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.
The stops in between: Toksankoriz Irrigation System, Proto-urban Site of Sarazm and back through Toksankoriz Irrigation System. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Panjakent sits in the upper Zeravshan valley in north-western Tajikistan, close to the border with Uzbekistan and Samarkand, and the valley has been a corridor for traders, armies and ideas since long before the Silk Road had a name. Near the village of Mazori Sharif, in the hills south of the river, stands the mausoleum of Khoja Muhammad Bashoro, built in the eleventh century, famous for its portal decorated with intricate carved terracotta, a fine example of early Islamic architecture in Central Asia. It remains a place of pilgrimage, and visitors should dress modestly and respect those who come to pray.
Read the complete Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro is where the day begins. Next is Toksankoriz Irrigation System.
Water is the oldest story in Central Asia, and the Zeravshan valley has told it for thousands of years. The river, whose name means gold-bearing, runs down from the glaciers of the Pamir-Alay in Tajikistan and into the desert of Uzbekistan, and every village along it lives by canals and underground channels. The word koriz, or kariz, is the local name for a qanat, a gently sloping tunnel that carries groundwater from the foothills to the fields, and the name Toksankoriz, as I read it, points to a system of many such channels.
Read the complete Toksankoriz Irrigation System write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Toksankoriz Irrigation System comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Five thousand years ago, in the fertile Zeravshan valley of what is now north-western Tajikistan, people built a settlement of mud-brick houses, temples and workshops that became one of the earliest towns in Central Asia. Sarazm, near Panjakent and right next to the Uzbek border, was a centre of metal working, trading copper, tin and turquoise with places as far away as Iran, Afghanistan and India. Inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2010, the site has revealed burials with jewellery, including the richly adorned grave of a woman known as the Princess of Sarazm.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Proto-urban Site of Sarazm. Next is back through Toksankoriz Irrigation System.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Toksankoriz Irrigation System write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Toksankoriz Irrigation System, late in the day. Next is Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro. That is the ride.
Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro → Toksankoriz Irrigation System is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Toksankoriz Irrigation System → Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → back through Toksankoriz Irrigation System is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Toksankoriz Irrigation System → Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.