Why this ride
On the way it passes Besh Agyz koshk, Yaz and Gobekli Tepes, Kelte Minara koshk and back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ and Kelte Minara koshk
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 245 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 18
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kurtly ‘caravanserai’
Kurtly sits on the flat plain near Merv, in the south of the Karakum, and the caravanserai that gives the place its label is a reminder that the old Silk Road was a network of small stops as much as great cities. A caravanserai was a fortified inn where merchants and animals could rest, drink and sleep within walls, usually a day's travel from the next one. Some were grand, with arcades and domed rooms. Others were simple compounds of mud brick. Few survive intact, and the ones in Turkmenistan are often reduced to low walls and mounds.
Read the complete Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ is where the day begins. Next is Besh Agyz koshk.
2. Besh Agyz koshk
Out on the edge of the Merv oasis in southeastern Turkmenistan, where irrigated fields fade into the sand of the Karakum desert, stand the ruins of buildings known as koshks. These were fortified mansions of mud brick, with heavily ribbed walls that look like giant corrugated cardboard, built in the early medieval period by the landed gentry of Merv. Besh Agyz, which means five mouths, is one of them, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of the Silk Roads, alongside the vast ruined cities of Ancient Merv, a World Heritage Site since 1999. Merv was for centuries one of the great cities of the Islamic world and a key stop on the routes between China and the Mediterranean, until the Mongols destroyed it in the thirteenth century.
Read the complete Besh Agyz koshk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Besh Agyz koshk comes up 29 km in. Next is Yaz and Gobekli Tepes.
3. Yaz and Gobekli Tepes
Out on the edge of the Murghab oasis in south-eastern Turkmenistan, where irrigated cotton fields meet the sand of the Karakum, low mounds rise from the flat land. Tepe means hill, and these hills are the eroded remains of ancient settlements: Yaz Depe, which gave its name to an Iron Age culture of the early first millennium BC, and Gobekli Depe nearby. To an untrained eye they are just humps of clay, but they belong to one of the longest continuous stories of settlement in Central Asia.
Read the complete Yaz and Gobekli Tepes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
58 km in you reach Yaz and Gobekli Tepes. Next is Kelte Minara koshk.
4. Kelte Minara koshk
Once there were few cities in the world as big as Merv. At its height, in the twelfth century, under the Seljuk sultans, the oasis city on the Murghab river, in the sands of what is now Turkmenistan, may have been the largest on the planet, with a population counted in the hundreds of thousands, libraries that Arab geographers praised and a position on the Silk Road between Persia and Central Asia. In 1221, the Mongols arrived, and the chroniclers say that the slaughter was beyond counting. The city never recovered its size, but the ruins, which cover a vast area of low walls, mounds and shattered brick, were listed as a World Heritage site in 1999.
Read the complete Kelte Minara koshk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kelte Minara koshk, about halfway. Next is back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes.
5. back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yaz and Gobekli Tepes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes sits at 116 km, about halfway. Next is back through Besh Agyz koshk.
6. back through Besh Agyz koshk
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Besh Agyz koshk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Besh Agyz koshk comes up 145 km in. Next is Kurtly ‘caravanserai’.
7. Kurtly ‘caravanserai’
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ closes the day.
Leg by leg
Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ to Besh Agyz koshk
Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ → Besh Agyz koshk is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Besh Agyz koshk to Yaz and Gobekli Tepes
Besh Agyz koshk → Yaz and Gobekli Tepes is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yaz and Gobekli Tepes to Kelte Minara koshk
Yaz and Gobekli Tepes → Kelte Minara koshk is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kelte Minara koshk to back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes
Kelte Minara koshk → back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes to back through Besh Agyz koshk
back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes → back through Besh Agyz koshk is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Besh Agyz koshk to Kurtly ‘caravanserai’
back through Besh Agyz koshk → Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.