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.
102 km from Panjakent to Panjakent, about 1 h 41 of riding. On the way it passes Town of Ancient Penjikent, Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro and back through Town of Ancient Penjikent. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
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.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is where the day begins. Next is Town of Ancient Penjikent.
On a dusty loess terrace just outside modern Panjakent, a few low mud ridges and pits are all that remain of one of the richest cities on the Silk Road. Fourteen centuries ago this was a Sogdian town of merchants, with two-storey houses, temples and walls covered in paintings of feasts, heroes and gods. The best frescoes went to the Hermitage in St Petersburg and to the Rudaki museum in town, so bring some imagination with you, but standing among the excavated streets with the Zeravshan glittering below, the scale of the place still lands.
Read the complete Town of Ancient Penjikent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Ancient Penjikent comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro.
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.
about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro. Next is back through Town of Ancient Penjikent.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Town of Ancient Penjikent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Town of Ancient Penjikent, late in the day. Next is Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Proto-urban Site of Sarazm. That is the ride.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → Town of Ancient Penjikent is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Ancient Penjikent → Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mausoleum of Khoja Mukhammad Bashoro → back through Town of Ancient Penjikent is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Town of Ancient Penjikent → Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.