CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Islamabad it runs 119 km to Islamabad; allow about 2 h 26 of riding. On the way it passes Giri complex of monuments, Giri Mosque and tombs, Khanpur Cave and Taxila. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 39 km this is Karakoram Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Seen as a base for day rides rather than a destination, Islamabad has two historic targets within reach, and they pull in opposite directions. West, about thirty-five kilometres away, lies Taxila, the ruins of a centre of Gandhara culture where Buddhism and Greek-influenced art met around two thousand years ago. The stupas at Dharmarajika and the monastery at Jaulian stand among dry hills, and the museum holds remarkable sculptures of the Buddha with a face that looks almost Mediterranean. South-east, along the Grand Trunk Road past Jhelum, stands Rohtas Fort, a vast sixteenth-century fortress built by the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri to guard against the Mughals, whose huge walls and gates follow the ridge above a river.
Read the complete Islamabad write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Islamabad is where the day begins. Next is Giri complex of monuments.
The valley around Taxila is one of those places where the past is stacked in layers, and you can feel it as soon as you leave the road. Just north-west of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, in the foothills of the Margalla Hills, the broad plain was for more than a thousand years a crossroads for traders, armies, monks and scholars moving between Central Asia, India and the Persian world. UNESCO listed the ruins in 1980, and the Giri complex belongs to this wider landscape.
Read the complete Giri complex of monuments write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Giri complex of monuments comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Giri Mosque and tombs.
Not everything in the Taxila valley is Buddhist, and the Giri mosque and tombs are a reminder of a later chapter. The Islamic centuries left their mark here too, in small mosques, tombs and shrines on the plain, built after the Muslim dynasties arrived from the north-west and the old monasteries had fallen into ruin. UNESCO's Taxila listing, from 1980, covers a long run of history, and the Islamic period is part of it.
Read the complete Giri Mosque and tombs write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Giri Mosque and tombs. Next is Khanpur Cave.
Khanpur Cave sits in the hills north-west of Islamabad, close to the Khanpur Dam and the green reservoir that spreads below the town of Khanpur, and it is one of the older places on this ride. Archaeological work in the cave has found evidence of prehistoric occupation, with people sheltering here long before any of the cities and monasteries in the valley were built. It is a reminder that the Taxila region was inhabited for a very long time before it became famous.
Read the complete Khanpur Cave write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Khanpur Cave, about halfway. Next is Taxila.
Taxila sits at 38 km, about halfway. Next is back through Khanpur Cave.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Khanpur Cave write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Khanpur Cave comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Giri Mosque and tombs.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Giri Mosque and tombs write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Giri Mosque and tombs. Next is back through Giri complex of monuments.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Giri complex of monuments write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Giri complex of monuments, late in the day. Next is Islamabad.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Islamabad write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 119 km.
Islamabad → Giri complex of monuments is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Giri Mosque and tombs → Khanpur Cave is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Khanpur Cave → Taxila is 5 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Taxila → back through Khanpur Cave is 4 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Khanpur Cave → back through Giri Mosque and tombs is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Giri complex of monuments → Islamabad is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.