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 Bayramaly it runs 90 km to Bayramaly; allow about 2 h 09 of riding. It goes by way of Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi, Ovliali koshk and back through Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Two squat, ribbed fortresses stand on the plain outside ancient Merv, and they have kept their purpose a mystery. Greater Kiz Kala and Lesser Kiz Kala, the Maiden Fortresses, are fortified buildings dating from the sixth to the seventh century AD, when Merv was a provincial capital of the Sasanian Persian Empire, and they are a fine example of the fortified country house of the period. The larger one is about thirty metres square, with massive walls, rounded corner towers, and a surface made of shallow vertical grooves and arrow slits that give it a corrugated look, and the smaller one stands a short distance away, built in much the same style.
Read the complete Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala is where the day begins. Next is Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi.
The Merv oasis in southern Turkmenistan was once one of the greatest cities of the medieval world. Watered by the Murghab river, which flows north from Afghanistan and fans out into the Karakum desert, it was a capital of the Seljuk sultans in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and a key stop on the Silk Road. The Mongols destroyed it in 1221, and the ruins of successive cities, spread over a huge area, now form the Ancient Merv archaeological park, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1999. Among the ruins stand several mausolea of revered figures, small domed buildings that have drawn pilgrims for centuries and still do today.
Read the complete Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ovliali koshk.
In the oasis of Merv, in southern Turkmenistan, the landscape is dotted with strange buildings of mud brick with walls that look like they have been folded or pleated, rising like fortresses from the fields. These are koshks, fortified manor houses built by the landed elite in the early Islamic period, from about the seventh to the tenth centuries, and the corrugated walls were not just decorative: they strengthened the structure and cast shadows that kept the interior cool. Ovliali koshk, near the town of Murgab, is one of them, and like the others it is part of the World Heritage site of Ancient Merv, one of the great cities of the Silk Road.
Read the complete Ovliali koshk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Ovliali koshk. Next is back through Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi, late in the day. Next is Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala. That is the ride.
Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala → Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi → Ovliali koshk is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ovliali koshk → back through Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mausolea of Imam Bakr and Shafi → Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.