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Back to the road through more farmland and on to the outskirts of Domat al Jandar where were met by two army vehicles and escorted to the musuem, which takes you through the history of Saudi Arabia - covering land type and formation, archaeology, flora and fauna and the country's development - and was the second place in which we had seen Captain Shakespear's photographs displayed. Next door is Kasr Marid - an impressive castle, visited by Shakespear during his 1914 journey across the Arabian Peninsula. Once again it was time for a bit of detective work to try and match Shakespear's photographs with what was before us. Part of the castle had been rebuilt which threw us a little but, just as in Wadi Rum, we suddenly saw the picture we needed. The view of the old city from the castle walls was a great deal easier - although many of the buildings have gone, it is easy to identify the shape of the land and the areas of palms are much the same.
It would have been easy to spend hours searching through Kasr Marid and the old city but the sun was against us and Abdullah was keen to get on the road again. We had originally planned to camp out in the desert but decided that the better option was to find a hotel and after a few phone calls our convoy set off to Sakaka, the capital of Jauf region. The hotel was certainly a wise choice as that night Richard (and not me, for a change!) was struck down with a stomach bug that kept him in bed for the next few days.... |
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