formed columns of hexagonal rock. We each got an audio brochure that provided info on each part of the trail around the causeway.
The Irish are known for their folklore, and that's how the Giant's Causeway got it's name. It was built by the giant, Finn McCool as a walkway to Scotland (the causeway outcrop can also be seen in Scotland). There's also other tails about the different rocks and how they resemble a piano organ, the giant's boot, and his granny climbing up the wall.

At Giant's Causeway

Cooled Lava rocks

Who doesn't like jumping!?

  We also visited a Famine Village historical site that explained the impact of the potato blight in Ireland from 1848-1850. It was very hard times and forced many to emigrate to North American, mostly Boston and all down the eastern sea board. It is estimated that 1 million Irish left. No wonder we found many similarities in the Irish as with our Maritime friends!

The last day was spent in Dublin before catching an evening flight back. It happened to be the Tall Ship Festival and ships from all around the world (Mexico, Spain, Venezuela, etc) had docked in the harbor. It would've been pretty cool to see them with the sails up as they were massive boats. The following day races were going to be held and that day they were allowing people to come aboard to check out the ships. We found Bono from U2's Bar without much trouble, it was by far the busiest pub at the wharf, so we stopped for a drink.

Downtown Dublin!

Tall ship from Spain

In Bono's pub