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.
255 km from Kinh Môn to Kinh Môn, about 5 h 10 of riding. It goes by way of Con Son Pagoda, Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster, Yen Giang Stake-yard and back through Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
In the delta country east of Hanoi the land is mostly flat, a patchwork of rice paddies and ponds, so when limestone hills rise abruptly out of it they feel like a different world. Kinh Môn, in Hải Dương province, is one of those places, a small range of karst hills pitted with caves, and the Kinh Chủ cave, which I have placed under the name on the map, is one of them. Caves in northern Vietnam are often turned into shrines, with Buddha statues and incense in the dim light, and visitors come both for the religion and for the cool air inside.
Read the complete King Chu Cavern write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
King Chu Cavern is where the day begins. Next is Con Son Pagoda.
Côn Sơn lies in the pine-covered hills of Chí Linh, north-east of Hanoi, on the border of Hải Dương province, and it carries two of the great names of Vietnamese history. In the thirteenth century the Trần dynasty beat back three Mongol invasions, and its monks and commanders left a trail of temples, of which Côn Sơn, Kiếp Bạc and the sacred mountain of Yên Tử are the best known. Trúc Lâm, the Vietnamese Zen school founded by King Trần Nhân Tông, who gave up his throne to become a monk, has one of its centres here.
Read the complete Con Son Pagoda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Con Son Pagoda comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster.
Yên Tử is the sacred mountain of Vietnamese Buddhism, rising to a little over a thousand metres above the coastal plain of Quảng Ninh province, and Hoa Yên Pagoda sits partway up its slopes, among old trees and stone steps, on the pilgrim route to the summit. The mountain's fame goes back to King Trần Nhân Tông, who defeated the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century and then, at the height of his power, gave up the throne, became a monk and retired to Yên Tử, where he founded the Trúc Lâm school of Zen. It became the only uniquely Vietnamese school of Buddhism, and the mountain has been a pilgrimage site ever since.
Read the complete Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 93 km into the recorded legs you reach Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster. Next is Yen Giang Stake-yard.
Twice in Vietnamese history, the tide at the mouth of the Bạch Đằng river decided the fate of the country. In 938, Ngô Quyền defeated a Southern Han fleet by planting iron-tipped stakes in the riverbed, hidden at high tide, then luring the enemy ships upstream and waiting for the water to fall. In 1288, during the third Mongol invasion of Đại Việt, the general Trần Hưng Đạo used the same trick against the fleet of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty, trapping and destroying it. In the fields around Quảng Yên, archaeologists have found rows of those ancient wooden stakes, still standing in the mud, and the Yên Giang stake yard is one of the sites where you can see them preserved.
Read the complete Yen Giang Stake-yard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yen Giang Stake-yard, about halfway. Next is back through Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster sits at 142 km, about halfway. Next is back through Con Son Pagoda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Con Son Pagoda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Con Son Pagoda comes up about 212 km into the recorded legs. Next is King Chu Cavern.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete King Chu Cavern write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
King Chu Cavern closes the day.
King Chu Cavern → Con Son Pagoda is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Con Son Pagoda → Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster → Yen Giang Stake-yard is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yen Giang Stake-yard → back through Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hoa Yen Pagoda relic cluster → back through Con Son Pagoda is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Con Son Pagoda → King Chu Cavern is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.