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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Qiryat Shemona it runs 209 km to Qiryat Shemona; allow about 3 h 36 of riding. It goes by way of Tel Hazor, Qalaat Chama’, Junayn Garden and back through Qalaat Chama’. It crosses from Lebanon into Israel - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Before anything else, the honest part: this place lies in southern Lebanon, a few kilometres from the border with Israel, in an area that has seen repeated war, most recently in 2024, and that remains militarised and unpredictable. The listed neighbours on the route sheet, from Kiryat Shmona to Tyre, sit on opposite sides of a frontier that is closed to ordinary travel. Check your government's travel advice and local conditions very carefully before even thinking about a visit, and do not try to approach from the Israeli side.
Read the complete Qalaat Chakra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Qalaat Chakra is where the day begins. Next is Tel Hazor.
If you stand on the top of Tel Hazor on a clear day, the view is of the Hula valley to the north and the hills of Upper Galilee to the west, with the snow-capped hump of Mount Hermon, in winter, sitting at the far end. The tel itself is a vast, flat-topped mound, the largest ancient site in Israel's north, rising out of the fields near Kibbutz Ayelet HaShahar. It is what archaeologists call a tel, a hill made of the layers of cities built one on top of another over thousands of years.
Read the complete Tel Hazor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tel Hazor comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Qalaat Chama’.
Before anything else: this is one of the most sensitive places on any of these routes. Qalaat Chama, or Shamaa castle, stands on a hilltop in southern Lebanon, a few kilometres north of the border with Israel and inland from Naqoura, in an area that has seen repeated conflict, including heavy fighting in recent years, and that many governments advise against visiting under any circumstances. Damage to historic sites in the area has been reported, and conditions may have changed. Do not go without checking current official travel advice, and if in doubt, do not go at all.
Read the complete Qalaat Chama’ write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 78 km into the recorded legs you reach Qalaat Chama’. Next is Junayn Garden.
On the coastal plain of western Galilee, between Nahariya and Akko, a small garden known as Junayn is one of the Bahá'í holy places in Israel. Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, spent his final years in exile in this region in the late nineteenth century, after being banished by the Ottoman authorities from Persia and then from Baghdad, Istanbul and Edirne. Once his confinement in the prison-city of Akko was relaxed, he would visit gardens around the town, and this was one of them. The Bahá'í holy places in Haifa and western Galilee, including the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahjí and the terraced gardens on Mount Carmel, were listed by UNESCO in 2008. The gardens are tended with remarkable precision by Bahá'í volunteers from around the world, and the atmosphere is serene.
Read the complete Junayn Garden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Junayn Garden, about halfway. Next is back through Qalaat Chama’.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Qalaat Chama’ write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Qalaat Chama’ sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Tel Hazor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tel Hazor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Tel Hazor comes up about 181 km into the recorded legs. Next is Qalaat Chakra.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Qalaat Chakra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Qalaat Chakra closes the day.
Qalaat Chakra → Tel Hazor is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tel Hazor → Qalaat Chama’ is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Qalaat Chama’ → Junayn Garden is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Junayn Garden → back through Qalaat Chama’ is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Qalaat Chama’ → back through Tel Hazor is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tel Hazor → Qalaat Chakra is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.