Alice Morrison has walked the entire length of Saudi Arabia over 112 days. Covering about 20km each day, she walked 2,200km in all.
Starting in January 2025, Morrison split her walk into two sections. The 930km first part took the 62-year-old Scottish woman from the Jordanian border and along the Pilgrimage Route to Medina. She then took a break before completing the final 1,270km to the Yemen border.
The route. Image: Alice Morrison
She split the journey into two parts so that she could complete it over two winters, avoiding both the extreme summer heat and Ramadan. Even with this planning, temperatures regularly hit 39˚C.
In her weekly blog, Morrison said, “I am not absolutely sure how hot hell is, but I think we are approaching it. That and water are our two big challenges at the moment.”
The heat forced her and her accompanying team to start walking as early as possible each day to minimize exposure to the midday heat.
Early start
“Alarm at 4:45; leave at 6:00, then walk until our much-anticipated tea break at 9:30. After that, we forge on to camp, have lunch, and then hide under a bush for shade until the sun sets,” she said of their daily routine.
Throughout, she was accompanied by a team that included Shaya Al Shaya, who walked with her, a cook and camelteer for each stage, two camels, and a support vehicle, ensuring a constant supply of water.
As with her previous walks across Morocco and the Jordan Trail, walking across deep sand was a huge challenge. At one point, blisters were an issue, including for one of her camels.
Morrison has lived in Marrakech for years, is fluent in Arabic, having studied it at university and worked for BBC Arabic TV. She is a journalist by trade, so much of this journey was filmed and will be turned into a documentary. She has been planning the walk for three years.
Morrison with Juicy and Lulu. Photo: Alice Morrison
Along the route, she walked and worked with several women, helping to document rarely seen archaeological sites, including Bronze and Stone Age tombs and 4,000-year-old rock carvings.
“I’ve walked with women leading conservation projects, managing camels, doing archaeological work,” she told Gulf News. “They’re changing things from within, and they’re proud of it.”
