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.
A 317 km round trip from Ramat Yishay - roughly 5 h 25 in the saddle. The stops in between: Sebastia, Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan and back through Sebastia. It crosses from Israel into Palestinian Territories - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
In the second century AD, after the failed revolts against Rome, the centre of Jewish life moved to Galilee, and the Sanhedrin, the supreme rabbinical council, settled for a time at Bet She'arim, on a hill at the western edge of the Jezreel valley. Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, the patriarch who compiled the Mishnah, the first great codification of Jewish law, lived here, and when he was buried in the necropolis, Jews from all over the diaspora wanted to be buried near him. The result is a vast network of catacombs carved into the soft limestone, listed by UNESCO in 2015.
Read the complete Necropolis of Bet She’arim: A Landmark of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Bet She’arim: A Landmark of is where the day begins. Next is Sebastia.
Sebastia, Sabastiya in Arabic, is a Palestinian village on a hill north-west of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, surrounded by olive groves and terraced hillsides. It stands on the site of Samaria, the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel in the ninth and eighth centuries BC, later rebuilt by Herod the Great, who named it Sebaste in honour of the Emperor Augustus. The ruins on the hilltop above the village span a thousand years of history.
Read the complete Sebastia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sebastia comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan.
Jericho is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns on earth, and at Tell es-Sultan, on its northern edge, archaeologists have dug down through layers of settlement more than ten thousand years old. Among the finds is a great stone tower, built in the Neolithic, around eleven thousand years ago, long before writing, metal or the wheel, which is often called the oldest such tower in the world. The tell, with its trenches and mud brick walls, was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2023.
Read the complete Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 158 km into the recorded legs you reach Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan. Next is back through Sebastia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sebastia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sebastia, late in the day. Next is Necropolis of Bet She’arim: A Landmark of.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Bet She’arim: A Landmark of write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Necropolis of Bet She’arim: A Landmark of. That is the ride.
Necropolis of Bet She’arim: A Landmark of → Sebastia is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sebastia → Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan → back through Sebastia is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Sebastia → Necropolis of Bet She’arim: A Landmark of is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.