Sixty days in Saudi

Cycling through Saudi Arabia was never very appealing when I lived and worked here for 5 years. Based in the eastern part of what is a vast country, I was surrounded by hundreds of kilometres of mostly flat and monotonous desert landscapes. On the western side of the country however, close to the Red Sea, a diverse landscape of mountains rise up to over 3000m in elevation, stretching thousands of kilometres from the country's northern border with Jordan all the way south into Yemen. Having visited a few times with a car when living here, I knew this was a far more interesting and adventurous place to cycle, so I was always keen and curious to return with two wheels when the time was right. Following on from several weeks of cycling in Jordan, the initial  plan was to ride south from the border as far as Jeddah, mid-way down the country's western side, then fly out to Qatar. As the days progressed however, I found myself wanting to continue riding onwards through the mountains and desert valleys, and avoid cycling towards a huge and busy coastal city. With nothing booked ahead and no fixed time plan, it was as simple as that. I just continued riding as far south as possible, adding another month or so to my time here. I camped almost the entire time, which is partly a reflection of how much I enjoy camping and how easy it is to camp here. The winter months between November-March have almost perfect weather conditions for camping under star-lit skies in beautiful desert landscapes. That, coupled with a lack of budget accommodation and my reluctance to ride into large urban centres meant I only stayed in official accommodation for 2 nights out of 60.  Fortunately it was never difficult to find a public park or quiet mosque to wash/shower discreetly in, as a well as use the toilet facilities and often charge phone/batteries. Filling up and finding water was therefore never really a problem. For a country that has so much desert and rains so little, finding water here (desalinated but fine to drink) was ironically perhaps easier than nearly every other country I have cycled in!The same could be said for buying food. Service stations in Saudi Arabia are very well stocked and no more expensive than the larger supermarkets you find in urban centres. Many service stations here have small restaurants attached, which were predominantly Pakistani staffed and provided fresh and affordable meals for £2-5. As Saudi Arabia only opened to mainstream tourism (non-Muslim) in recent years, there is a lack of tourist infrastructure and far fewer tourists here than neighbouring countries like Jordan, Oman and Egypt. Away from a few locations that Saudi Arabia has earmarked for tourism, such as Al Ula, western tourists are a very rare sight, so the level of curiosity from Saudi Arabians is far greater. At times this could be a little overwhelming, but as a single male traveller I never felt unsafe. Travelling solo as a woman would have been a different experience. I rarely saw women in public, let alone engage in conversation with them. Women do travel here independently, and while I believe the country is far safer than many I have cycled through, it really felt like a man's world for most of the time. While Saudi Arabia is changing and modernising quite quickly in urban areas, I think life in much of the country remains traditional and conservative. Had I wanted to I probably could have been hosted most nights. Saudi Arabians are some of the friendliest and most hospitable people I have encountered during my bike travels. My days were filled with frequent invites for tea/coffee/lunch and also to homes, many of which I went to during the day. I probably refused as many invites as I accepted, but I was content and happy to find my own places to camp in quiet areas by night, rather than ride into settlements and enquire about where I could sleep. In the context of a country new to tourism like this, and one that prides itself on the Islamic tradition of hospitality, this would have undoubtedly led to many invitations to sleep in what would likely be a guestroom of a large house - memorable experiences, but not always relaxing. In Jordan I had largely followed a published bike route, but here in Saudi I returned to how I usually plan my bike trips, which is making it up as I go along with a general direction (south in this case) in mind. Digital mapping is poorly developed in Saudi Arabia. I used a combination of Komoot, Mapy, and Google maps, especially Google satellite, to find roads and plan routes. A number did not appear marked on the maps, so I was merely relying on tracks I could see from satellite imagery. Fortunately the mobile network was relatively strong in 90% of the places I found myself, so it was rarely a problem that I could not access information, and if I couldn't it wouldn't be for an extended period. STC is Saudi Arabia's strongest network, so I was happy I bought and used this from the start, other than one of the other providers. While I wanted to cycle on gravel and unpaved roads as much as possible, this wasn't always possible. Many minor roads in Saudi Arabia are paved, and minor roads here sometimes turned out to be much bigger than I thought. As I stayed clear of most large cities though, rarely was I ever on a very busy road, and 90% of paved roads here have wide shoulders at the side. I had no interest to ride across the centre of the country to reach the eastern province. There are only a few roads, which are big highways, and the flat, often monotonous desert landscapes, coupled with unpredictable strong winds, meant putting my bicycle on a bus for 1300km, before riding on another 200km to reach the border with Qatar, felt like a far better option. So here is the route in complete. Any missing parts are either because my watch battery died and stopped recording GPS data (just once I think) or I was in a vehicle with my bike loaded inside.