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.
From Songyang it runs 321 km to Songyang; allow about 4 h 46 of riding. On the way it passes Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han, Longmen Grottoes, Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ and back through Longmen Grottoes. Expect gradients and long views.
The Songyue pagoda is the one that any historian of Chinese architecture will point you toward, and it stands in the grounds of an old temple at the foot of Mount Song, five kilometres from Songyang. It is a tall brick pagoda with twelve sides, a shape found almost nowhere else, rising in tiers of tightly packed eaves to a slender top. By most accounts it dates from the early sixth century, which makes it the oldest brick pagoda in China, and one of the oldest standing buildings in the country.
Read the complete Songye Temple Pagoda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Songye Temple Pagoda is where the day begins. Next is Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han.
Luoyang, in Henan province, is one of the four great ancient capitals of China, a city that served as the seat of more than a dozen dynasties over a thousand years. East of the modern city, in the fields along the Luo river, lie the remains of the capital of the Eastern Han dynasty, which ruled from Luoyang from the first to the early third century AD, and of the later Wei, Jin and Northern Wei capitals built on the same site. The site is part of the UNESCO-listed Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor, inscribed in 2014.
Read the complete Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is Longmen Grottoes.
South of Luoyang, the river Yi cuts through a narrow gap between two limestone hills, and for about a kilometre the cliffs on both sides are honeycombed with caves, niches and carvings. Over around four centuries, starting in the late fifth century under the Northern Wei dynasty and continuing through the Tang, Buddhist sculptors carved tens of thousands of statues into the rock, from tiny figures a few centimetres high to colossal Buddhas. The Longmen Grottoes were listed by UNESCO in 2000 and are among the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art.
Read the complete Longmen Grottoes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 110 km into the recorded legs you reach Longmen Grottoes. Next is Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’.
The Hangu Pass is one of the legendary places of Chinese history. According to tradition, it was at the old Hangu Pass, guarding the narrow road between the Central Plain and the Wei valley, that the philosopher Laozi, leaving China on the back of an ox, was asked by the gatekeeper to write down his wisdom before passing, and the result was the Tao Te Ching. That pass lies further west, near Lingbao. In 114 BC, under the Han dynasty, the pass was moved east to Xin'an county, near Luoyang, and it is the remains of this later Han pass, with its gate, walls and stretches of ancient road, that form part of the Silk Roads World Heritage site, on the route between the capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang and on towards Central Asia.
Read the complete Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’, about halfway. Next is back through Longmen Grottoes.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Longmen Grottoes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Longmen Grottoes sits at 209 km, about halfway. Next is back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han comes up about 257 km into the recorded legs. Next is Songye Temple Pagoda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Songye Temple Pagoda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Songye Temple Pagoda closes the day.
Songye Temple Pagoda → Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han → Longmen Grottoes is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Longmen Grottoes → Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ → back through Longmen Grottoes is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Longmen Grottoes → back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han → Songye Temple Pagoda is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.