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.
224 km from Samarkand to Samarkand, about 4 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Jartepa II Temple, Suleimantepa, Proto-urban Site of Sarazm and Town of Ancient Penjikent. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Samarkand is not just the Registan. On the rolling land just outside the city, there are quieter places where the Timurid age and earlier centuries left shrines that few visitors reach. The ensembles of Abdi Darun and Ishrat-khona are two of them. Abdi Darun is a pilgrimage complex linked to a revered holy man, with mosques, a gateway and a graveyard on a hillside above a stream, and for centuries local people have walked up here to pray and to picnic under the trees. Ishrat-khona, which means the House of Joy, is a ruined mausoleum from the fifteenth century, built for the women of the Timurid court, with a once splendid brick facade of turquoise tiles and carved terracotta.
Read the complete The Ensembles of Abdi-Darun and Ishrat-kho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Ensembles of Abdi-Darun and Ishrat-kho is where the day begins. Next is Jartepa II Temple.
The Zarafshan valley is the green artery of central Uzbekistan, carrying meltwater from the mountains of Tajikistan west past Samarkand and Bukhara into the desert. South of Samarkand, the land rises into the foothills of the Zarafshan range, and it is here, near Urgut and close to the Tajik border, that the Jartepa site lies, with remains of a temple from the Sogdian era.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jartepa II Temple comes up about 34 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 58 km into the recorded legs you reach Suleimantepa. Next is Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Five thousand years ago, in the fertile Zeravshan valley of what is now north-western Tajikistan, people built a settlement of mud-brick houses, temples and workshops that became one of the earliest towns in Central Asia. Sarazm, near Panjakent and right next to the Uzbek border, was a centre of metal working, trading copper, tin and turquoise with places as far away as Iran, Afghanistan and India. Inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2010, the site has revealed burials with jewellery, including the richly adorned grave of a woman known as the Princess of Sarazm.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm, about halfway. Next is Town of Ancient Penjikent.
On a dusty loess terrace just outside modern Panjakent, a few low mud ridges and pits are all that remain of one of the richest cities on the Silk Road. Fourteen centuries ago this was a Sogdian town of merchants, with two-storey houses, temples and walls covered in paintings of feasts, heroes and gods. The best frescoes went to the Hermitage in St Petersburg and to the Rudaki museum in town, so bring some imagination with you, but standing among the excavated streets with the Zeravshan glittering below, the scale of the place still lands.
Read the complete Town of Ancient Penjikent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Ancient Penjikent sits at 120 km, about halfway. Next is back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm comes up about 130 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Suleimantepa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 165 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Suleimantepa. Next is back through Jartepa II Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jartepa II Temple, late in the day. Next is The Ensembles of Abdi-Darun and Ishrat-kho.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Ensembles of Abdi-Darun and Ishrat-kho write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 224 km.
The Ensembles of Abdi-Darun and Ishrat-kho → Jartepa II Temple is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jartepa II Temple → Suleimantepa is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suleimantepa → Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → Town of Ancient Penjikent is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Ancient Penjikent → back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → back through Suleimantepa is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suleimantepa → back through Jartepa II Temple is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jartepa II Temple → The Ensembles of Abdi-Darun and Ishrat-kho is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.