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 Đồi Ngô it runs 229 km to Đồi Ngô; allow about 5 h 02 of riding. The stops in between: King Chu Cavern, Chua Lan Pagoda, Yen Giang Stake-yard and back through Chua Lan Pagoda. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Thanh Mai Pagoda is where the day begins. Next is King Chu Cavern.
In the delta country east of Hanoi the land is mostly flat, a patchwork of rice paddies and ponds, so when limestone hills rise abruptly out of it they feel like a different world. Kinh Môn, in Hải Dương province, is one of those places, a small range of karst hills pitted with caves, and the Kinh Chủ cave, which I have placed under the name on the map, is one of them. Caves in northern Vietnam are often turned into shrines, with Buddha statues and incense in the dim light, and visitors come both for the religion and for the cool air inside.
Read the complete King Chu Cavern write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
King Chu Cavern comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chua Lan Pagoda.
The lowlands where the Bach Dang river meets the sea in northern Vietnam are a place of legends and battles, and the pagodas scattered across this landscape carry centuries of history. Chua Lan Pagoda stands in Quang Ninh province on the low ground south of Uong Bi, between the Yen Tu hills and the port of Haiphong, surrounded by rice fields, fishponds and villages. Like many rural pagodas in northern Vietnam, it is a place of worship, community and memory, with incense-filled halls, statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and old trees in the courtyard. The region is associated with the Truc Lam school of Zen Buddhism, founded by the Tran dynasty king Tran Nhan Tong in the thirteenth century at nearby Yen Tu mountain.
Read the complete Chua Lan Pagoda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 84 km into the recorded legs you reach Chua Lan Pagoda. Next is Yen Giang Stake-yard.
Twice in Vietnamese history, the tide at the mouth of the Bạch Đằng river decided the fate of the country. In 938, Ngô Quyền defeated a Southern Han fleet by planting iron-tipped stakes in the riverbed, hidden at high tide, then luring the enemy ships upstream and waiting for the water to fall. In 1288, during the third Mongol invasion of Đại Việt, the general Trần Hưng Đạo used the same trick against the fleet of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty, trapping and destroying it. In the fields around Quảng Yên, archaeologists have found rows of those ancient wooden stakes, still standing in the mud, and the Yên Giang stake yard is one of the sites where you can see them preserved.
Read the complete Yen Giang Stake-yard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Yen Giang Stake-yard, about halfway. Next is back through Chua Lan Pagoda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chua Lan Pagoda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chua Lan Pagoda sits at 119 km, about halfway. Next is back through King Chu Cavern.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete King Chu Cavern write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through King Chu Cavern comes up about 186 km into the recorded legs. Next is Thanh Mai Pagoda.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Thanh Mai Pagoda write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Thanh Mai Pagoda closes the day.
Thanh Mai Pagoda → King Chu Cavern is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
King Chu Cavern → Chua Lan Pagoda is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chua Lan Pagoda → Yen Giang Stake-yard is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Yen Giang Stake-yard → back through Chua Lan Pagoda is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chua Lan Pagoda → back through King Chu Cavern is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through King Chu Cavern → Thanh Mai Pagoda is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.