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.
The stops in between: Umm Al-Jimāl, Area 1, back through Area 1 and back through Umm Al-Jimāl. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Jordan into Syria - carry ID and check the toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Qusayr Amra stands alone in the stony desert of eastern Jordan, in the Wadi Butm, about twenty-five kilometres from Azraq and some eighty from Amman. It is a small, low building of pale stone with three barrel-vaulted halls and a bathhouse, built in the early eighth century under the Umayyad caliphs, and its plain exterior hides some of the most surprising paintings in the early Islamic world.
Read the complete Quseir Amra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Quseir Amra is where the day begins. Next is Umm Al-Jimāl.
Umm al-Jimāl is a black town in a yellow desert. Built almost entirely of dark basalt, it rises from the plain of northern Jordan, near the Syrian border, about fifteen kilometres east of Mafraq. People lived here for centuries, from the Nabataean period through Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic times, and what survives today is an extraordinary rural town of houses, churches, water reservoirs, barracks and streets, many buildings still standing two or three storeys high. Because wood was scarce, the builders used long basalt slabs to make floors and roofs, supported on corbels and arches, and some of the stairways leading to the upper floors still cling to the walls. In 2024 UNESCO listed the site, recognising it as an exceptional example of a farming and trading town on the edge of the desert.
Read the complete Umm Al-Jimāl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Umm Al-Jimāl comes up about 127 km into the recorded legs. Next is Area 1.
Bosra stands on the black basalt plain of the Hauran, in the south of Syria, close to the Jordanian frontier, and the whole town seems to be made of the dark volcanic stone that is found in the fields. It was a Nabataean town, and then the Romans made it the capital of the province of Arabia in the early second century, building a grid of streets, baths, a triumphal arch and one of the best-preserved theatres in the Roman world. The theatre could seat some fifteen thousand people. In the Middle Ages it was wrapped in a fortress by the Ayyubids, whose walls and towers rise around the stage, so that you can walk through the vaults beneath the seats and the old defences at the same time.
Read the complete Area 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 204 km into the recorded legs you reach Area 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Umm Al-Jimāl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Umm Al-Jimāl, about halfway. Next is back through Area 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Area 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Area 1 sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Umm Al-Jimāl.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Umm Al-Jimāl write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Umm Al-Jimāl comes up about 437 km into the recorded legs. Next is Quseir Amra.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Quseir Amra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Quseir Amra closes the day.
Quseir Amra → Umm Al-Jimāl is 127 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Umm Al-Jimāl → Area 1 is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Area 1 → Umm Al-Jimāl is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Umm Al-Jimāl → back through Area 1 is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Area 1 → back through Umm Al-Jimāl is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Umm Al-Jimāl → Quseir Amra is 115 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.