With a view to having Jacob cycling properly as soon as possible, I had received a bike of my own for Christmas. I say 'of my own', but in reality I am sharing it with Oscar.
It was with a little trepidation that I strapped Oscar into his seat (He wasn't so sure either) and set off down the road to Ghubra Lake park. I hadn't been on a bike in over three and a half years and was not that confident about the quality of other peoples driving, but forewarned is forearmed and the only iffy point was going around the Chedi roundabout. Still, I wouldn't want to do it on a busy day.
Becky drove with Jacob in the Jeep to meet us at the park and we had a wander and a play in the warm winter sun.
Oscar had the screaming add dabs whilst be placed in his cycle seat for the journey back but was happy as Larry whilst riding back.
The one thing I learned from this.................... I have muscles that I had forgotten they existed!
Determined that none of our delicious Christmas food would go to waste, we decided that bubble and squeak would be the order of the day. For those of you not aware of this tradition, it is made from left overs and comprises potato, mashed and vegetables, all fried in a very hot pan with only a little oil and seared or burnt to add extra crispiness.
Becky, although I find it hard to believe, claimed that she had never quite go it right so I gladly volunteered to take the reigns on this culinary excursion. The result, served with some cold goose and lashings of HP Sauce were so delicious that we had it for the next three days.
After only one day back at work I had the rest of the year off to prepare for our New Years camping trip to Bar Al Hickman. Becky, however, was less than enthusiastic at the prospect of several nights under canvas and engaged me in several 'conversations' on how she should have objected to the idea when I first suggested it.
Still, it was all arranged with our friends and therefore too late to back out, so full steam ahead.
As Gayle and Andrew had friend over from Scotland, we spent the first night at Wahiba Sands, Jacob and I went off with the others to do the dune driving (this time as passengers as our own 4x4 was loaded to the gunnel's), and it I got to chat with a German lady on holiday (for one year!) with her three daughters. They had very a very positive impression of Oman and it's people and I was glad to be able to expand on that.
The following day we set off at around 10:30am and drove for several hours until turning right at the three trees.
The GPS proved invaluable yet again and the only hiccup was when I tried to find a short cut to the beach.
Lesson learned, we followed the track a little further before finally finding the beach and drove along it until we found the perfect camping spot. Tents and shades were erected with military precision and timing before setting up a BBQ and camp fire, just in time for sundowners, perfection!
Much to both Becky and my surprise, she loved every minute of our trip. There were beautiful nights under the stars with campfires, cold foggy mornings (much to our surprise) and warm sunny days with the occasions dip in a cold clear sea, what a beautiful place to celebrate a new year.
1 comment:
We had a great time at the camel races in Al Hijj/Mahoot- great weather again, and off up to Ras al Jinz
Post a Comment