The bad weather is finally behind us so we started driving towards the mountainous region of Oman, stopping first at a wadi for a hike along a very interesting route, following the village Falaj (irrigation system). It was basically a large concrete gutter with water gushing through the middle and a flat section on either side to step on. It was all fun and games until it formed a bridge across the river and there was no chance I was going to cross it. The drop down was about 5 meters so a fall probably wouldn’t cause death but it would definitely break a lot of bones. Craig managed to get across in a rather unconventional manner, with one foot on either side, shuffling his way along with spread legs. He downplayed it and said I’d manage it fine. Not a chance. Then two Pakistani men came along and saw me refusing to continue, so they showed me how easy it was, by walking along a single side each. These edges were less than a foot wide, in normal circumstances they’d be fine to walk along but the drop-off messes with my brain. It’s like the boulder we jumped on in Norway, wedged between a cliff-face with a 1000m drop below. On flat-ground the leap onto the boulder would be laughably easy but with a chance of stumbling and falling 1 kilometre down a fjord made it one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done.

The Pakistanis came back again but this time one walked with spread legs like Craig had done and the other guy actually walked through the water…they had shown us every option to cross. And it was the last method that I thought would work for me, but instead of standing and walking though like the man did, I crouched down low, and held onto the walls for stability. It worked. I made it across and waved my arms in the air triumphantly to the friendly Pakistanis. It wasn’t over though, we now had to navigate around a rock face that protruded over the Falaj and the only way I felt safe to go through was kneeling through the water. Again, we made it through and now it was much easier, walking along one side of the Falaj wall. There was between a 1-2 meters drop to the side so nothing scary but even still, at one point I just wobbled and there was nothing I could do to stop it. In a split second I just said “oh my god!” as I fell sideways. It was pretty scary as there were boulders beneath me and I would have had a nasty fall but suddenly my foot landed in some old branches growing out the side of the wall. My goodness. I was really shaken up after that and petrified about having to go back the same way.

On the plus side the wadi was absolutely beautiful and its challenges to reach meant we had the place to ourselves. Below the steep canyon walls were crystal clear pools which we enjoyed swimming in. Our wadi luck in Oman seems to be whenever we arrive at one it clouds over, so we didn’t get a great opportunity to see the pools glistening in all their glory but it was still a very beautiful hike.

The weather perked up in the afternoon so we drove to the next sight, Birkat Al Mawz which was a really scenic village practically filled with palm trees and backed with a couple of old mud brick villages beneath the mountains. There was a great view from a hill where we were above the endless sea of palms. Next we headed down to walk through the palm grove and explore the ruins. They were in quite a poor state, completely left to crumble with collapsed roofs and crumbling walls. We explored some of the old houses, one of which had a baby goat hiding in which scared the shit out of me and nearly caused me to stumble off the fragile roof.

It was nice that we were just allowed to roam freely with no rules and absolutely no health and safety considerations. The downside was that houses weren’t being protected in anyway from further crumbling. Locals used them as places to throw rubbish and smashed glass from bottles mixed with the muddy tracks between the houses. At some point in the future they’ll be nothing left if these little villages.

The next oasis village we visited was Misfat Al Abriyeen, nestled on a mountainside and encircled by date plantations. It was a surprisingly popular place with tourists which took the appeal away a bit for us. The village lacked the charm as it had so many water pipes and electricity poles running through it that I found it tricky to get a single photo. So instead we followed the Falaj through the palm trees towards the gorge. Locals were climbing the trees with such ease, using a harness sort of strap to lean on and gain elevation until they were at the top. Then they stood, unharnessed on the palm throngs while they casually went about wrapping string around the little flowers growing.

It was a sweltering hot day, I just can’t hike in heat so I wasn’t enjoying the walk at all but there was one thing that kept me going – the river down the bottom of the gorge had pools that looked idyllic to swim in, but who knew if it was just a hot and flustered mirage my mind was inventing. We just couldn’t find a route down there though, there were trail markings which led us to the dry river bed so we were up and down like a yo-yo until we finally bushwhacked down a steep slope. Prickly plants with little spiky balls stuck to fabric like Velcro and covered my trousers. After some scrambling over rocks, through the water and beside a waterfall we finally reached a pool where we just melted in the water and didn’t move for 15 minutes.

