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.
From Nubl it runs 542 km to Nubl; allow about 9 h 09 of riding. The stops in between: Jebel Barisha Deirouné, Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb, Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha and Qal’at Salah El-Din. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Northern Syria has a landscape of limestone hills crowded with the shells of ancient villages, and the Jebel Sem'an, the Mountain of Simeon, is the heart of it. Between the fourth and seventh centuries, when this region was a prosperous corner of the late Roman and then Byzantine world, farmers grew olives and grapes on the stony hills and built their homes, churches, baths and presses of fine dressed stone. When trade routes shifted and the Arab conquests came, the villages emptied, but the buildings were so solid that they remained, roofless but recognisable. The best of them, grouped into a number of parks, were inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2011 as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria.
Read the complete Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo is where the day begins. Next is Jebel Barisha Deirouné.
On the limestone ridge of Jebel Barisha, in north-west Syria near the Turkish border at Reyhanlı, lie the stone ruins of Deirouné, one of the hundreds of late Roman and Byzantine villages that UNESCO lists as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, often called the Dead Cities. Between roughly the first and seventh centuries, farmers here grew olives and vines on the uplands, prospered, and built houses, churches and olive presses in finely cut stone. When the trade networks that sustained them collapsed, the villages were slowly abandoned, and the dry climate left them remarkably intact.
Read the complete Jebel Barisha Deirouné write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jebel Barisha Deirouné comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb.
Along the limestone uplands of north-western Syria, close to the Turkish border, lie the remains of hundreds of abandoned villages from late antiquity, the so-called Dead Cities. Kafr Aqareb, on the Jebel Wastani, is one of them, part of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria listed by UNESCO in 2011. These were prosperous farming communities between roughly the first and seventh centuries, growing olives, grapes and grain, and producing oil that was traded across the Roman and Byzantine world. They built in stone, with remarkable skill: houses, churches, bath houses, olive presses and tombs, many still standing to roof height. When trade routes shifted and the region changed hands, the villages were gradually abandoned, leaving ghost towns that look as if their inhabitants left only recently.
Read the complete Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb. Next is Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha.
Scattered across the limestone hills of north-western Syria, between Aleppo and Idlib, lie hundreds of abandoned villages from late antiquity, built of finely cut stone between the first and seventh centuries and then gradually deserted. They are known as the Dead Cities, and together they form the World Heritage site of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria. Ruweiha, in the Jebel Zawiye, is one of the largest: houses, churches, tombs and oil presses spread over a wide area, and among them the church of Bizzos, named after a local notable whose domed tomb stands beside it, is one of the best preserved. These villages grew rich on olive oil and trade, and their stone architecture, with arched doorways, carved lintels and crosses, is remarkably intact.
Read the complete Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha, about halfway. Next is Qal’at Salah El-Din.
Few castles are as dramatic as the one that sits on a spur of rock in the coastal mountains of Syria, between two deep ravines. Qal'at Salah El-Din, or Saladin's Castle, takes its name from the Muslim leader who captured it from the Crusaders in 1188 on his campaign along the coast, but the story is much older. The site was fortified in Byzantine times, taken by the Crusaders in the early twelfth century, and strengthened with new walls and towers. The great trench that separates the castle from the rest of the ridge is cut out of solid rock, many metres deep, and in the middle of it a slender needle of stone, about twenty-eight metres high, was left standing to carry the drawbridge. It is one of the great sights of medieval military architecture.
Read the complete Qal’at Salah El-Din write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Qal’at Salah El-Din sits at 210 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha comes up about 375 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 453 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb. Next is back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Barisha Deirouné write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné, late in the day. Next is Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 542 km.
Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo → Jebel Barisha Deirouné is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Barisha Deirouné → Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha → Qal’at Salah El-Din is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Qal’at Salah El-Din → back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha → back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné → Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.