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 391 km round trip from Kamphaeng Phet - roughly 6 h 42 in the saddle. On the way it passes Sukhotai Historical Park, Si Satchanalai Historical Park, Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated and back through Si Satchanalai Historical Park. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Kamphaeng Phet means diamond wall, though the name probably refers to the strength of the fortifications rather than to any gems. The historical park lies on the Ping river in the lower north of Thailand, a short ride from a provincial town of nearly sixty thousand, and it protects the remains of a city that served as a fortress of the Sukhothai kingdom in the fourteenth century. Together with Sukhothai itself and Si Satchanalai, it makes up a UNESCO World Heritage group that records the first great Thai kingdom.
Read the complete Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park is where the day begins. Next is Sukhotai Historical Park.
In 1238, two Thai chiefs drove the Khmer governor out of a small city in the north of the central plain and founded a kingdom, and Sukhothai, the Dawn of Happiness, became the first capital of what we now call Thailand. The kingdom reached its height under King Ramkhamhaeng, who is credited with creating the Thai alphabet. A stone inscription dated to 1292, which is attributed to him, describes a country where there was fish in the water and rice in the fields, and where anyone with a grievance could ring a bell at the palace gate to be heard by the king. Whether the picture is wholly true is debated, but the image of a benevolent kingdom has clung to Sukhothai ever since.
Read the complete Sukhotai Historical Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sukhotai Historical Park comes up about 80 km into the recorded legs. Next is Si Satchanalai Historical Park.
Si Satchanalai is the quieter sibling of Sukhothai, and many riders prefer it for exactly that reason. It sits on the Yom River in northern Thailand's lower north, in a bowl of low hills, and what remains of the old city is spread across a park of trimmed lawns, laterite walls and big shade trees. The kingdom of Sukhothai used this as a sister city in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the monuments here, in a style that mixes Khmer, Sinhalese and Thai ideas, are some of the earliest Thai Buddhist architecture you can still walk among.
Read the complete Si Satchanalai Historical Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 139 km into the recorded legs you reach Si Satchanalai Historical Park. Next is Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated.
Sukhothai was the first capital of a Thai kingdom, and the name means Dawn of Happiness. In the thirteenth century, two Thai chieftains drove out the Khmer governors and founded a state here, and under King Ramkhamhaeng, who ruled in the late thirteenth century, it grew into a power across much of the region. Tradition credits him with creating the Thai alphabet and with an inscription describing a golden age, where there was fish in the water and rice in the fields. The kingdom was short-lived, absorbed by Ayutthaya in the fifteenth century, but Sukhothai is remembered as the cradle of Thai art, religion and identity.
Read the complete Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated, about halfway. Next is back through Si Satchanalai Historical Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Si Satchanalai Historical Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Si Satchanalai Historical Park sits at 278 km, about halfway. Next is back through Sukhotai Historical Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sukhotai Historical Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sukhotai Historical Park comes up about 315 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park closes the day.
Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park → Sukhotai Historical Park is 80 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sukhotai Historical Park → Si Satchanalai Historical Park is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Si Satchanalai Historical Park → Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated → back through Si Satchanalai Historical Park is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Si Satchanalai Historical Park → back through Sukhotai Historical Park is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sukhotai Historical Park → Kamphaeng Phet Historical Park is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.