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.
A 172 km round trip from Panjakent - roughly 2 h 55 in the saddle. On the way it passes Proto-urban Site of Sarazm, Suleimantepa, Jartepa II Temple and back through Suleimantepa. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Sanjarshakh lies in the Zarafshan valley of Tajikistan, a short ride from the town of Panjakent, and its low mounds and walls are the remains of a Sogdian settlement. The Sogdians were the great merchants of Central Asia, who spoke an Iranian language and carried silk, spices, paper and ideas along the Silk Road from China to Persia and beyond, and their language was the common tongue of the trade routes for several centuries. Their towns lay in the valleys of the Zarafshan and the Kashkadarya, and Panjakent, a few kilometres from here, is the best known, with houses decorated with wall paintings of epic stories, banquets and gods, that are now in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.
Read the complete Sanjarshakh Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sanjarshakh Settlement is where the day begins. Next is Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Five thousand years ago, in the fertile Zeravshan valley of what is now north-western Tajikistan, people built a settlement of mud-brick houses, temples and workshops that became one of the earliest towns in Central Asia. Sarazm, near Panjakent and right next to the Uzbek border, was a centre of metal working, trading copper, tin and turquoise with places as far away as Iran, Afghanistan and India. Inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2010, the site has revealed burials with jewellery, including the richly adorned grave of a woman known as the Princess of Sarazm.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Suleimantepa.
Urgut is only a few kilometres from here, and if you ride into town on a market day you will understand quickly why the Silk Road needed places like this. The bazaar in Urgut is one of the biggest in Uzbekistan, sprawling, loud and full of everything from suzani embroidery and old coins to cattle and car parts. Suleimantepa, a low mound just outside, is one of the archaeological sites recognised as part of the Zarafshan valley corridor of the Silk Roads, the chain of settlements, forts and caravan stops along the river that fed Samarkand and Bukhara.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Suleimantepa. Next is Jartepa II Temple.
The Zarafshan valley is the green artery of central Uzbekistan, carrying meltwater from the mountains of Tajikistan west past Samarkand and Bukhara into the desert. South of Samarkand, the land rises into the foothills of the Zarafshan range, and it is here, near Urgut and close to the Tajik border, that the Jartepa site lies, with remains of a temple from the Sogdian era.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jartepa II Temple, about halfway. Next is back through Suleimantepa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Suleimantepa sits at 117 km, about halfway. Next is back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm comes up about 146 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sanjarshakh Settlement.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sanjarshakh Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sanjarshakh Settlement closes the day.
Sanjarshakh Settlement → Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → Suleimantepa is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suleimantepa → Jartepa II Temple is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jartepa II Temple → back through Suleimantepa is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suleimantepa → back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → Sanjarshakh Settlement is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.