Voices from the road

We landed at Muscat airport close to one in the morning and were out of the car park within twenty minutes, which after a nine hour flight mattered more than the price did. Nobody tried to sell us cover we had already paid for.

The coast road down to Sur is the whole reason to hire a car here, and the little automatic took it without complaining. A warning light came on two days later and the supplier was slow to call back.

I live here and rent by the month rather than buy, and this is the third car I have taken through the site. Parking along the Mutrah corniche is tight, so a small automatic is the right answer and that is most of what gets listed.

We drove up to Nizwa on the Friday, walked the fort and spent an hour in the souq, and were back in the city for dinner. None of that fits a bus timetable.

A warning for anyone planning Jebel Akhdar: the police checkpoint at the bottom turned our saloon back, because only 4x4 cars are allowed up. My own fault for not reading, but I wish it had been louder on the booking page.

Wadi Shab was the best day of the week and having the car meant getting there before the coaches. Handover at the airport took ten minutes and the fuel gauge matched the paperwork.

Watch the kilometre allowance. We covered far more ground in ten days than we expected to, and the excess charge at the end was a surprise even though it was written in the terms.

We drove in for a week and needed something that could take a few wadi crossings without drama. The 4x4 we collected was newer than the photo and the hold came off the card within days.