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.
A 278 km round trip from Shahrisabz - roughly 5 h 20 in the saddle. It goes by way of Suleimantepa, Jartepa II Temple, Town of Ancient Penjikent and back through Jartepa II Temple. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Timur, the conqueror known in the West as Tamerlane, was born in 1336 in a village near Shakhrisyabz, and when he became ruler of an empire stretching from Delhi to Damascus, he spent heavily on his home town. He made it a showpiece, and the main monument was Ak-Saray, the White Palace, begun in 1380 and never completed in his lifetime. Only two piers of the entrance portal survive, but they rise about thirty-eight metres, covered in blue, turquoise and gold tilework, and they still dwarf everything around them, a statement of power so big that it is hard to photograph from close up.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz is where the day begins. Next is Suleimantepa.
Urgut is only a few kilometres from here, and if you ride into town on a market day you will understand quickly why the Silk Road needed places like this. The bazaar in Urgut is one of the biggest in Uzbekistan, sprawling, loud and full of everything from suzani embroidery and old coins to cattle and car parts. Suleimantepa, a low mound just outside, is one of the archaeological sites recognised as part of the Zarafshan valley corridor of the Silk Roads, the chain of settlements, forts and caravan stops along the river that fed Samarkand and Bukhara.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Suleimantepa comes up about 86 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jartepa II Temple.
The Zarafshan valley is the green artery of central Uzbekistan, carrying meltwater from the mountains of Tajikistan west past Samarkand and Bukhara into the desert. South of Samarkand, the land rises into the foothills of the Zarafshan range, and it is here, near Urgut and close to the Tajik border, that the Jartepa site lies, with remains of a temple from the Sogdian era.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Jartepa II Temple. Next is Town of Ancient Penjikent.
On a dusty loess terrace just outside modern Panjakent, a few low mud ridges and pits are all that remain of one of the richest cities on the Silk Road. Fourteen centuries ago this was a Sogdian town of merchants, with two-storey houses, temples and walls covered in paintings of feasts, heroes and gods. The best frescoes went to the Hermitage in St Petersburg and to the Rudaki museum in town, so bring some imagination with you, but standing among the excavated streets with the Zeravshan glittering below, the scale of the place still lands.
Read the complete Town of Ancient Penjikent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Ancient Penjikent, about halfway. Next is back through Jartepa II Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jartepa II Temple sits at 169 km, about halfway. Next is back through Suleimantepa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Suleimantepa comes up about 190 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz closes the day.
Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz → Suleimantepa is 86 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Suleimantepa → Jartepa II Temple is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jartepa II Temple → Town of Ancient Penjikent is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Ancient Penjikent → back through Jartepa II Temple is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jartepa II Temple → back through Suleimantepa is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suleimantepa → Historic Centre of Shakhrisyabz is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.