Just for Mirlin ? I have still got some Hair
Ron, or anyone else come to that!
When was the curfew on Taif. I thought it was at night, as I remember Johnny Longhorn returning to Dammam with every inch of his body covered in mozzy bites and I think he said he’d missed the curfew, and spent the night at the bottom, without raid or Pif Pat. I posted something similar on fb and someone replied that it was only open to trucks at night.
I can definitely remember going up in the daytime, but after all these years the old memory is a bit hazy - like looking down towards Jeddah from the top, hazy!
John.
I remember that Taif was closed for a while and on my first trip over to Ras Tanura with 20 box filled with scaffolding pipes I had to follow an old hand and somehow we did miles and miles to avoid the mountain but its hazy now■■? after that I don,t remember it closed… i used to leave Jeddah about 3.00 am in the cool and have a kip at the top before it got to hot
The Shafer mountains Jeddah ,straight up and straight down , mountains of Abah they where higher and longer ,
Oh, yes Ron and Backsplice, Jeddah was hot, hot, hot - and humid! I notice that even in December the day temperatures were (and presumably still are!) in the eighties in old money. A night spent next to the lagoon was about as close to total misery as is possible. The sweat poured out of you, but the humidity was close to 100% so the body’s total loss cooling system was erm… useless. Water poured out of you from every pore and you woke, if you’d slept, wet through! Same in Dammam, but only in Summer over there. Riyadh had very little humidity, being a long way from water, so even if it was hot, your sweat evaporated - same at Taif, hence everyone’s desire to get up that mountain!
I see you say that the trucks were allowed up at midnight, but as said, I can definitely remember going up in the day. I have one of those ‘video moments’ where I can picture a bell like pinging from the Saviem engine and hanging my head out of the window to hear it better. I decided it sounded like a ‘little end’ and didn’t want to stop on that steep climb. I ‘let it develop’ and it got me back the 1,000 miles to Dammam where we were based. It was indeed a little end, so not that big a deal.
John.
I think they,ve been on before but that was ages ago so Taif again continually flicking the range change so the cable would,nt stick inside its ■■■■■■
Dammam East side T/A Vila the place was full of cockroaches !!! and Mirlin " below "added to these when he bought a crate of rotten spuds and droped it on the kitchen floor ? It exploded with cockroaches and they ran everywhere , An outstanding memory of Dammam ,Ron
A good neighbour of ours from just up the street came and took some photos of our garden in full bloom his name is Ron , he was so imprestt !! and sent them to his friend in Canada? Who is a graffiti artist ? Of some standing !! And follows Trans Arabia on Truc’k Net , I was also pleased to see his photos that he gave me , so I thought why not put them on the thread . Ron
The Road to Nowhere , Just found this shot on the tablet TAIF mountain rd made into a tourist scenic drive for cars !! To think this was outside our back door and Trans Arabia used it all the time on our coast to coast runs with loads that would “and did break the Camels back” NGCs ruled OK , single carriageway in 40 deg heat , Littered with wrecks up and down , Ron
ronhawk:
The Road to Nowhere , Just found this shot on the tablet TAIF mountain rd made into a tourist scenic drive for cars !! To think this was outside our back door and Trans Arabia used it all the time on our coast to coast runs with loads that would “and did break the Camels back” NGCs ruled OK , single carriageway in 40 deg heat , Littered with wrecks up and down , Ron
A great picture Ron
Sent using Tapatalk.
Johnny
ronhawk:
The Road to Nowhere , Just found this shot on the tablet TAIF mountain rd made into a tourist scenic drive for cars !! To think this was outside our back door and Trans Arabia used it all the time on our coast to coast runs with loads that would “and did break the Camels back” NGCs ruled OK , single carriageway in 40 deg heat , Littered with wrecks up and down , Ron
Ken’s load looks fairly light for going up Taif on this occasion. As you say, when looking at google earth etc. What was frightening, and on occasion very frightening, in 1975/85, now looks much more acceptable.
I still have dreams of climbing one in seven mountains - not hills, you were in low gear forever up and down, in the Asir mountains, south of Taif. Taif was only a mile high, most of the Asir was twice that or more. Some roads were not tarmacced, but carved in the side of the mountains. As you say, if you looked down (don’t look down!) you could see many unrecoverable wrecks.
Trans Arabia had the contract with the rebar factory in Khobar and took double bottom loads of 20’ x 8’ concrete reinforcing steel throughout the Magic kingdom. My wife, Julie and I, were in the social circle that included the English directors of the company producing those loads. They often said, when I was running Caravan Trucking, that if I put in a good price I could get the business. I was happy for Trans Arabia to keep it! Heavy, slippery… trouble. I’m sure you remember it well Ron.
John.
Thanks for your interest Johnny , John West has done it, so I admire his true words , T/A certainly did it at a cost ,
The road train was checked over and made ready by JD & myself , it would have caused problems going out of Jeddah and also entering Dammam , Ron
ronhawk:
The road train was checked over and made ready by JD & myself , it would have caused problems going out of Jeddah and also entering Dammam , Ron
You can see why I wanted nothing to do with that steel reinforcing matting!
Life’s too short, and loads like that sometimes made it shorter!
Not quite off topic, but nearly 
I once drove up the Derna Pass in Libya.
I was 12, sitting on me Dads knee. Trusty old Fiat 127.
Ghaddafi had just taken over the country.
Can´t find any photos but it was a windy ■■■■■■■■
