Why this ride
806 km from Kolkhozobod to Kolkhozobod, about 13 h 55 of riding. It goes by way of Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery, Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal, Manzaratepa and Tohir Caravansarai. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Halevard and Tohir Caravansarai
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 806 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 13 h 55
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. 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 97 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 224 km into the recorded legs you reach Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal. Next is Manzaratepa.
4. Manzaratepa
Tepa means mound, and in southern Tajikistan the plains are dotted with them: hills built up over centuries from the remains of mud-brick towns, each layer burying the one before. Manzaratepa, near the town of Vose' in the Khatlon region, is one of these ancient settlement mounds, part of a network of sites in the fertile valleys between the Panj and Vakhsh rivers that were inhabited from the Bronze Age through the Kushan and early Islamic periods. Archaeological work has revealed traces of fortifications, houses and ceramics, and the sites are part of Tajikistan's long, rich and little-known history along the Silk Roads.
Read the complete Manzaratepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manzaratepa, about halfway. Next is Tohir Caravansarai.
5. Tohir Caravansarai
A caravanserai is the original motorway service station, and the one at Tohir shows how much trouble medieval travellers took to rest. These fortified inns stood at intervals along the trade routes of Asia, a day's journey apart, with a gate big enough for a laden camel, an open court for the animals and rooms for merchants and their goods, so that a caravan could stop safely at the end of a day. Tohir lies in the south of Tajikistan, in the hot valley of the Panj river, which forms the border with Afghanistan, and the tracks that passed it probably linked the Oxus crossings and the old cities of Bactria to the mountain valleys of the north. The place has the hushed look of a ruin in a farm landscape, with clay brick walls and arched openings catching the afternoon sun.
Read the complete Tohir Caravansarai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tohir Caravansarai sits at 403 km, about halfway. Next is back through Manzaratepa.
6. back through Manzaratepa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Manzaratepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Manzaratepa comes up about 492 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 582 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 806 km.
Leg by leg
Halevard to Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery
Halevard → Ajinatepa Buddhist monastery is 97 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 128 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to Manzaratepa
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → Manzaratepa is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Manzaratepa to Tohir Caravansarai
Manzaratepa → Tohir Caravansarai is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tohir Caravansarai to back through Manzaratepa
Tohir Caravansarai → back through Manzaratepa is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Manzaratepa to back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
back through Manzaratepa → back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 89 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 128 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 97 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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