Why this ride
The stops in between: Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S, Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site and back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Jiaotan Firewood Production Area and Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 164 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 18
- 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: 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Jiaotan Firewood Production Area
Jiaotan is a name that points back to fire. The area lies in the hills of northern Jiangxi, not far from Jingdezhen, and its role in history was to supply fuel, firewood and charcoal for the great kilns of the porcelain capital of China. Jingdezhen has made porcelain for more than a thousand years, and from the Ming dynasty it supplied the imperial court with blue-and-white ware, exported around the world. Making porcelain needs three things: fine clay, water and a huge amount of heat, and the kilns consumed whole forests of pine, which had to be cut in the hills and floated down the rivers to the town.
Read the complete Jiaotan Firewood Production Area write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jiaotan Firewood Production Area is where the day begins. Next is Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S.
2. Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S
For a thousand years, the best porcelain in China, and for much of that time the best in the world, came from Jingdezhen. The city, in the north east of Jiangxi province, grew up around imperial kilns that produced fine ceramics for the emperors, and its blue and white porcelain was exported across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The secret of its success lay partly in the hills around the city, where the white clay known as kaolin was mined. The word kaolin itself comes from Gaoling, a village in the hills north east of Jingdezhen, where the clay was first dug. The point on this ride lies in that countryside, between the city and the old clay mines, in a landscape of wooded hills, tea plantations, rivers and villages.
Read the complete Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site.
3. Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site
Few words travelled the world quite like kaolin. It comes from Gaoling, which means High Ridge, a hill village in Jiangxi province where a pure white clay was dug for centuries and sent to the porcelain kilns of Jingdezhen. French missionaries in the eighteenth century took samples of this clay back to Europe, and the Chinese place name became the English and French word for the key ingredient in porcelain. So this ordinary-looking hillside is where one of the most famous materials in the world got its name.
Read the complete Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site. Next is back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S.
4. back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S, late in the day. Next is Jiaotan Firewood Production Area.
5. Jiaotan Firewood Production Area
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jiaotan Firewood Production Area write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Jiaotan Firewood Production Area. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Jiaotan Firewood Production Area to Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S
Jiaotan Firewood Production Area → Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S to Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site
Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S → Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site to back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S
Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site → back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S to Jiaotan Firewood Production Area
back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S → Jiaotan Firewood Production Area is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.