Why this ride
497 km from Quanzhou to Quanzhou, about 6 h 23 of riding. It goes by way of Sites of Dehua Kilns, Fujian Tulou and back through Sites of Dehua Kilns. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Site of Shunji Bridge and Fujian Tulou
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 497 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 23
- 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: 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Site of Shunji Bridge
The bridges of Quanzhou were as astonishing as its port. In the Song dynasty, when the city grew rich on trade with Arabia, India and South-East Asia, its builders spanned the estuaries with long stone bridges set on huge foundations of boulders and oyster shells, and some of them are still standing. The Shunji Bridge, whose site is on our list, belongs to this tradition, and what remains is a place beside the river where engineers once solved a problem that seemed impossible: how to build a stone bridge across a tidal estuary with strong currents.
Read the complete Site of Shunji Bridge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Site of Shunji Bridge is where the day begins. Next is Sites of Dehua Kilns.
2. Sites of Dehua Kilns
Dehua, a county in the mountains of Fujian province, in south-eastern China, has been making porcelain for over a thousand years. Its white porcelain, known in the West as blanc de Chine, is famous for its pure, creamy white colour and its fine figures, especially statues of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, and other Buddhist and Taoist figures. The ancient kiln sites of Dehua, including long dragon kilns built on hillsides, are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China, inscribed in 2021.
Read the complete Sites of Dehua Kilns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sites of Dehua Kilns comes up about 103 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujian Tulou.
3. Fujian Tulou
Picture a giant ring of rammed earth, three or four storeys high, with almost no windows on the outside and a single heavy gate. Inside, galleries of wooden rooms face a courtyard with an ancestral hall at its heart, and up to several hundred members of one extended family once lived within those walls. That is a tulou, and the hills of south-western Fujian are dotted with them, round and square, some centuries old, many still inhabited.
Read the complete Fujian Tulou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 251 km into the recorded legs you reach Fujian Tulou. Next is back through Sites of Dehua Kilns.
4. back through Sites of Dehua Kilns
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sites of Dehua Kilns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns, late in the day. Next is Site of Shunji Bridge.
5. Site of Shunji Bridge
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site of Shunji Bridge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Site of Shunji Bridge. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Site of Shunji Bridge to Sites of Dehua Kilns
Site of Shunji Bridge → Sites of Dehua Kilns is 103 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sites of Dehua Kilns to Fujian Tulou
Sites of Dehua Kilns → Fujian Tulou is 148 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fujian Tulou to back through Sites of Dehua Kilns
Fujian Tulou → back through Sites of Dehua Kilns is 143 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns to Site of Shunji Bridge
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns → Site of Shunji Bridge is 103 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.