Why this ride
From Al Ḩaffah it runs 462 km to Al Ḩaffah; allow about 8 h 05 of riding. On the way it passes Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda, Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha, Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb and Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Qal’at Salah El-Din and Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 462 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 05
- 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 89 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha.
3. Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha
Scattered across the limestone hills of north-western Syria, between Aleppo and Idlib, lie hundreds of abandoned villages from late antiquity, built of finely cut stone between the first and seventh centuries and then gradually deserted. They are known as the Dead Cities, and together they form the World Heritage site of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria. Ruweiha, in the Jebel Zawiye, is one of the largest: houses, churches, tombs and oil presses spread over a wide area, and among them the church of Bizzos, named after a local notable whose domed tomb stands beside it, is one of the best preserved. These villages grew rich on olive oil and trade, and their stone architecture, with arched doorways, carved lintels and crosses, is remarkably intact.
Read the complete Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 116 km into the recorded legs you reach Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha. Next is Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb.
4. 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
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb, about halfway. Next is Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé.
5. Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé
High on the limestone ridge of the Jebel al-A'la, in the north west of Syria near the Turkish border, stands one of the most beautiful early Christian churches anywhere. The basilica of Qalb Lozeh was built in the second half of the fifth century, probably as a pilgrimage church on the route to the shrine of Saint Simeon Stylites, the hermit who spent decades living on top of a pillar not far to the east. Its facade, with a great arch flanked by two towers, is one of the earliest examples of a design that would later be repeated in the Romanesque churches of Europe. The church is part of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, a UNESCO site listed in 2011, which includes some forty villages abandoned between the eighth and tenth centuries, often known as the Dead Cities.
Read the complete Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé sits at 163 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb.
6. 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
back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb comes up about 272 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha.
7. back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 347 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha. 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 462 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 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda to Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha
Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda → Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha to Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb
Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha → Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb to Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé
Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé to back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb
Jebelal-A’la QalbLozé → back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb is 39 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 2 Rouweiha
back through Jebel Wastani Kafr Aqareb → back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha to back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda
back through Jebel Zawiyé 2 Rouweiha → back through Jebel Zawiyé 1 Ba’uda is 27 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.