Unique Traffic Diversion

G is due another visa run and schools being closed today due to yesterday's rain meant the weekend could be free; so we set off...

This new route is going to take some getting use to. Got on the E611 no problem. G was driving and was told to look out for the E102 as I was busy answering emails and calls! We seemed to be on the road for much longer than I remember before. I happened to spot a sign to the East Coast so we turned off to the E55 and were happily driving along seeing scenery we knew we'd not seen before.

Turns out we'd travelled much further North and were now having to make our way back to where we needed to be. Hmmm... wonder what happened there. G insists she had her eyes peeled for the E102 turn-off but never saw it.

The visa renewal bit went smoothly enough and we managed to get some great mountains-with-clouds shots, but on the way home... my blip is what really tells a story...

We had noted when we finally got on to the E102 that the (Sharjah) Police weren't allowing vehicles on the section of this road which we would have travelled on had G seen the sign... 90 minutes later, it was still inaccessible, so it was back on the E55 heading South towards the old familiar (more direct) E44.

And then we hit this... yup... Sharjah Police's very unique way of diverting traffic... the Northbound carriageway was flooded and there were several tankers pumping the water to clear it - ironically onto the Southbound carriageway (the one we were on). They diverted the traffic to our carriageway - no signs, no cones, no-one to guide the traffic... and it would appear that the "guests" decided they needed more than one lane... G whipped her camera out to get this. At one point, I was fighting for a lane to be in. I am AMAZED there were no accidents; at least not for the time we were on it. It was just bizarre. Driving here is not for the faint-hearted.

So, the fact that we made it out there and back intact, is really good methinks! The next time we have to think of this journey won't be till May now thankfully!