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.
160 km from Qobustan to Qobustan, about 2 h 33 of riding. On the way it passes Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill, Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's and back through Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill. It climbs into the mountains.
The plateau of Gobustan is a dry, stony place, grey and ochre, with boulders scattered across low hills as if a giant had emptied a bag of rubble and left. Kichikdash, whose name means Little Stone, is one of those hills, a rocky outcrop in the reserve a few kilometres from the town of Qobustan, with the Caspian Sea visible in the distance on a clear day. Its bigger neighbour is Boyukdash, Big Stone, and together they hold some of the oldest pictures in the Caucasus.
Read the complete Kichikdash mountain write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kichikdash mountain is where the day begins. Next is Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill.
Gobustan is a stony, wind-scoured landscape of low hills and mesas south of Baku, near the shores of the Caspian Sea, and on its rocks, people carved images over thousands of years: hunters with bows, boats with rowers, dancers, wild cattle, deer and goats. More than six thousand petroglyphs have been recorded here, dating back as far as the end of the last ice age, and the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape was listed by UNESCO in 2007.
Read the complete Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's.
Baku is windy by name and by nature, and the old walled city on the Caspian shore has been catching the wind for about a thousand years. Inside the walls, known locally as Icherisheher, a maze of narrow stone lanes winds between mosques, caravanserais and houses with carved balconies. The Maiden Tower, a stout round tower of mysterious age and purpose, rises near the sea, and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, built in the fifteenth century as the residence of the rulers of Shirvan, sits on the hill above. UNESCO listed the walled city and the palace together in 2000.
Read the complete Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's. Next is back through Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill, late in the day. Next is Kichikdash mountain.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kichikdash mountain write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Kichikdash mountain. That is the ride.
Kichikdash mountain → Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill → Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's → back through Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jinghindagh mountain -Yazylytepe hill → Kichikdash mountain is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.