Why this ride
A 149 km round trip from Beijing - roughly 2 h 31 in the saddle. It goes by way of Summer Palace, Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian and back through Summer Palace. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal and Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 149 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 31
- 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: 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.
Scenic road chapters
Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal → Summer Palace
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 28 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 28 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal
The Grand Canal of China is the longest man-made waterway in the world, and for centuries it carried the grain, silk and taxes of the south to the capital in the north. The Tonghui section, built in 1292 by the engineer Guo Shoujing under the Yuan dynasty, brought water from springs in the hills to the north-west of Beijing and gave the canal its final link to the city, running from the capital to Tongzhou, where barges unloaded. The old Beijing section follows the line of the river through the city, passing lakes, bridges and old neighbourhoods, and it forms part of the UNESCO listing of the Grand Canal, listed in 2014.
Read the complete Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal is where the day begins. Next is Summer Palace.
2. Summer Palace
The Empress Dowager Cixi is said to have spent money meant for the Chinese navy on rebuilding the Summer Palace, and the story is captured in stone: a marble boat moored permanently at the edge of Kunming Lake, a ship that will never sail. Whether the tale is entirely fair to her is debated, but the palace itself is beyond argument, a vast imperial garden of lakes, hills, halls, pavilions, bridges and covered walkways on the north-western edge of Beijing, laid out in the eighteenth century under the Qianlong Emperor, burned by British and French troops in 1860, rebuilt and burned again in 1900, and restored once more. It was listed by UNESCO in 1998 as a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Summer Palace comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian.
3. Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian
In the 1920s and 1930s, excavations in the limestone caves of Dragon Bone Hill at Zhoukoudian, south-west of Beijing, uncovered the remains of early humans who lived here hundreds of thousands of years ago. They became known as Peking Man, a population of Homo erectus, and in 1929 the Chinese archaeologist Pei Wenzhong found a nearly complete skull. The fossils caused a sensation, offering evidence of early humans in Asia and their use of fire. Then, in 1941, during the Japanese occupation, the original bones were packed for shipment to the United States and vanished; their fate remains one of the great mysteries of archaeology. The site is listed by UNESCO, and a museum displays casts and later finds.
Read the complete Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 74 km into the recorded legs you reach Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian. Next is back through Summer Palace.
4. back through Summer Palace
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Summer Palace, late in the day. Next is Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal.
5. Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal to Summer Palace
Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal → Summer Palace is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Summer Palace to Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian
Summer Palace → Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian to back through Summer Palace
Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian → back through Summer Palace is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Summer Palace to Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal
back through Summer Palace → Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.