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.
From Songyang it runs 324 km to Songyang; allow about 4 h 58 of riding. The stops in between: Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han, Longmen Grottoes, The Grand Canal and back through The Grand Canal. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Ask most people where kung fu comes from and they will name this temple, even if they have no idea where it is. The Shaolin Temple stands at the foot of Mount Song in Henan province, central China, near the city of Dengfeng. It was founded at the end of the fifth century for an Indian monk, and tradition says that Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Chan, or Zen, Buddhism, meditated in a cave on the mountain above for nine years. The monks' martial arts became famous over the centuries, and today Shaolin is as much a brand as a monastery.
Read the complete Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple is where the day begins. Next is Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han.
Luoyang, in Henan province, is one of the four great ancient capitals of China, a city that served as the seat of more than a dozen dynasties over a thousand years. East of the modern city, in the fields along the Luo river, lie the remains of the capital of the Eastern Han dynasty, which ruled from Luoyang from the first to the early third century AD, and of the later Wei, Jin and Northern Wei capitals built on the same site. The site is part of the UNESCO-listed Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor, inscribed in 2014.
Read the complete Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Longmen Grottoes.
South of Luoyang, the river Yi cuts through a narrow gap between two limestone hills, and for about a kilometre the cliffs on both sides are honeycombed with caves, niches and carvings. Over around four centuries, starting in the late fifth century under the Northern Wei dynasty and continuing through the Tang, Buddhist sculptors carved tens of thousands of statues into the rock, from tiny figures a few centimetres high to colossal Buddhas. The Longmen Grottoes were listed by UNESCO in 2000 and are among the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art.
Read the complete Longmen Grottoes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 99 km into the recorded legs you reach Longmen Grottoes. Next is The Grand Canal.
Luoyang is one of China's ancient capitals, a city with over a thousand years of imperial history pressed into its soil, and the Grand Canal is part of the reason why. In the early seventh century the Sui emperor Yang ordered a system of canals dug to link the Yellow River plain with the rice country of the south, and Luoyang became its great hub. Grain from the Yangtze delta was shipped here and stored in enormous underground granaries; one of them, the Hanjia granary inside the city, is part of the UNESCO listing of the Grand Canal and you can see the excavated grain pits today.
Read the complete The Grand Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Grand Canal, about halfway.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Longmen Grottoes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Longmen Grottoes sits at 164 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Grand Canal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Grand Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Grand Canal comes up about 192 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Longmen Grottoes.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Longmen Grottoes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 223 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Longmen Grottoes. Next is back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han, late in the day. Next is Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 324 km.
Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple → Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han → Longmen Grottoes is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Longmen Grottoes → The Grand Canal is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Grand Canal → Longmen Grottoes is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Longmen Grottoes → back through The Grand Canal is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Grand Canal → back through Longmen Grottoes is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Longmen Grottoes → back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han → Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.