Why this ride
From Dimona it runs 533 km to Dimona; allow about 8 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Tel Beer Sheba, Haluza, Shivta and Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mamshit and Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 533 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 06
- 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. Mamshit
Mamshit sits on a low spur above a dry riverbed in the northern Negev, a few kilometres east of Dimona, and from a distance it looks like nothing more than a heap of pale stones. Up close it becomes a town: streets, courtyards, staircases, arches, two Byzantine churches with mosaic floors and a set of large houses built by people who knew how to live comfortably in a hard place. This was Mampsis, a Nabataean settlement on the caravan routes that carried incense and spices from Arabia across the desert to the Mediterranean ports, and it shares a World Heritage inscription with Avdat, Haluza and Shivta as one of the desert cities of the Incense Route.
Read the complete Mamshit write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mamshit is where the day begins. Next is Tel Beer Sheba.
2. Tel Beer Sheba
Tel Beer Sheba is a mound on the edge of the modern city of Beersheba, in the northern Negev desert of southern Israel, and it holds the remains of an Iron Age town that has been excavated and partially reconstructed. With Megiddo and Hazor, it forms the UNESCO site of the Biblical Tels, recognized for their importance in understanding the cities of the biblical era. The name Beersheba appears many times in the Bible, associated with Abraham and the wells he dug in the desert.
Read the complete Tel Beer Sheba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tel Beer Sheba comes up 44 km in. Next is Haluza.
3. Haluza
Halutza is a ghost of a city in the sand. Founded by the Nabataeans as a waystation on the incense route from Arabia to the Mediterranean, it grew in the Roman and Byzantine periods into the most important city of the Negev, known in Greek as Elusa, with a theatre, churches and a famous school of rhetoric. Then it faded, the sand moved in, and today only fragments of walls, a small theatre and the remains of churches poke out of the dunes south-west of Beersheba. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Incense Route and desert cities of the Negev, along with Avdat, Mamshit and Shivta.
Read the complete Haluza write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
88 km in you reach Haluza. Next is Shivta.
4. Shivta
There is no water at Shivta, and yet a town of some size thrived here, in the middle of the Negev desert, for several centuries. Its people collected every drop of rain that fell on the surrounding hills and channelled it into cisterns, and they grew grapes, wheat and olives in the dry valleys around. Shivta began as a Nabataean settlement on the trade routes between Arabia and the Mediterranean, and it reached its peak in the Byzantine period, when it had three churches, houses, wine presses and streets of stone. It is part of the Incense Route listed by UNESCO, with the desert cities of Avdat, Haluza and Mamshit.
Read the complete Shivta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shivta, about halfway. Next is Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev.
5. Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev
The Negev is not the empty wasteland it appears to be from a plane. From roughly the third century BC to the second century AD, the Nabataeans, a people of Arabian origin who made their capital at Petra, ran one of the most profitable trades in the ancient world through it, carrying frankincense and myrrh from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean ports of Gaza. They controlled the water, building cisterns, dams and terraced fields to farm in an area with almost no rain, and along the route they raised caravan stations, forts and small cities, among them Avdat, Haluza, Mamshit and Shivta, which UNESCO listed together in 2005 as the Incense Route Desert Cities.
Read the complete Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev sits at 176 km, about halfway. Next is back through Shivta.
6. back through Shivta
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shivta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Shivta comes up 220 km in. Next is back through Haluza.
7. back through Haluza
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Haluza write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
264 km in you reach back through Haluza. Next is back through Tel Beer Sheba.
8. back through Tel Beer Sheba
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tel Beer Sheba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tel Beer Sheba, late in the day. Next is Mamshit.
9. Mamshit
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mamshit 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 533 km.
Leg by leg
Mamshit to Tel Beer Sheba
Mamshit → Tel Beer Sheba is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tel Beer Sheba to Haluza
Tel Beer Sheba → Haluza is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Haluza to Shivta
Haluza → Shivta is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shivta to Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev
Shivta → Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev to back through Shivta
Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev → back through Shivta is 67 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Shivta to back through Haluza
back through Shivta → back through Haluza is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Haluza to back through Tel Beer Sheba
back through Haluza → back through Tel Beer Sheba is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tel Beer Sheba to Mamshit
back through Tel Beer Sheba → Mamshit is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.