Why this ride
A 127 km round trip from Kilmia - roughly 2 h 18 in the saddle. The stops in between: Abd Alkuri, Abd Alkuri c, Abd Alkuri b and back through Abd Alkuri b.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Abd Alkuri a and Kalfarun
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 127 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 18
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Abd Alkuri a
Socotra is the island everyone has heard of, with its dragon's blood trees and its upside-down umbrella shapes, but the archipelago has other members, and Abd al Kuri is the most western and the least visited. It lies about a hundred kilometres west of Socotra, closer to the Horn of Africa than to Yemen, and is a long, narrow slab of limestone and rock roughly thirty kilometres from end to end. Together with Socotra, Samha and Darsa, it forms a group that has been cut off from the mainland for millions of years, and that isolation has produced a remarkable number of species found nowhere else.
Read the complete Abd Alkuri a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abd Alkuri a is where the day begins. Next is Abd Alkuri.
2. Abd Alkuri
The people of Abd al Kuri are fishermen, and their lives follow the sea more than the land. The island is thinly populated, with a handful of small settlements, including Kilmia, a village on the coast, and the houses are low and simple, made of stone and cement, with boats drawn up on the beach. Fish, dried and salted, is the staple, along with goat meat, dates and rice brought from the mainland. The islanders speak a language related to the Socotri language of the main island, which is a South Arabian tongue that is quite different from Arabic and has no written tradition.
Read the complete Abd Alkuri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abd Alkuri comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abd Alkuri c.
3. Abd Alkuri c
Abd al Kuri is a small, dry, wind-scoured island in the far west of the Socotra archipelago, in the Arabian Sea, closer to the coast of Somalia than to the mainland of Yemen. There are no roads to speak of, and no real place to ride a motorcycle; you reach it only by boat, with permission and with local help, so this is a stop of the imagination for most travellers. The archipelago is listed by UNESCO for its extraordinary biodiversity, and the main island of Socotra, with its bottle trees and dragon's blood trees, draws the most attention. Abd al Kuri is the quieter sibling, with a flat limestone surface and a long, empty coast.
Read the complete Abd Alkuri c write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 46 km into the recorded legs you reach Abd Alkuri c. Next is Abd Alkuri b.
4. Abd Alkuri b
Abd al Kuri is a barren, wind-scoured island that sits closer to the Horn of Africa than to Yemen, to which it belongs, one of the outlying members of the Socotra archipelago. The archipelago is a UNESCO natural site because it has an extraordinary number of plants, reptiles and birds found nowhere else, partly because the islands separated from the mainland millions of years ago. Abd al Kuri has its own endemic bird, the Abd al Kuri sparrow, and lizards and plants that evolved in isolation, and it is largely a limestone plateau with low scrub and dry watercourses. The village of Kilmia, on the coast, is a small fishing community.
Read the complete Abd Alkuri b write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abd Alkuri b, about halfway. Next is Kalfarun.
5. back through Abd Alkuri b
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abd Alkuri b write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Abd Alkuri b comes up about 63 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Abd Alkuri c.
6. back through Abd Alkuri c
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abd Alkuri c write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Abd Alkuri c. Next is back through Abd Alkuri.
7. back through Abd Alkuri
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abd Alkuri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Abd Alkuri, late in the day. Next is Abd Alkuri a.
8. Abd Alkuri a
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abd Alkuri a write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 210 km.
Leg by leg
Abd Alkuri a to Abd Alkuri
Abd Alkuri a → Abd Alkuri is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abd Alkuri to Abd Alkuri c
Abd Alkuri → Abd Alkuri c is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abd Alkuri c to Abd Alkuri b
Abd Alkuri c → Abd Alkuri b is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abd Alkuri b to back through Abd Alkuri b
Abd Alkuri b → back through Abd Alkuri b is 0 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abd Alkuri b to back through Abd Alkuri c
back through Abd Alkuri b → back through Abd Alkuri c is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abd Alkuri c to back through Abd Alkuri
back through Abd Alkuri c → back through Abd Alkuri is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abd Alkuri to Abd Alkuri a
back through Abd Alkuri → Abd Alkuri a is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Abd Alkuri c and Kalfarun · 145 km
- Abd Alkuri c and Kalfarun starting at Kilmia · 144 km
- Abd Alkuri c and Abd Alkuri a · 95 km