After witnessing a stunning sunrise (while I did anyway), we breakfasted, cleared the camp, burnt our rubbish on the still smoldering fire and set of for the Hanging Gardens described as “spectacular area for hiking with amazing rock formations and stunning views”. We were not disappointed.

After our gentle morning stroll (about 3 hours) we headed back to our favourite swimming hole – Madbah.

The water felt a little chilly but Claire insisted that everyone should have a swim.

Just one more border crossing to get back into the UAE and we attempted the closest one even though we had not been allowed to cross there on a previous attempt. Nothing had changed, we still could not cross. Now the worry was that Claire & Jonathan would need to pay for an Omani exit visa in their UK passports. The border guard suggested we try another crossing which we had used before with Sarah & Steve. On that occasion we had been sent 25km down the road to get the Omani stamp and then had retina scans as we came through the crossing. This time we all sailed through the no charges, no scans and no visa. The rules seem to change from day to day.