CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 220 km to Islamabad; allow about 3 h 04 of riding. The stops in between: Rohtas Fort and back through Rohtas Fort. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
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 Rohtas Fort.
Rohtas is a fort built with a grudge. Sher Shah Suri, the Afghan ruler who drove the Mughal emperor Humayun out of India in the 1540s, ordered it to be raised in the Salt Range foothills, partly to command the road to Kabul and partly to keep the Gakhar tribe of the region in check. The Gakhars refused to cooperate with him, and the fort became a standing rebuke. Work began in 1541 and continued for years, though it was never fully completed, and Sher Shah died in 1545, before he could see his dream finished.
Read the complete Rohtas Fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rohtas Fort comes up 64 km in. Next is Rohtas Fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rohtas Fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
127 km in you reach Rohtas Fort. Next is back through Rohtas Fort.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rohtas Fort write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Rohtas Fort, 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.
Back at Islamabad. That is the ride.
Islamabad → Rohtas Fort is 127 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Rohtas Fort → Islamabad is 127 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.