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.
The stops in between: Kum Settlement, Suleimantepa and back through Kum Settlement. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The Zeravshan valley in northwestern Tajikistan is one of the old arteries of Central Asia, a fertile ribbon of green squeezed between the Turkestan and Zeravshan ranges, and in the hills above it lie the ruins of fortresses that once guarded the eastern approaches to Sogdiana. Tali Khamtuda is one of these, and nearby stands the castle on Mount Mugh, where one of the most dramatic stories of the region took place. In 722 Devashtich, the ruler of Panjakent, fled here with his people from the advancing Arab armies, and after a siege he surrendered and was executed. In 1933 a shepherd found a basket of documents in the ruins, written on leather, paper and wood in the Sogdian language, which turned out to be Devashtich's archive and one of the most important sources for understanding Sogdian society.
Read the complete Tali Khamtuda Fortress write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tali Khamtuda Fortress is where the day begins. Next is Kum Settlement.
The Zeravshan is the river that waters Samarkand and Bukhara far downstream, and up here in its upper valley it is a cold, hurrying thing between steep walls of the Zeravshan and Hissar ranges. The Kum area lies on the way between Ayní and the Fan Mountains, in Tajikistan's Sughd region, and it belongs to the Sogdian world, the merchant culture that carried silk, glass, paper and ideas along the old routes between China and Persia. Settlement mounds and fortress sites dot the valley, some of them partly worn away by farming and floods, and the area holds a few of the most famous finds of Sogdian history, among them the archives of letters and contracts found in the twentieth century on a nearby mountain.
Read the complete Kum Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kum Settlement comes up about 67 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 199 km into the recorded legs you reach Suleimantepa. Next is back through Kum Settlement.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kum Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kum Settlement, late in the day. Next is Tali Khamtuda Fortress.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tali Khamtuda Fortress write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Tali Khamtuda Fortress. That is the ride.
Tali Khamtuda Fortress → Kum Settlement is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kum Settlement → Suleimantepa is 132 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Suleimantepa → back through Kum Settlement is 133 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Kum Settlement → Tali Khamtuda Fortress is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.