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.
230 km from Aleppo to Aleppo, about 4 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar, Jebel Barisha Deirouné, Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb and back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Aleppo has a claim to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and for most of its history it was a great trading city at the western end of the Silk Road. Its old town, listed by UNESCO in 1986, grew around a massive citadel on a mound in the centre, ringed by a moat and entered through a fortified gateway and bridge, mostly the work of the Ayyubid rulers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Around it lay the souqs, kilometres of covered markets, among the largest in the Middle East, and caravanserais, mosques, madrasas and fine courtyard houses.
Read the complete Ancient City of Aleppo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient City of Aleppo is where the day begins. Next is Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar.
The limestone massif north-west of Aleppo, in Syria, is one of the most remarkable archaeological landscapes in the Middle East, but it has also been in a war zone for more than a decade, and travel there is not safe or practical. What follows is about what the place is, not an invitation to visit.
Read the complete Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jebel Barisha Deirouné.
On the limestone ridge of Jebel Barisha, in north-west Syria near the Turkish border at Reyhanlı, lie the stone ruins of Deirouné, one of the hundreds of late Roman and Byzantine villages that UNESCO lists as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, often called the Dead Cities. Between roughly the first and seventh centuries, farmers here grew olives and vines on the uplands, prospered, and built houses, churches and olive presses in finely cut stone. When the trade networks that sustained them collapsed, the villages were slowly abandoned, and the dry climate left them remarkably intact.
Read the complete Jebel Barisha Deirouné write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Jebel Barisha Deirouné. Next is Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb.
Along the limestone uplands of north-western Syria, close to the Turkish border, lie the remains of hundreds of abandoned villages from late antiquity, the so-called Dead Cities. Kafr Aqareb, on the Jebel Wastani, is one of them, part of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria listed by UNESCO in 2011. These were prosperous farming communities between roughly the first and seventh centuries, growing olives, grapes and grain, and producing oil that was traded across the Roman and Byzantine world. They built in stone, with remarkable skill: houses, churches, bath houses, olive presses and tombs, many still standing to roof height. When trade routes shifted and the region changed hands, the villages were gradually abandoned, leaving ghost towns that look as if their inhabitants left only recently.
Read the complete Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb, about halfway. Next is back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Barisha Deirouné write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar comes up about 197 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ancient City of Aleppo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient City of Aleppo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient City of Aleppo closes the day.
Ancient City of Aleppo → Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar → Jebel Barisha Deirouné is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Barisha Deirouné → Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné → back through Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Sem’an 3 Sinkhar → Ancient City of Aleppo is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.