Why this ride
The stops in between: Yaz and Gobekli Tepes, Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba, Akja Gala Caravanserai and Mansaf Caravanserai. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kushmeihan and Mansaf Caravanserai
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 1250 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 21 h 32
- 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. Kushmeihan
The Murghab river comes out of the Afghan hills and dies in the sands of the Karakum, and where it spreads out near the town of Mary it created the oasis of Merv, one of the great cities of the medieval world. Kushmeihan is one of the sites scattered across that oasis, a low ruin in the flat, brown country east of the more famous monuments. The ancient Merv complex is listed by UNESCO, and the label here belongs to the same landscape of ramparts, mounds and mudbrick that stretches for many kilometres.
Read the complete Kushmeihan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kushmeihan is where the day begins. Next is Yaz and Gobekli Tepes.
2. 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
Yaz and Gobekli Tepes comes up about 117 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba.
3. Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba
The Karakum desert surrounds the oasis of Merv on three sides, and the Murghab river, which feeds the oasis, ends in the sand a little downstream. Talkhatan Baba, a brick mosque and mausoleum in the area of Mary, belongs to the medieval Islamic centuries when Merv was one of the great cities of the world, a Seljuk capital with libraries, observatories and a population that rivalled any in Europe.
Read the complete Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 228 km into the recorded legs you reach Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba. Next is Akja Gala Caravanserai.
4. Akja Gala Caravanserai
The Silk Road across the Karakum was never a single road. It was a series of wells, forts and caravanserais, a day's travel apart, where camels could drink and merchants could sleep behind walls. Akja Gala is one of these shelters, a square brick building with a central courtyard and rooms around it, set in sand and saxaul scrub between Merv and the Amu Darya, the river called the Oxus by the Greeks.
Read the complete Akja Gala Caravanserai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Akja Gala Caravanserai, about halfway. Next is Mansaf Caravanserai.
5. Mansaf Caravanserai
Out in the Karakum, the great black-sand desert that covers most of Turkmenistan, the old caravan route between Merv and Amul on the Amu Darya crossed some two hundred kilometres of sand, and along it, at intervals of a day's march, stood caravanserais where travellers could rest, water their animals and find shelter. The ruins of the Mansaf caravanserai lie on this route, a crumbling square of brick walls and gateways in an empty landscape of dunes and saxaul shrubs. They are part of the Silk Roads heritage of Central Asia, and the corridor is on Turkmenistan's list of sites proposed for UNESCO recognition.
Read the complete Mansaf Caravanserai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mansaf Caravanserai sits at 627 km, about halfway. Next is back through Akja Gala Caravanserai.
6. back through Akja Gala Caravanserai
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Akja Gala Caravanserai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Akja Gala Caravanserai comes up about 734 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba.
7. back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 1018 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba. Next is back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Kushmeihan.
9. Kushmeihan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kushmeihan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 1250 km.
Leg by leg
Kushmeihan to Yaz and Gobekli Tepes
Kushmeihan → Yaz and Gobekli Tepes is 117 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yaz and Gobekli Tepes to Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba
Yaz and Gobekli Tepes → Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba is 111 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba to Akja Gala Caravanserai
Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba → Akja Gala Caravanserai is 284 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Akja Gala Caravanserai to Mansaf Caravanserai
Akja Gala Caravanserai → Mansaf Caravanserai is 111 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mansaf Caravanserai to back through Akja Gala Caravanserai
Mansaf Caravanserai → back through Akja Gala Caravanserai is 111 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Akja Gala Caravanserai to back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba
back through Akja Gala Caravanserai → back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba is 284 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba to back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes
back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba → back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes is 111 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes to Kushmeihan
back through Yaz and Gobekli Tepes → Kushmeihan is 117 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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