Why this ride
From Farkhor it runs 719 km to Farkhor; allow about 12 h 26 of riding. On the way it passes Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal, Shahristoni Zoli Zar, Tohir Caravansarai and back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Shahrtepa and Tohir Caravansarai
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 719 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 12 h 26
- 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: 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Shahrtepa
Shahrtepa lies in the lowlands of southern Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, within sight of the Panj river and the Afghan hills beyond. The word tepa means a mound, and it is the right word: a mound that has built up over centuries as one settlement was layered over another, in the Bactrian country that Alexander crossed and that later fed the Kushan empire. A Buddhist temple site is linked with this area, a reminder that this was once a place where monks, merchants and caravans met on the way between India, Central Asia and China.
Read the complete Shahrtepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahrtepa is where the day begins. Next is Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
2. Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Khuttal was a medieval kingdom in the south of what is now Tajikistan, centred on the fertile valleys between the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, and it flourished as a crossroads of trade and culture between Central Asia, Iran and India. The region's heritage includes the ruins of palaces, towns and religious buildings, such as the citadel of Hulbuk, near Vose', a royal residence from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, with richly decorated walls, and the town of Kulob, with the mausoleum of the fourteenth-century Sufi scholar Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. Several of these sites have been nominated together for UNESCO recognition.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal comes up about 139 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
3. Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Down in the far south of Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, the land flattens into the wide floodplain of the Panj, the river that forms the border with Afghanistan. The site named Shahristoni Zoli Zar lies in this country, some eighteen kilometres from Farkhor, and it is one of many ancient settlement mounds scattered across the region. Southern Tajikistan was part of ancient Bactria, later the heartland of the Kushan empire, and the fields here have yielded Buddhist and early Islamic remains. A shahriston, in the old local sense, was the inner walled town, and the name suggests that this mound once held a proper urban core.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 252 km into the recorded legs you reach Shahristoni Zoli Zar. Next is Tohir Caravansarai.
4. Tohir Caravansarai
A caravanserai is the original motorway service station, and the one at Tohir shows how much trouble medieval travellers took to rest. These fortified inns stood at intervals along the trade routes of Asia, a day's journey apart, with a gate big enough for a laden camel, an open court for the animals and rooms for merchants and their goods, so that a caravan could stop safely at the end of a day. Tohir lies in the south of Tajikistan, in the hot valley of the Panj river, which forms the border with Afghanistan, and the tracks that passed it probably linked the Oxus crossings and the old cities of Bactria to the mountain valleys of the north. The place has the hushed look of a ruin in a farm landscape, with clay brick walls and arched openings catching the afternoon sun.
Read the complete Tohir Caravansarai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tohir Caravansarai, about halfway. Next is back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
5. back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar sits at 481 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
6. back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal comes up about 589 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shahrtepa.
7. Shahrtepa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shahrtepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahrtepa closes the day.
Leg by leg
Shahrtepa to Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Shahrtepa → Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 139 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shahristoni Zoli Zar to Tohir Caravansarai
Shahristoni Zoli Zar → Tohir Caravansarai is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tohir Caravansarai to back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Tohir Caravansarai → back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar to back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar → back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 112 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to Shahrtepa
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → Shahrtepa is 139 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.