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.
A 121 km round trip from Samarkand - roughly 1 h 57 in the saddle. It goes by way of Jartepa II Temple, Town of Ancient Penjikent and back through Jartepa II Temple. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
A few kilometres south of Samarkand, on a mound beside an old irrigation canal, lie the ruins of Kafirkala, a fortified settlement that was an important centre of the Sogdian civilisation before the Arab conquest in the eighth century. The name means fortress of the infidels, given later by Muslim inhabitants. Excavations have revealed a citadel with walls, a palace and remains that tell of the last days of the Sogdian rulers before the city was burned.
Read the complete Kafirkala Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kafirkala Settlement is where the day begins. Next is Jartepa II Temple.
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 comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Town of Ancient Penjikent.
On a dusty loess terrace just outside modern Panjakent, a few low mud ridges and pits are all that remain of one of the richest cities on the Silk Road. Fourteen centuries ago this was a Sogdian town of merchants, with two-storey houses, temples and walls covered in paintings of feasts, heroes and gods. The best frescoes went to the Hermitage in St Petersburg and to the Rudaki museum in town, so bring some imagination with you, but standing among the excavated streets with the Zeravshan glittering below, the scale of the place still lands.
Read the complete Town of Ancient Penjikent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Town of Ancient Penjikent. Next is back through 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 through Jartepa II Temple, late in the day. Next is Kafirkala Settlement.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kafirkala Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Kafirkala Settlement. That is the ride.
Kafirkala Settlement → Jartepa II Temple is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jartepa II Temple → Town of Ancient Penjikent is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Ancient Penjikent → back through Jartepa II Temple is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jartepa II Temple → Kafirkala Settlement is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.