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 284 km round trip from Karakul’ - roughly 5 h in the saddle. On the way it passes Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex, Deggaron Mosque and back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
The ancient city of Paikend lies in the desert on the edge of the Bukhara oasis, in Uzbekistan, and it is so old that the Silk Road was only one chapter of its story. Early writers called it the city of merchants. It stood on a major route between the Zarafshan river and the Amu Darya, near the sands of the Kyzylkum, and it was a fortified trading town from the early centuries BC, with a citadel, a main town and a market district, at its peak in the early Islamic period. It declined after the eleventh century, as the river shifted and Bukhara took the trade.
Read the complete Paikend Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Paikend Settlement is where the day begins. Next is Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex.
Bahauddin Naqshband died in 1389 in the village where he was born, a short ride from Bukhara, and the Sufi order that bears his name went on to spread across Central Asia, India, the Ottoman Empire and beyond. The Naqshbandi order emphasised silent remembrance of God and living a spiritual life within the everyday world, and its founder's tomb became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Central Asia, so much so that locals sometimes call it the Mecca of Central Asia. The complex, with its mosques, minaret, courtyards and the tomb itself, was largely built in the sixteenth century under the Shaybanid rulers and restored in recent decades.
Read the complete Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Deggaron Mosque.
In the village of Hazara, in the Zarafshan valley between Bukhara and Samarkand, stands one of the oldest mosques in Central Asia. The Deggaron mosque dates from the eleventh century, and from the outside it looks almost humble: a square, squat brick building with a cluster of low domes. Inside, it is a revelation, with massive brick columns supporting a forest of small domes and arches, the brickwork laid in patterns that play with light and shadow. It is a rare survivor of the pre-Mongol architecture of the region, and it forms part of the Silk Roads listing for the Zarafshan-Karakum corridor, inscribed by UNESCO in 2023.
Read the complete Deggaron Mosque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 135 km into the recorded legs you reach Deggaron Mosque. Next is back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex, late in the day. Next is Paikend Settlement.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paikend Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Paikend Settlement. That is the ride.
Paikend Settlement → Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex is 65 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex → Deggaron Mosque is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Deggaron Mosque → back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex → Paikend Settlement is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.