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 Linping it runs 289 km to Linping; allow about 3 h 47 of riding. It goes by way of Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal and back through Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The Grand Canal of China is the longest artificial waterway in the world, a chain of canals and rivers linking Beijing with Hangzhou that was begun in sections well over two thousand years ago and unified under the Sui dynasty in the seventh century. Its southernmost stretch, the Jiangnan Canal, crosses the flat, watery plain between Jiaxing and Hangzhou, and this section is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site. Grain, silk and salt moved north along it for centuries, and the towns that line its banks grew rich on that traffic.
Read the complete Jiaxing-Hangzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jiaxing-Hangzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal is where the day begins. Next is Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City.
Liangzhu is a city that existed before writing. About five thousand years ago, on a marshy plain south of the Yangtze, a Neolithic people built a walled capital with a palace platform, canals, workshops and cemeteries, and they carved jade into ritual objects of astonishing skill. The city covered several square kilometres, and its walls, built of rammed earth on a base of stone, were up to sixty metres wide at the base. UNESCO listed the archaeological ruins in 2019 as evidence of an early regional state.
Read the complete Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal.
Nanxun is one of the water towns of the Yangtze delta, south of Lake Tai, where life has revolved around canals for more than a thousand years. In the nineteenth century, it became immensely rich through the silk trade, and its merchant families, known by nicknames like the four elephants and the eight bulls, built mansions that mixed Chinese courtyards with European columns, stained glass and Western-style furniture, an unusual blend you will not find in many other water towns. The canal running through the town is part of the Grand Canal, the immense waterway linking Beijing with Hangzhou, which UNESCO listed in 2014.
Read the complete Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 141 km into the recorded legs you reach Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal. Next is back through Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, late in the day. Next is Jiaxing-Hangzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jiaxing-Hangzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Jiaxing-Hangzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal. That is the ride.
Jiaxing-Hangzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal → Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City → Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal is 86 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal → back through Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City → Jiaxing-Hangzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.