Why this ride
From Kinh Môn it runs 124 km to Kinh Môn; allow about 2 h 48 of riding. The stops in between: Thanh Mai Pagoda, Vinh Nghiem Pagoda and back through Thanh Mai Pagoda. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Thái Miếu and Vinh Nghiem Pagoda
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 124 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 48
- 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. Thái Miếu
This is Trần dynasty country. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Trần kings ruled Đại Việt from here and from the delta, and they are best remembered for turning back the Mongol armies three times, in 1258, 1285 and 1288, under the general Trần Hưng Đạo. The Thái Miếu, an ancestral temple associated with the dynasty, belongs to this landscape of royal tombs and shrines in the hills near Đông Triều, in Quảng Ninh province, at the northern edge of the Red River delta.
Read the complete Thai Mieu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Thái Miếu is where the day begins. Next is Thanh Mai Pagoda.
2. Thanh Mai Pagoda
In the late thirteenth century, a Vietnamese king who had twice helped drive back Mongol invasions gave up his throne, put on a monk's robe and founded a Zen school of his own. Trần Nhân Tông's Trúc Lâm school, the Bamboo Grove sect, became the most distinctly Vietnamese form of Buddhism, and the temples connected with it are scattered across the hills of the north-east, from Yên Tử mountain to Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc. Thanh Mai pagoda, on a forested slope in the Chí Linh area, is one of these places, associated with the early patriarchs of the school, and it belongs to the Yên Tử, Vĩnh Nghiêm, Côn Sơn and Kiếp Bạc complex that UNESCO listed in 2025.
Read the complete Thanh Mai Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Thanh Mai Pagoda comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vinh Nghiem Pagoda.
3. Vinh Nghiem Pagoda
In the countryside of Bắc Giang province, in northern Vietnam, about fifty kilometres north-east of Hanoi, the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda stands by the Thương river, surrounded by rice fields and villages. It is one of the oldest and most important Buddhist centres in Vietnam, associated with the Trúc Lâm school of Zen Buddhism, founded in the thirteenth century by King Trần Nhân Tông, who abdicated to become a monk.
Read the complete Vinh Nghiem Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 62 km into the recorded legs you reach Vinh Nghiem Pagoda. Next is back through Thanh Mai Pagoda.
4. back through Thanh Mai Pagoda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Thanh Mai Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Thanh Mai Pagoda, late in the day. Next is Thai Mieu.
5. Thái Miếu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Thai Mieu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Thai Mieu. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Thái Miếu to Thanh Mai Pagoda
Thái Miếu → Thanh Mai Pagoda is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thanh Mai Pagoda to Vinh Nghiem Pagoda
Thanh Mai Pagoda → Vinh Nghiem Pagoda is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vinh Nghiem Pagoda to back through Thanh Mai Pagoda
Vinh Nghiem Pagoda → back through Thanh Mai Pagoda is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Thanh Mai Pagoda to Thai Mieu
back through Thanh Mai Pagoda → Thai Mieu is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.