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.
191 km from Samarkand to Samarkand, about 3 h 33 of riding. On the way it passes Jartepa II Temple, Suleimantepa, Proto-urban Site of Sarazm and back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Samarkand is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and it has been arguing with Bukhara about which is more beautiful for about a thousand years. Alexander the Great took it in 329 BC, when it was called Marakanda, and it grew rich on the Silk Road, only to be flattened by Genghis Khan in 1220. Then Timur, or Tamerlane, made it his capital in the late fourteenth century and filled it with the turquoise-domed monuments that still dominate it today.
Read the complete Samarkand write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Samarkand is where the day begins. Next is Jartepa II Temple.
The Zarafshan valley is the green artery of central Uzbekistan, carrying meltwater from the mountains of Tajikistan west past Samarkand and Bukhara into the desert. South of Samarkand, the land rises into the foothills of the Zarafshan range, and it is here, near Urgut and close to the Tajik border, that the Jartepa site lies, with remains of a temple from the Sogdian era.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jartepa II Temple comes up 25 km in. Next is Suleimantepa.
Urgut is only a few kilometres from here, and if you ride into town on a market day you will understand quickly why the Silk Road needed places like this. The bazaar in Urgut is one of the biggest in Uzbekistan, sprawling, loud and full of everything from suzani embroidery and old coins to cattle and car parts. Suleimantepa, a low mound just outside, is one of the archaeological sites recognised as part of the Zarafshan valley corridor of the Silk Roads, the chain of settlements, forts and caravan stops along the river that fed Samarkand and Bukhara.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
51 km in you reach Suleimantepa. Next is Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Five thousand years ago, in the fertile Zeravshan valley of what is now north-western Tajikistan, people built a settlement of mud-brick houses, temples and workshops that became one of the earliest towns in Central Asia. Sarazm, near Panjakent and right next to the Uzbek border, was a centre of metal working, trading copper, tin and turquoise with places as far away as Iran, Afghanistan and India. Inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2010, the site has revealed burials with jewellery, including the richly adorned grave of a woman known as the Princess of Sarazm.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm, about halfway. Next is Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm sits at 102 km, about halfway. Next is back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm comes up 127 km in. Next is back through Suleimantepa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
152 km in you reach back through Suleimantepa. Next is back through Jartepa II Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jartepa II Temple, late in the day. Next is Samarkand.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Samarkand write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 191 km.
Samarkand → Jartepa II Temple is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jartepa II Temple → Suleimantepa is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suleimantepa → Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → back through Suleimantepa is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suleimantepa → back through Jartepa II Temple is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jartepa II Temple → Samarkand is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.