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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Tashkent it runs 1146 km to Tashkent; allow about 19 h 44 of riding. It goes by way of Big Solar Furnace, The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve, Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - B and back through The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,650 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Uzbekistan into Kazakhstan - carry ID and check the toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and the big, green, slightly surprising gateway to the Silk Road. It is a city of two million people with wide avenues, shady plane trees, fountains and a good deal of Soviet architecture, because a catastrophic earthquake in 1966 flattened much of the old town and the whole republic helped to rebuild it. What survived is mostly in the old quarter, around the Chorsu bazaar, with its blue-domed hall, spice stalls and mountains of bread, nuts and dried fruit.
Read the complete Tashkent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tashkent is where the day begins. Next is Big Solar Furnace.
In the foothills of the Tian Shan, about an hour north-east of Tashkent, there is a building that looks as if it belongs in a science fiction film: a huge curved mirror, made of thousands of smaller mirrors, facing a field of tracking mirrors that follow the sun and focus its light onto a single point. This is the Big Solar Furnace near Parkent, built in the Soviet era in the 1980s, and still used for research into materials that can withstand extremely high temperatures.
Read the complete Big Solar Furnace write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Big Solar Furnace comes up about 143 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve.
East of Tashkent, the land rises steeply into the western ranges of the Tian Shan, and the Chatkal range forms the border with Kyrgyzstan. The Chatkal State Biosphere Reserve, established in the Soviet era, protects a stretch of these mountains, with juniper forests, walnut and wild fruit trees, alpine meadows and rocky peaks.
Read the complete The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 212 km into the recorded legs you reach The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve.
East of Tashkent, the Western Tian Shan rises in a series of ridges, and the Chatkal range is one of the most accessible of them, its snowy peaks visible from the capital on a clear day. The Chatkal State Biosphere Reserve protects a part of this landscape, with forests of juniper, walnut, maple and wild fruit trees, and alpine meadows above, home to Tian Shan brown bears, snow leopards, ibex, wild boar and many birds of prey. The Western Tian Shan, shared by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, is on the UNESCO list.
Read the complete The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve, about halfway. Next is Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - B.
In the south of Kazakhstan, where the western spurs of the Tien Shan rise from the steppe, the Sairam-Ugam National Park protects a landscape of high mountains, deep valleys, juniper forests and alpine meadows. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Western Tien Shan, shared between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, recognised for its exceptional biodiversity, including wild relatives of fruit trees such as apples, pears and walnuts, which are believed to be the ancestors of many cultivated varieties.
Read the complete Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - B write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - B sits at 573 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve comes up about 834 km into the recorded legs.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 934 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve. Next is back through Big Solar Furnace.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Big Solar Furnace write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Big Solar Furnace, late in the day. Next is Tashkent.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tashkent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 1146 km.
Tashkent → Big Solar Furnace is 143 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Big Solar Furnace → The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve → The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve is 100 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve → Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - B is 261 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - B → back through The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve is 261 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve → back through The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve is 100 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Chatkal State Biosphere Nature Reserve → back through Big Solar Furnace is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Big Solar Furnace → Tashkent is 143 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.