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.
321 km from Kafr Takhārīm to Kafr Takhārīm, about 6 h 25 of riding. It goes by way of Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb, Jebel Barisha Deirouné, Ancient Villages of Northern Syria and Ancient City of Aleppo. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
High on the limestone ridge of the Jebel al-A'la, in the north west of Syria near the Turkish border, stands one of the most beautiful early Christian churches anywhere. The basilica of Qalb Lozeh was built in the second half of the fifth century, probably as a pilgrimage church on the route to the shrine of Saint Simeon Stylites, the hermit who spent decades living on top of a pillar not far to the east. Its facade, with a great arch flanked by two towers, is one of the earliest examples of a design that would later be repeated in the Romanesque churches of Europe. The church is part of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, a UNESCO site listed in 2011, which includes some forty villages abandoned between the eighth and tenth centuries, often known as the Dead Cities.
Read the complete Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé is where the day begins. 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.
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Jebel Barisha Deirouné. Next is Ancient Villages of Northern Syria.
On the limestone hills west of Aleppo, hundreds of abandoned villages stand in a landscape of olive groves and stony fields, their houses, churches, oil presses and tombs built of finely cut stone between the first and seventh centuries. These are the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, often called the Dead Cities, listed by UNESCO in 2011. They were prosperous farming communities in the late Roman and Byzantine periods, growing olives and grapes for trade, and were abandoned for reasons still debated, perhaps changing trade routes and the political upheavals of the seventh century.
Read the complete Ancient Villages of Northern Syria write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, about halfway. Next is Ancient City of Aleppo.
Aleppo has a claim to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and for most of its history it was a great trading city at the western end of the Silk Road. Its old town, listed by UNESCO in 1986, grew around a massive citadel on a mound in the centre, ringed by a moat and entered through a fortified gateway and bridge, mostly the work of the Ayyubid rulers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Around it lay the souqs, kilometres of covered markets, among the largest in the Middle East, and caravanserais, mosques, madrasas and fine courtyard houses.
Read the complete Ancient City of Aleppo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient City of Aleppo sits at 137 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ancient Villages of Northern Syria.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient Villages of Northern Syria write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ancient Villages of Northern Syria comes up about 202 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 236 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné. 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.
back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb, late in the day. Next is Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 321 km.
Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé → Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → Jebel Barisha Deirouné is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Barisha Deirouné → Ancient Villages of Northern Syria is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient Villages of Northern Syria → Ancient City of Aleppo is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient City of Aleppo → back through Ancient Villages of Northern Syria is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancient Villages of Northern Syria → back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné → back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.