Day 1 : Bahrain to Abu Dhabi

 

The border crossing into Saudi Arabia was the smoothest, fastest and most friendly border crossing ever experienced!  It’s like they were part of our farewell committee, bidding us a smooth transition to the journey beyond, I can only be grateful.

The Saudi highway was well marked and easy to follow. Head south on the 612 that takes you along the south eastern coast to the UAE border; ok with a small exception, the detour through Al Hofuf confused the GPS and we had to charter a new route on the device  🙂  

The road passes through some dramatic desert landscapes and dull, dusty truck stops. I suppose it was like any other day in the desert during summer, extremely hot; reaching a cool 48 degrees Celsius!  One noticeable change was a passing a train,  I’ve heard about it and can now confirm the service exists!  Once we passed Al Hofuf the traffic thinned out considerably.  This could be as a result of the heat when daytime travel is avoided or perhaps something to do with an eerily deserted road to the Qatari border?

Once again we breezed through the formalities at the border crossing of Al Batha – Al Ghuwaifat, with unusual curiosity from border officials and a pleasant bid bon voyage.

It becomes immediately apparent that we entered a new territory as the highway to Abu Dhabi was a new and comfortable road to pass through. As it became a mundane drive along the highway, it was necessary to change in the driver 🙂 After the necessary stops for stretching and eating we arrived in Abu Dhabi just after sunset.  All in all a good day on the road.