11.11. Country and Wadi Al Abyadh a noc nad Wadim Mistal

We are being woken up by the goats, or more precisely, the children have found out that goats have taken over our campsite and are taking turns to inform us about it. Finally we give up and get up too. It's a beautiful morning, the sun is low, so I take advantage of it and go take some pictures. We're packing up for camping and can't leave without a swim, especially after we discovered a beautiful pool full of tadpoles right next to the campsite. The traffic in the wadi is heavy, so I go to bathe in my skirt to at least wash it, which the children like, so we all wash. I'm still going to look for the cache, which should be about 25m from our tents, the last find was 3 years ago, then one DNF, so I don't have high hopes, but with the help of the spoiler I easily find the box and save one TB. We are almost about to leave when locals stop to ask when we will be leaving, so we give them the seat.

After driving through the entire wadi, I have to say that we discovered the best spot in the entire valley yesterday in the dark. We continue through the wadi, at every shade where there is a car parked and a family having a picnic, we drive across several fords to the end of the road, only crazy people drive further, we didn't meet anyone there, but according to the tracks, sometimes cars drive there.

We continue on foot for 2 km through the water and along the rocky shores, we have wonderful views of the surrounding rocks and the children bathe in each deeper pool. The water, although flowing, is incredibly warm and full of small fish. After 2 km we take a break in the shade, the children don't last long and go to play in the water again. David saw the first snake that crawled under the stone in the water on which Lenka was sitting. The way back is faster, but just as nice. We occasionally meet a local, a tourist in the whole wadi.

On the iOverlander, we found a place to sleep on the hill in wadi Mistal on the opposite side of the road, so we go, we want to get there before daylight. The road through the valley is asphalt, but as we turn aside, we drive again on a stony dirt track, towards the end of the road it rises up a steep hill with steep switchbacks, the road looks as if it had been rolled up by a skunk, it is not at all dangerous, but still commands respect. After a few km we are at the marked place. The transmitter is above us and there is a rocky patch, it is windy and cold (21 degrees Celsius, we are used to it). We throw our down jackets and soon we are setting up our tents, the wind dies down, the dark peaks of the surrounding mountains are everywhere and the stars are coming out. We are looking forward to the beautiful views in the morning. A car passes by when it sees us, so it has to stop to greet us, the Omani doesn't know any English, but he smiles kindly and drives on again. When we herd the children into the tent, we go for a walk a little further down the road, we are curious where the village is that this road is supposed to lead to (which is not even on maps.cz), we see a valley with 3 lights, so maybe it is that one, see you in the morning