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.
261 km from Anuradhapura to Anuradhapura, about 5 h 47 of riding. It goes by way of Ancient City of Sigiriya, Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple, back through Ancient City of Sigiriya and back through Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Anuradhapura was the capital of Sri Lanka for well over a thousand years, and it still feels like a capital of a certain kind, one made of brick, water and devotion. Standing in the dry zone, in the flat north-central plains, it grew from a settlement of the fourth century BC into the heart of a Buddhist kingdom that built huge dome-shaped dagobas, monasteries and reservoirs. The great tanks, or artificial lakes, were the engineering marvel that made rice farming possible in an area with scarce rainfall, and you can see several of them from the road, wide mirrors of water ringed with palms.
Read the complete Sacred City of Anuradhapura write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sacred City of Anuradhapura is where the day begins. Next is Ancient City of Sigiriya.
Sigiriya is a rock that looks like a fortress built by giants: a column of red granite rising some two hundred metres above the jungle of central Sri Lanka. In the late fifth century, King Kashyapa, who had seized the throne after killing his father, built a palace on its summit, with gardens, pools and fortifications around its base. The entrance was through the paws of a giant lion carved in the rock, of which only the paws remain. After Kashyapa's death, the palace was abandoned and became a Buddhist monastery. The Ancient City of Sigiriya was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1982.
Read the complete Ancient City of Sigiriya write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient City of Sigiriya comes up about 74 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple.
The rock at Dambulla rises some hundred and fifty metres above the plain in the dry heart of Sri Lanka, a great bald dome of granite, and in its upper flank five caves hold one of the most extraordinary Buddhist shrines in Asia. Tradition says King Valagamba sheltered here in the first century BC when he was driven out of Anuradhapura, and that after regaining his throne he turned the caves into a temple in gratitude. Monks had been using them long before that, and kings went on adding to them for centuries.
Read the complete Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 93 km into the recorded legs you reach Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient City of Sigiriya write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient City of Sigiriya, about halfway. Next is Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ancient City of Sigiriya.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient City of Sigiriya write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ancient City of Sigiriya comes up about 149 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 168 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient City of Sigiriya write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ancient City of Sigiriya, late in the day. Next is Sacred City of Anuradhapura.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sacred City of Anuradhapura write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 261 km.
Sacred City of Anuradhapura → Ancient City of Sigiriya is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ancient City of Sigiriya → Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple → Ancient City of Sigiriya is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple → back through Ancient City of Sigiriya is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancient City of Sigiriya → back through Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple → back through Ancient City of Sigiriya is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancient City of Sigiriya → Sacred City of Anuradhapura is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.