In 1967 the whole of the area had but one bitumenised road and that was between Sharjah and Dubai. Everything else was either sand track or oiled sand.
What we used to call the 'Coast Road' between Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah was literally the coast road - it was the beach and was impassable in certain tidal conditions.
The road through Shawkah towards Fujeirah and Khor Fakkan was worse than a goat track and, at one point, you had to negotiate something approaching a dried up waterfall and 'jump' the L androver from one rock to another.
Tom Shepherd had just left by the time I got to Sharjah but he was instrumental in getting the Mountain/Desert Rescue Team relocated there from Aden. We caused more than a few headaches for military discipline
