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.
260 km from Quanzhou to Quanzhou, about 3 h 47 of riding. The stops in between: Shihu Dock, Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu, Kulangsu and back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
North of Quanzhou, where the city fades into granite hills and orchards, the road runs up to the foot of Qingyuan Mountain and a figure that stops most visitors for a moment. The Lao Tze statue is a seated old man with a long beard, carved out of a natural boulder, and it has been there since the Song dynasty, roughly a thousand years. It is among the largest carved Taoist figures in China, and because the stone was never moved, the whole thing feels grown rather than built.
Read the complete Statue of Lao Tze write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Statue of Lao Tze is where the day begins. Next is Shihu Dock.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Quanzhou was one of the busiest ports in the world. Arab, Persian, Indian and Italian merchants lived in the city, which Marco Polo knew as Zayton, and ships loaded with silk, porcelain and tea left for the Indian Ocean. The port stood on the Fujian coast of southern China, at the mouth of the Jin river, and the whole system of temples, mosques, bridges, docks and kiln sites was listed by UNESCO in 2021 as Quanzhou, Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China.
Read the complete Shihu Dock write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shihu Dock comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu.
Medieval travellers called it Zaitun, and to Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta it was one of the greatest ports in the world. Quanzhou, on the coast of Fujian facing Taiwan, flourished under the Song and Yuan dynasties as a hub of maritime trade, where Arab, Persian, Indian and Southeast Asian merchants lived alongside Chinese traders, and ships left laden with silk and porcelain. In 2021 UNESCO inscribed a group of sites as Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China, including temples, mosques, tombs, kilns, bridges and docks that together tell the story of this cosmopolitan city.
Read the complete Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu. Next is Kulangsu.
Kulangsu, or Gulangyu, is a small island across a narrow strait from the city of Xiamen, and the first thing to know is that you will have to leave your motorcycle behind: no motor vehicles are allowed on the island apart from a few electric service carts. You get there by ferry, and that is part of the charm. Once on the island, the noise of the city disappears, replaced by the sound of footsteps on narrow lanes, birdsong and, quite often, piano music drifting from an open window. Kulangsu is known as the island of pianos, with a long tradition of music and a piano museum.
Read the complete Kulangsu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kulangsu, about halfway. Next is back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu sits at 176 km, about halfway. Next is back through Shihu Dock.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shihu Dock write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Shihu Dock comes up about 228 km into the recorded legs. Next is Statue of Lao Tze.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Statue of Lao Tze write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Statue of Lao Tze closes the day.
Statue of Lao Tze → Shihu Dock is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shihu Dock → Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu → Kulangsu is 58 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Kulangsu → back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu is 64 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu → back through Shihu Dock is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shihu Dock → Statue of Lao Tze is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.