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.
A 140 km round trip from Suzhou - roughly 1 h 51 in the saddle. The stops in between: Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal, Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal and back through Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal. The line favours views over speed.
Suzhou is a city of canals and gardens, and the Garden of Cultivation is one of the smaller and quieter examples of an art that the Chinese took to extraordinary lengths. A scholar's garden here was not simply a plot of flowers. It was a miniature world, a landscape of rocks, water, trees, pavilions and walls, arranged to suggest mountains and rivers and to make a visitor feel they had stepped out of the city. UNESCO listed the classical gardens of Suzhou in 1997, adding more in 2000.
Read the complete The Garden of Cultivation write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Garden of Cultivation is where the day begins. Next is Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal.
The Grand Canal is the longest artificial waterway in the world, running from Beijing to Hangzhou, and the Jiangnan section through Suzhou is one of its most storied stretches. Here, the canal winds through a landscape of water towns, rice fields and lakes, past ancient bridges, temples and gardens. It is part of the World Heritage site that recognises the canal as one of the greatest engineering achievements of the pre-industrial world.
Read the complete Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal.
Nanxun is one of the water towns of the Yangtze delta, south of Lake Tai, where life has revolved around canals for more than a thousand years. In the nineteenth century, it became immensely rich through the silk trade, and its merchant families, known by nicknames like the four elephants and the eight bulls, built mansions that mixed Chinese courtyards with European columns, stained glass and Western-style furniture, an unusual blend you will not find in many other water towns. The canal running through the town is part of the Grand Canal, the immense waterway linking Beijing with Hangzhou, which UNESCO listed in 2014.
Read the complete Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal. Next is back through Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal, late in the day. Next is The Garden of Cultivation.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Garden of Cultivation write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at The Garden of Cultivation. That is the ride.
The Garden of Cultivation → Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal → Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal → back through Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal → The Garden of Cultivation is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.