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 308 km round trip from Beijing - roughly 4 h 04 in the saddle. It goes by way of Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian, Western Qing Tombs and back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is Western Qing Tombs.
Ninety minutes from Beijing, where the North China Plain runs into the Taihang mountains, a line of tombs lies in a landscape of old pines. These are the Western Qing Tombs, in Yi County of Hebei province, the burial ground of four Qing emperors, including Yongzheng, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Guangxu, along with a crowd of empresses, concubines and princes. The Qing had a second great cemetery, the Eastern Tombs, on the other side of Beijing, and the two were laid out according to feng shui principles with hills behind and open ground in front.
Read the complete Western Qing Tombs write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 151 km into the recorded legs you reach Western Qing Tombs. Next is back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian, late in the day. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal. That is the ride.
Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal → Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian → Western Qing Tombs is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Western Qing Tombs → back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian → Old Beijing City Section of Tonghui Canal is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.