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 Luoyang it runs 262 km to Luoyang; allow about 3 h 47 of riding. It goes by way of Longmen Grottoes, Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple, Observatory and back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple. The line favours views over speed.
Luoyang is one of China's ancient capitals, a city with over a thousand years of imperial history pressed into its soil, and the Grand Canal is part of the reason why. In the early seventh century the Sui emperor Yang ordered a system of canals dug to link the Yellow River plain with the rice country of the south, and Luoyang became its great hub. Grain from the Yangtze delta was shipped here and stored in enormous underground granaries; one of them, the Hanjia granary inside the city, is part of the UNESCO listing of the Grand Canal and you can see the excavated grain pits today.
Read the complete The Grand Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Grand Canal is where the day begins. Next is Longmen Grottoes.
South of Luoyang, the river Yi cuts through a narrow gap between two limestone hills, and for about a kilometre the cliffs on both sides are honeycombed with caves, niches and carvings. Over around four centuries, starting in the late fifth century under the Northern Wei dynasty and continuing through the Tang, Buddhist sculptors carved tens of thousands of statues into the rock, from tiny figures a few centimetres high to colossal Buddhas. The Longmen Grottoes were listed by UNESCO in 2000 and are among the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art.
Read the complete Longmen Grottoes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Longmen Grottoes comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple.
Ask most people where kung fu comes from and they will name this temple, even if they have no idea where it is. The Shaolin Temple stands at the foot of Mount Song in Henan province, central China, near the city of Dengfeng. It was founded at the end of the fifth century for an Indian monk, and tradition says that Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Chan, or Zen, Buddhism, meditated in a cave on the mountain above for nine years. The monks' martial arts became famous over the centuries, and today Shaolin is as much a brand as a monastery.
Read the complete Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 104 km into the recorded legs you reach Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple. Next is Observatory.
The oldest surviving observatory in China sits in an unassuming spot in Dengfeng, in Henan, and it makes astronomy look more like architecture. The Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory was built in 1276 under the Yuan dynasty by the astronomer Guo Shoujing, who designed a stout stone tower about 9 metres high with a long stone scale running north from its base. The tower was a giant gnomon: the sun cast a shadow along the scale, and by measuring its length at noon through the year, the astronomers could fix the solstices and the length of the year with remarkable accuracy. The calendar that Guo helped create was in use for several centuries.
Read the complete Observatory write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Observatory, about halfway. Next is back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple sits at 163 km, about halfway. Next is back through Longmen Grottoes.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Longmen Grottoes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Longmen Grottoes comes up about 230 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Grand Canal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Grand Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Grand Canal closes the day.
The Grand Canal → Longmen Grottoes is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Longmen Grottoes → Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple → Observatory is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Observatory → back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple → back through Longmen Grottoes is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Longmen Grottoes → The Grand Canal is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.