The final mudbrick village we visited was old Al Hamra. The buildings here were so tall, some had been renovated while others were cracked in half, revealing a cross-section of the crumbling house with stairs leading no where and roofs in tatters. Some of these old mud houses even had plug sockets…crazy to think they actually had electricity in them! We followed a path through the palmerie where we took a seat in the shade and watched people climbing up them.

In the village was Bait Al Safah, a living museum within a traditional 400 year old home. It cost £6 per person but we had a lovely guide who spoke English and showed us around the rooms. First we were told why the walls were black as appose to pure mud, apparently they used to make lots of date syrup, they’d basically pile bags of dates atop one another and the pressure would naturally juice them. They used the syrup for one year before the new batch was made because it would begin to ferment and also they liked to use the leftovers on their mud walls. They burnt it on and it created this sort of black seal to the walls, turning normal powdery mud walls into a smooth slightly glossy finish. We were given a taster of the syrup and our guide told us that they’d tried the syrup on the wall technique and failed, as was seen behind the glass jar where the wall literally had black splatters on it like it had been in a paintball fight. It was kind of sad to see how old traditions and skills just vanish.

The next room had two ladies in it who demonstrated various techniques. The first one showed how they used to roast coffee beans, just enough for the day and then they’d be ground in a metal pestle and mortar which sounded like a musical instrument and was banged in a certain manner at the end which would notify everyone in the house that coffee was ready. Next she demonstrated how they ground wheat using a doughnut shaped stone which they spun around. The flour was then sifted and the next lady mixed it with water and salt to create a wet dough which she sort of just slapped around a hot flat plate and within 30 seconds a thin crispy wafer was created which we got to taste. We also learnt how they make healing oil for eczema and other skin conditions from seeds in the mountain trees.

The bedrooms and lounges were upstairs, all with incredibly high ceilings built with palm trees and mud. The house was three stories tall but with how high the ceilings were it was probably the equivalent of a 6 story house which was very impressive for it to be in such great condition after 400 years. One of the rooms had traditional clothes and we were allowed to dress up which sounded hilarious so you bet we gave it a go. I picked a red velvet dress which wasn’t too different from the dress I was already wearing. Craig however looked fab in his traditional white robe and Omani hat. The lounge had a nice sitting area where we could help ourselves to coffee and ginger tea along with a big bowl of glossy dates. They were delicious but I suddenly realised they looked like shiny cockroaches. How an earth am I going to un-see that image now.

As we drove out of town we noticed there were over 10 ladies tailor shops along the road…all of them were closed. We continued our drive out of the village and my goodness, we couldn’t stop counting the ladies tailor shops – we spotted 46!!!! Imagine 46 of the same shops in your local town. It was madness. And it looked like only one was open. In comparison the village only had 5 gents tailor shops.

There’s a lot of castles and forts in Oman but we only wanted to pick one to see as they tend to start looking the same so we chose Jabrin castle as I read it was quite a rewarding one with an audio guide which didn’t actually work for us but it was still very interesting seeing the huge building. Again it was about four stories high but probably the equivalent of a normal 8 story building. There was a courtyard in the centre with crazy high walls rising all around us. A local man was demonstrating pottery in one room and there was an absolute labyrinth of stairways and hallways so we had to be careful not to get lost. It was fun but absolutely exhausting, the rooms were cool but the general heat of the day and any time spent on the sun soaked roof terrace just zapped us. The date store downstairs was probably the most interesting part for me. It was in a very dark room with a sort of corrugated design to the floor. Dates were all piled up high and the pressure would naturally juice them at which point it would pour down the low parts of the corrugated system and into a vat where they’d be able to collect their date juice. If the castle was under attack they’d boil the date oil and pour it through a designated hole high up above the entrance onto intruders. Amazing how useful a little date can be ay!