Why this ride
509 km from Al Ḩaffah to Al Ḩaffah, about 9 h 38 of riding. It goes by way of Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda, Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb, Jebel Barisha Deirouné and Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Qal’at Salah El-Din and Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 509 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 38
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Qal’at Salah El-Din
Few castles are as dramatic as the one that sits on a spur of rock in the coastal mountains of Syria, between two deep ravines. Qal'at Salah El-Din, or Saladin's Castle, takes its name from the Muslim leader who captured it from the Crusaders in 1188 on his campaign along the coast, but the story is much older. The site was fortified in Byzantine times, taken by the Crusaders in the early twelfth century, and strengthened with new walls and towers. The great trench that separates the castle from the rest of the ridge is cut out of solid rock, many metres deep, and in the middle of it a slender needle of stone, about twenty-eight metres high, was left standing to carry the drawbridge. It is one of the great sights of medieval military architecture.
Read the complete Qal’at Salah El-Din write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Qal’at Salah El-Din is where the day begins. Next is Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda.
2. Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda
On the limestone uplands of the Jebel Zawiya in north-western Syria, among olive groves and stony fields, stand the remains of villages abandoned more than a thousand years ago. They are part of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, often called the Dead Cities, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2011. Ba'uda is one of these sites, with houses, churches, tombs and presses built of finely cut stone between the first and seventh centuries, when the region grew rich on olive oil.
Read the complete Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda comes up about 90 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb.
3. Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb
Along the limestone uplands of north-western Syria, close to the Turkish border, lie the remains of hundreds of abandoned villages from late antiquity, the so-called Dead Cities. Kafr Aqareb, on the Jebel Wastani, is one of them, part of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria listed by UNESCO in 2011. These were prosperous farming communities between roughly the first and seventh centuries, growing olives, grapes and grain, and producing oil that was traded across the Roman and Byzantine world. They built in stone, with remarkable skill: houses, churches, bath houses, olive presses and tombs, many still standing to roof height. When trade routes shifted and the region changed hands, the villages were gradually abandoned, leaving ghost towns that look as if their inhabitants left only recently.
Read the complete Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb. Next is Jebel Barisha Deirouné.
4. Jebel Barisha Deirouné
On the limestone ridge of Jebel Barisha, in north-west Syria near the Turkish border at Reyhanlı, lie the stone ruins of Deirouné, one of the hundreds of late Roman and Byzantine villages that UNESCO lists as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, often called the Dead Cities. Between roughly the first and seventh centuries, farmers here grew olives and vines on the uplands, prospered, and built houses, churches and olive presses in finely cut stone. When the trade networks that sustained them collapsed, the villages were slowly abandoned, and the dry climate left them remarkably intact.
Read the complete Jebel Barisha Deirouné write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jebel Barisha Deirouné, about halfway. Next is Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo.
5. Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo
Northern Syria has a landscape of limestone hills crowded with the shells of ancient villages, and the Jebel Sem'an, the Mountain of Simeon, is the heart of it. Between the fourth and seventh centuries, when this region was a prosperous corner of the late Roman and then Byzantine world, farmers grew olives and grapes on the stony hills and built their homes, churches, baths and presses of fine dressed stone. When trade routes shifted and the Arab conquests came, the villages emptied, but the buildings were so solid that they remained, roofless but recognisable. The best of them, grouped into a number of parks, were inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2011 as the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria.
Read the complete Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo sits at 196 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné.
6. back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Barisha Deirouné write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné comes up about 284 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb.
7. back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 330 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb. Next is back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda.
8. back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda, late in the day. Next is Qal’at Salah El-Din.
9. Qal’at Salah El-Din
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Qal’at Salah El-Din write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 509 km.
Leg by leg
Qal’at Salah El-Din to Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda
Qal’at Salah El-Din → Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda is 90 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda to Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb
Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda → Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb to Jebel Barisha Deirouné
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → Jebel Barisha Deirouné is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Barisha Deirouné to Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo
Jebel Barisha Deirouné → Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo to back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné
Jebel Sem’an 2 KafrNabo → back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné to back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb
back through Jebel Barisha Deirouné → back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb to back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda
back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda is 90 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda to Qal’at Salah El-Din
back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda → Qal’at Salah El-Din is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.