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: 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.
A 323 km round trip from Samarkand - roughly 5 h 33 in the saddle. The stops in between: Jartepa II Temple, Kafirkala Settlement, Suleimantepa and Town of Ancient Penjikent. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Samarkand as the Mongols found it lay not where the tourists now go but on a high, dusty plateau north of the modern town. That plateau is Afrosiab, the old city, and it was already ancient when Alexander the Great took it in 329 BC under the name Marakanda. It flourished as a Sogdian capital, saw Arab armies arrive in the eighth century, and kept growing until 1220, when Genghis Khan swept in and destroyed it so thoroughly that it was never rebuilt. The survivors drifted south, and Timur later raised his capital on the new ground.
Read the complete Afrosiab Archaeological Area write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Afrosiab Archaeological Area 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 about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kafirkala Settlement.
A few kilometres south of Samarkand, on a mound beside an old irrigation canal, lie the ruins of Kafirkala, a fortified settlement that was an important centre of the Sogdian civilisation before the Arab conquest in the eighth century. The name means fortress of the infidels, given later by Muslim inhabitants. Excavations have revealed a citadel with walls, a palace and remains that tell of the last days of the Sogdian rulers before the city was burned.
Read the complete Kafirkala Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 72 km into the recorded legs you reach Kafirkala Settlement. 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.
Suleimantepa, about halfway. Next is Town of Ancient Penjikent.
On a dusty loess terrace just outside modern Panjakent, a few low mud ridges and pits are all that remain of one of the richest cities on the Silk Road. Fourteen centuries ago this was a Sogdian town of merchants, with two-storey houses, temples and walls covered in paintings of feasts, heroes and gods. The best frescoes went to the Hermitage in St Petersburg and to the Rudaki museum in town, so bring some imagination with you, but standing among the excavated streets with the Zeravshan glittering below, the scale of the place still lands.
Read the complete Town of Ancient Penjikent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Ancient Penjikent sits at 169 km, about halfway. 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.
back through Suleimantepa comes up about 215 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kafirkala Settlement.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kafirkala Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 254 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kafirkala Settlement. 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 Afrosiab Archaeological Area.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Afrosiab Archaeological Area write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 323 km.
Afrosiab Archaeological Area → Jartepa II Temple is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jartepa II Temple → Kafirkala Settlement is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kafirkala Settlement → Suleimantepa is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suleimantepa → Town of Ancient Penjikent is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Ancient Penjikent → back through Suleimantepa is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suleimantepa → back through Kafirkala Settlement is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kafirkala Settlement → back through Jartepa II Temple is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jartepa II Temple → Afrosiab Archaeological Area is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.