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.
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.
367 km from Bayramaly to Bayramaly, about 12 h 33 of riding. On the way it passes Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of, Thulli koshk, Takhirbaj Tepe and back through Thulli koshk. 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 Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of.
The oasis of Merv, in south-eastern Turkmenistan, was for centuries one of the great cities of Central Asia, a stop on the Silk Road and at one point, under the Seljuks in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, possibly one of the largest cities in the world. Today its ruins are spread over a vast area of desert and farmland near the town of Bayramaly, and they form the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ancient Merv. Scattered among them are small mausolea, tombs of holy men and companions of the Prophet, and the Mausoleum of Huday Nazar is one of these, a modest brick structure that has long been a place of local pilgrimage.
Read the complete Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of comes up 28 km in. Next is Thulli koshk.
Koshk is the local word for a fortified house, and around the oasis of Merv, in south-eastern Turkmenistan, dozens of these buildings survive from the early medieval period. Thulli koshk is one of them, a mud-brick structure with walls built in a distinctive corrugated pattern, like the folds of a curtain, which made them both stronger and more striking. These buildings were probably the homes of wealthy landowners, built to defend against raids, with rooms on two floors around a central hall.
Read the complete Thulli koshk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
56 km in you reach Thulli koshk. 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.
Takhirbaj Tepe, about halfway. Next is back through Thulli koshk.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Thulli koshk write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Thulli koshk sits at 112 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of comes up 140 km in. 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.
Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala closes the day.
Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala → Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of → Thulli koshk is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thulli koshk → Takhirbaj Tepe is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Takhirbaj Tepe → back through Thulli koshk is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Thulli koshk → back through Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mausoleum of Huday Nazar; the Mausolea of → Greater and Lesser Kiz Kala is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.