Why this ride
A 688 km round trip from Vose’ - roughly 11 h 54 in the saddle. It goes by way of Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal, Shahristoni Zoli Zar, Tohir Caravansarai and back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kalai Hulbuk and Tohir Caravansarai
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 688 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 11 h 54
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kalai Hulbuk
Hulbuk was the capital of a small principality of the Samanid era in what is now southern Tajikistan, and it is one of the most evocative ruins in the Khatlon region. Its location is on the plains south of Vose, near the Kyzylsu, within sight of the Afghan border country. Archaeologists dug out a palace complex of mud-brick and fired brick from the ninth to eleventh centuries, with remarkable carved terracotta panels and a ceramic tradition that left glazed bowls with sharp, graceful script. Some of this is displayed in a small museum on site, and part of the citadel has been reconstructed so you can see how the high rooms were arranged.
Read the complete Kalai Hulbuk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kalai Hulbuk is where the day begins. Next is Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
2. Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Khuttal was a medieval kingdom in the south of what is now Tajikistan, centred on the fertile valleys between the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, and it flourished as a crossroads of trade and culture between Central Asia, Iran and India. The region's heritage includes the ruins of palaces, towns and religious buildings, such as the citadel of Hulbuk, near Vose', a royal residence from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, with richly decorated walls, and the town of Kulob, with the mausoleum of the fourteenth-century Sufi scholar Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. Several of these sites have been nominated together for UNESCO recognition.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal comes up about 132 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
3. Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Down in the far south of Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, the land flattens into the wide floodplain of the Panj, the river that forms the border with Afghanistan. The site named Shahristoni Zoli Zar lies in this country, some eighteen kilometres from Farkhor, and it is one of many ancient settlement mounds scattered across the region. Southern Tajikistan was part of ancient Bactria, later the heartland of the Kushan empire, and the fields here have yielded Buddhist and early Islamic remains. A shahriston, in the old local sense, was the inner walled town, and the name suggests that this mound once held a proper urban core.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 239 km into the recorded legs you reach Shahristoni Zoli Zar. Next is Tohir Caravansarai.
4. Tohir Caravansarai
A caravanserai is the original motorway service station, and the one at Tohir shows how much trouble medieval travellers took to rest. These fortified inns stood at intervals along the trade routes of Asia, a day's journey apart, with a gate big enough for a laden camel, an open court for the animals and rooms for merchants and their goods, so that a caravan could stop safely at the end of a day. Tohir lies in the south of Tajikistan, in the hot valley of the Panj river, which forms the border with Afghanistan, and the tracks that passed it probably linked the Oxus crossings and the old cities of Bactria to the mountain valleys of the north. The place has the hushed look of a ruin in a farm landscape, with clay brick walls and arched openings catching the afternoon sun.
Read the complete Tohir Caravansarai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tohir Caravansarai, about halfway. Next is back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
5. back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar sits at 457 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
6. back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal comes up about 560 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kalai Hulbuk.
7. Kalai Hulbuk
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kalai Hulbuk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kalai Hulbuk closes the day.
Leg by leg
Kalai Hulbuk to Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Kalai Hulbuk → Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 132 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shahristoni Zoli Zar to Tohir Caravansarai
Shahristoni Zoli Zar → Tohir Caravansarai is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tohir Caravansarai to back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Tohir Caravansarai → back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar to back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar → back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 107 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to Kalai Hulbuk
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → Kalai Hulbuk is 132 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.