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.
252 km from Urgut Shahri to Urgut Shahri, about 4 h 01 of riding. The stops in between: Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro, Kum Settlement and back through Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan - carry ID and check the toll rules.
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.
Jartepa II Temple is where the day begins. Next is Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro.
Panjakent sits in the upper Zeravshan valley in north-western Tajikistan, close to the border with Uzbekistan and Samarkand, and the valley has been a corridor for traders, armies and ideas since long before the Silk Road had a name. Near the village of Mazori Sharif, in the hills south of the river, stands the mausoleum of Khoja Muhammad Bashoro, built in the eleventh century, famous for its portal decorated with intricate carved terracotta, a fine example of early Islamic architecture in Central Asia. It remains a place of pilgrimage, and visitors should dress modestly and respect those who come to pray.
Read the complete Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kum Settlement.
The Zeravshan is the river that waters Samarkand and Bukhara far downstream, and up here in its upper valley it is a cold, hurrying thing between steep walls of the Zeravshan and Hissar ranges. The Kum area lies on the way between Ayní and the Fan Mountains, in Tajikistan's Sughd region, and it belongs to the Sogdian world, the merchant culture that carried silk, glass, paper and ideas along the old routes between China and Persia. Settlement mounds and fortress sites dot the valley, some of them partly worn away by farming and floods, and the area holds a few of the most famous finds of Sogdian history, among them the archives of letters and contracts found in the twentieth century on a nearby mountain.
Read the complete Kum Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Kum Settlement. Next is back through Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro, late in the day. Next is 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 at Jartepa II Temple. That is the ride.
Jartepa II Temple → Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro → Kum Settlement is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kum Settlement → back through Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro → Jartepa II Temple is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.