The day doesn't start well as I can't find things that I need to pack for Al Baha. My biking jeans have been put in the drier and are so tight I can hardly squeeze into them. The Jeddah Chapter want to leave at 9 A.M., and there is no way we can join them as I also have to go to a photography shop to buy a new lens filter – I lost two on the trip to Lebanon as the vibration from the bike seems to unscrew them. We finally get everything done and leave Jeddah at 10.30 A.M. A Saudi lady at a red traffic light winds her window down, gives me a big smile, and says: “Very Good!” It is very hot at around 100 degrees farenheit, and very humid, and we can't wait to be in the mountains. The road up the escarpment to Taif has only recently been completely re-surfaced and generally improved. It is now a beautiful two-lane highway, with a proper asphalt hard shoulder, and a concrete wall blocking off a big storm drain. We really enjoy the ride, especially as the temperature drops by almost 20 degrees by the time we get to the top. It seems that although the highway road signs are all in English and Arabic, the road signs through the towns are now only in Arabic – and we are caught on this in Taif, as we were in Yanbu. A car with four very cheerful “shebabs” (young men) follows us for a while, and then eventually we find the right road towards Al Baha. We then take the “Tourist Route” which is a perfect road for bikers. It is well cambered and winds along the top of the Hejaz Mountains, at over 2000 meters, providing 220 kms of beautiful hills, valleys and bends and arguably one of the best biking roads in the world.Every now and then, there are magnificent views of the layers of the mountains below us stretching into the far distance. There is a series of old stone watch towers all the way to Al Baha, as well as ruins of old stone villages. About 70 kms before Al Baha, we are stopped at a check point, our IDs requested, and we are given tea. We then have a Highway Patrol escort for 60 kms, and from there a police car escorts us all the way to our Hotel. We arrive at 5.30 P.M., lovely and cool, and are greeted by three bikers from Dammam, but the Jeddah Chapter have not yet arrived!
