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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 636 km round trip from Kolkata - roughly 20 h 11 in the saddle. The stops in between: Sundarbans National Park, The Sundarbans, Sundarbans West Wildlife Sanctuary and back through The Sundarbans. It crosses from India into Bangladesh - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Kolkata is the city that was once the capital of British India, and it still carries itself with the air of a place that remembers. The great colonial buildings, the Victoria Memorial of white marble, the Writers' Building and the High Court, stand beside the Hooghly river, and trams, the only ones still running in India, clatter along the streets. The Howrah Bridge, a huge cantilever of steel opened in 1943, carries a river of people and vehicles across the water every day, and it is held together with rivets rather than nuts and bolts.
Read the complete Kolkata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kolkata is where the day begins. Next is Sundarbans National Park.
Let's be straight about it from the start: nobody rides a motorcycle into the Sundarbans. The national park is a maze of tidal channels, mudbanks and mangrove islands at the bottom of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta, and the last solid tarmac gives out at the jetties around Gosaba and the villages beyond Canning. The ride is about getting to the edge of the land, parking the bike in a village yard, and stepping onto a wooden boat for the part that matters.
Read the complete Sundarbans National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sundarbans National Park comes up 47 km in.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sundarbans National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
94 km in you reach Sundarbans National Park. Next is The Sundarbans.
No road reaches this point. The forest is crossed only by water, and any visit here means leaving the motorcycle behind and taking a boat.
Read the complete The Sundarbans write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Sundarbans, about halfway. Next is Sundarbans West Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world, a vast maze of tidal rivers, creeks and muddy islands where the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers meet the Bay of Bengal. The western sanctuary, in the south west of Bangladesh close to the Indian border, is one of the protected cores of this immense wetland, part of the World Heritage listing shared between Bangladesh and India. It is the home of the Bengal tiger, which has adapted to life in the mangroves, swimming between islands and hunting in the tidal forest, as well as spotted deer, saltwater crocodiles, river dolphins and a remarkable variety of birds.
Read the complete Sundarbans West Wildlife Sanctuary write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sundarbans West Wildlife Sanctuary sits at 187 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Sundarbans.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Sundarbans write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Sundarbans comes up 234 km in. Next is back through Sundarbans National Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sundarbans National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
281 km in you reach back through Sundarbans National Park. Next is back through Sundarbans National Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sundarbans National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sundarbans National Park, late in the day. Next is Kolkata.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kolkata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 636 km.
Kolkata → Sundarbans National Park is 120 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sundarbans National Park → The Sundarbans is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Sundarbans → Sundarbans West Wildlife Sanctuary is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sundarbans West Wildlife Sanctuary → back through The Sundarbans is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Sundarbans → back through Sundarbans National Park is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sundarbans National Park → Kolkata is 120 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.