The Valley of Bacon

Rainbow Valley / Spectrum, Wadi Ghub, Fujairah, UAE

It’s mid-October! It’s still hot, but not as crazy hot as before. Very soon, it’ll be trekking and picnic season here in the UAE. (And the missus is just raring for that to happen. She’s a nature person – trees, flowers & hills are her thing. She’s looking forward to camping in the wilderness, although every time we do that, we’ll not sleep well, we’ll be dirty and there’ll be lots of things for her to prepare and to clean up after. Oh, of course I help, but she’s super-efficient. …So, it’ll end up with her doing most of the work… Sigh!)

So, here’s a trekking post. Our trek up to what people here called the Rainbow Valley or the Spectrum Valley. Personally, I prefer Spectrum, because there’re ain’t much of a rainbow to me. It’s just red and white like bacon. Wait, that’s even better, Bacon Valley, or Bacon Cradle! If you have a twisted mind, it even looks like a humongous… you-know-what. (If this was in a place where ancient paganistic beliefs were practiced, I’m sure the people would’ve made it into a fertility temple …And here, is the Mother of them all!) Officially, it’s called Wadi Ghub, though.

We actually did this trek not at the start of trekking season, but at the end of it, in 2021, i.e. at the end of March, when the temperature starts to climb and things dry up. But the days are longer too, so we decided to do it in the afternoon, after lunch. We figured we’d have enough time to go in and come out before sun sets. Most of the people do this early in the morning and by the time they trek back, it’d be under the hot, relentless midday sun! I guess we made a pretty good decision. We had the spectrum valley all to ourselves! Well, almost. A girl and a guy came later, when we were about to leave.


Ghub Village, Fujairah, UAE – Getting our bearings on where the hiking trail starts. This was our first amd only time here. There, those mountains are where we should head to…


Let’s park here by the village, for a quick lunch, under the shade of the tree (out of view on the left). The trek starts just ahead, see the earth track leading up to the telecommunications tower (on the right). We could watch the goats, for entertainment


We decided to drive right up to the telecommunications tower… and park there. (Why walk when you can drive, hehe). There’s no one around. We saw some hikers walked down past us when we were having lunch (at 4pm!!!)


“We love to go a-wandering, along the mountain track...” 4.30pm was when we started. Do you see Justin?


The kids and a stone stack. Where do these come from? We’ve seen them all over the place world. The first I remember noticing them was in Ladakh in 2004. I thought they’re Tibetan prayer arrangements… But then we saw them elsewhere, like loads of 'em in a river gorge in Slovenia… But I think they’re cool as trail markers, at least we know we’re on the right track


Up and up into the wadi, clambering over rocks. I hope we’re getting close


Hey, slow coaches, hurry up! Jayden and Papa are the slow coaches in our hikes (always)


The rock’s changing. Looks like bacon is near!


Ta Da! We’ve reached the bacon rocks! But where’s the cradle/ saddle that we see on the internet??


I think we have to go higher. Be careful kids!


Hey, I’ve found it! High above the valley, 5.30pm


Anu and the valley of bacon! If you look closely, you can see a girl on the top, right corner. She and her partner are the only other people we encountered on the trek. They arrived when we were about to go


Holy stacks of bacon!


Whew, made it back in time before sunset. Bye-bye Wadi Ghub, 6.30pm