CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 138 km round trip from Bayramaly - roughly 3 h 39 in the saddle. On the way it passes Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas, Takhirbaj Tepe and back through Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
North of Bayramaly, toward the edge of the irrigated land of the Merv oasis, the remains of a ding stand on the flat plain: a fortified building of mud brick, often square or rectangular, with thick walls and corner towers, used as a manor, a refuge or a watch post. The oasis is scattered with structures like this, from medieval times to the more recent past, and many are associated with the defence of farmland and water channels against raiders from the desert. They are part of the wider archaeological landscape of Merv, one of the richest in Central Asia, where every mound and wall has a story, even if not all of them have been told yet.
Read the complete Bairam Ali Ding write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bairam Ali Ding is where the day begins. Next is Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas.
Two ruined buildings stand a short distance apart on the plain of Merv, and both are called Kyz Kala, the maidens' fort. The larger one is a vast square block of mud brick with walls that are corrugated, with a row of vertical flutes that give the surface a strange rhythmic texture, and the smaller one is a similar building on a smaller scale. They are among the best-preserved structures from the early Islamic period at Merv, probably dating from the sixth or seventh century or thereabouts, though historians still discuss their exact date and purpose.
Read the complete Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas comes up 26 km in. Next is Takhirbaj Tepe.
The Murghab river flows out of the mountains of Afghanistan and dies in the sands of the Karakum desert, and where it fans out into a delta lies the oasis of Merv, in what is now southern Turkmenistan. For thousands of years people have farmed here, building cities one beside another as rivers shifted and empires came and went. Takhirbaj Tepe is one of the oldest of these settlements, a mound in the northern part of the oasis dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages, long before the great medieval city that made Merv famous. It forms part of the State Historical and Cultural Park Ancient Merv, listed by UNESCO in 1999, alongside sites such as Yaz Tepe and Gobekli Tepe nearby.
Read the complete Takhirbaj Tepe write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
51 km in you reach Takhirbaj Tepe. Next is back through Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas, late in the day. Next is Bairam Ali Ding.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bairam Ali Ding write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Bairam Ali Ding. That is the ride.
Bairam Ali Ding → Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas → Takhirbaj Tepe is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Takhirbaj Tepe → back through Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Greater and Lesser Nagym Kalas → Bairam Ali Ding is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.