Why this ride
A 612 km round trip from Kolkhozobod - roughly 12 h 20 in the saddle. It goes by way of Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery, Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal, Shahristoni Zoli Zar and Shahrtepa. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Halevard and Shahrtepa
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 612 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 12 h 20
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Halevard
Southern Tajikistan is a land of wide river valleys and dry hills, where the Vakhsh and the Panj rivers flow towards the Amu Darya, the Oxus of the ancients, on the border with Afghanistan. Near the town of Kolkhozobod, known today by its newer name, lies Halevard, an archaeological site in the fertile Vakhsh valley. This region was part of ancient Bactria, a land of cities and fortresses that flourished under the Persians, the Greeks who followed Alexander the Great, and the Kushans.
Read the complete Halevard write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Halevard is where the day begins. Next is Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery.
2. Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery
In the Vakhsh valley of southern Tajikistan, near the city of Bokhtar, once called Qurghonteppa, a low mound of earth in the fields hides the remains of a Buddhist monastery from the seventh and eighth centuries. Excavations at Ajina Tepa, which means the hill of the demons in local tradition, revealed a complex of courtyards, cells, corridors and stupas, built of mud brick and decorated with paintings and clay sculptures. The most spectacular find, uncovered in 1966, was a giant reclining Buddha, around thirteen metres long, depicting the Buddha entering nirvana.
Read the complete Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
3. Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Khuttal was a medieval kingdom in the south of what is now Tajikistan, centred on the fertile valleys between the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, and it flourished as a crossroads of trade and culture between Central Asia, Iran and India. The region's heritage includes the ruins of palaces, towns and religious buildings, such as the citadel of Hulbuk, near Vose', a royal residence from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, with richly decorated walls, and the town of Kulob, with the mausoleum of the fourteenth-century Sufi scholar Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. Several of these sites have been nominated together for UNESCO recognition.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 164 km into the recorded legs you reach Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal. Next is Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
4. Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Down in the far south of Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, the land flattens into the wide floodplain of the Panj, the river that forms the border with Afghanistan. The site named Shahristoni Zoli Zar lies in this country, some eighteen kilometres from Farkhor, and it is one of many ancient settlement mounds scattered across the region. Southern Tajikistan was part of ancient Bactria, later the heartland of the Kushan empire, and the fields here have yielded Buddhist and early Islamic remains. A shahriston, in the old local sense, was the inner walled town, and the name suggests that this mound once held a proper urban core.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahristoni Zoli Zar, about halfway. Next is Shahrtepa.
5. Shahrtepa
Shahrtepa lies in the lowlands of southern Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, within sight of the Panj river and the Afghan hills beyond. The word tepa means a mound, and it is the right word: a mound that has built up over centuries as one settlement was layered over another, in the Bactrian country that Alexander crossed and that later fed the Kushan empire. A Buddhist temple site is linked with this area, a reminder that this was once a place where monks, merchants and caravans met on the way between India, Central Asia and China.
Read the complete Shahrtepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahrtepa sits at 137 km, about halfway. Next is back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
6. back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar comes up about 327 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
7. back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 446 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal. Next is back through Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery.
8. back through Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery, late in the day. Next is Halevard.
9. Halevard
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Halevard write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 612 km.
Leg by leg
Halevard to Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery
Halevard → Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery to Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery → Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 118 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shahristoni Zoli Zar to Shahrtepa
Shahristoni Zoli Zar → Shahrtepa is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shahrtepa to back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Shahrtepa → back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar to back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar → back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 119 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to back through Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → back through Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery to Halevard
back through Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery → Halevard is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.