Covering the Country

We decided that we would go for a drive in the car to check out a bit of the country. Having been to the South and the Inland Sea it was time to head West across the country to the other coastline. The trip is approximately 80 kms and the road, while still being completed is a double three lane motorway. We check the map and decided to head for Durkam as that looked like the largest settlement (pretty much the only one) on that side of the country. The trip was pleasant enough with very little traffic on the road given that it was Friday. Halfway across we came to camel racing country. We attempted to follow the signs to the race track but ended up in the middle of some housing estate on roads ( well we’ll call them roads) not designed for our little lantra. With sump intact and a little conversation I had with a local we finally came upon the camel race track. It is about 5 km long and they use robots to control the camels. There was no racing on the day but we saw a lot of camels. We’ll make the effort to get back in the coming weeks as it is coming to the end of the season. Not only did we find the camel track we also found the sealed highway which takes you there. At least we’ll know for next time. So onward to Durkam. We arrived we saw and we left. Simply because there was very little there. Qatar Petroleum has a huge compound there and there is a members only beach resort as well. A police station, a fire station and lots of construction. Having found the other coast with not a toilet in sight it was back in the car and home for a late brunch. We only need to get to the northern most point and then we have knocked the country off.