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 Tangxiang it runs 131 km to Tangxiang; allow about 2 h 15 of riding. It goes by way of Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings, Shizhuanshan Cliffside Carvings and back through Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Of all the stone carvings in China, the ones at Baodingshan are the most surprising, because they are not tucked into a cave but laid out like a huge outdoor theatre in a horseshoe-shaped valley. This is the best-known part of the Dazu Rock Carvings, in the hills of Chongqing, about fifteen kilometres from the old county town, and it was largely the work of one monk, Zhao Zhifeng, who spent decades in the twelfth century turning a valley into a sermon in stone.
Read the complete Baodingshan Cliffside Carvings write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Baodingshan Cliffside Carvings is where the day begins. Next is Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings.
Shimenshan is one of the clusters of rock carvings around Dazu, in Chongqing, where sandstone cliffs were turned into sacred art between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. The Dazu Rock Carvings, a UNESCO listing since 1999, include several sites: Beishan with its small niches, Baodingshan with its sweeping Buddhist tableaux, and Shimenshan, Nanshan and Shizhuanshan, each with its own character. At Shimenshan the carvings, made in the Song dynasty, blend Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian figures, something rare at a single site.
Read the complete Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shizhuanshan Cliffside Carvings.
Dazu is a quiet, green corner of the Chongqing hills, a long way from the skyscraper image the municipality usually gets. The Shizhuanshan carvings sit in the countryside south-west of the old town, cut into a sandstone cliff beneath trees, and they belong to the same group of Song-dynasty sites that earned Dazu a place on the World Heritage list in 1999. They are smaller and more intimate than the better-known Baodingshan, and many visitors say they are the more peaceful of the two.
Read the complete Shizhuanshan Cliffside Carvings write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Shizhuanshan Cliffside Carvings. Next is back through Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings, late in the day. Next is Baodingshan Cliffside Carvings.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Baodingshan Cliffside Carvings write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Baodingshan Cliffside Carvings. That is the ride.
Baodingshan Cliffside Carvings → Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings → Shizhuanshan Cliffside Carvings is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shizhuanshan Cliffside Carvings → back through Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shimenshan Cliffside Carvings → Baodingshan Cliffside Carvings is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.