Why this ride
203 km from Yanqing to Yanqing, about 3 h 07 of riding. It goes by way of Ming Tombs, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial and back through Summer Palace. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Great Wall and Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 203 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 07
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Ming Tombs → Summer Palace
This part of the ride is 39 km of Ming Tombs → Summer Palace.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 39 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Great Wall
The Great Wall is not one wall but many, built and rebuilt over two thousand years by different dynasties, and the section north-west of Beijing is the one most people picture. The stone and brick wall you see here was largely built by the Ming dynasty from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when a strong frontier was needed against the peoples of the steppe. Watchtowers stand on the crest every few hundred metres, and the wall climbs and falls along the ridges of the Yanshan mountains, with signal towers on the high points that once passed warnings by fire and smoke.
Read the complete The Great Wall write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Great Wall is where the day begins. Next is Ming Tombs.
2. Ming Tombs
North of Beijing, where the plain meets the first ridges of the Jundu mountains, thirteen emperors of the Ming dynasty lie buried in a broad valley chosen for its perfect feng shui: mountains behind, a gentle slope, water in front. The first to be buried here was the Yongle emperor, the ruler who moved the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City in the early fifteenth century; his tomb, Changling, is the largest and best preserved, with a magnificent hall supported by enormous columns of nanmu wood. UNESCO lists them with the other imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Read the complete Ming Tombs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ming Tombs comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Summer Palace.
3. Summer Palace
The Summer Palace is the Qing court's idea of escaping the city, and even with the modern capital spread out around it, the idea still works. The core is Kunming Lake, a large artificial basin, with Longevity Hill rising from its northern shore and covered in halls, pavilions and the tall Tower of Buddhist Incense. The Qianlong Emperor shaped the garden in the mid eighteenth century, reportedly to celebrate his mother's birthday, and modelled parts of it on the scenery around West Lake in Hangzhou. British and French troops burned it during the Second Opium War in 1860, and the Empress Dowager Cixi rebuilt it later in the century, which is where the famous story comes from that she paid for it with money meant for the navy. The marble boat moored at the lakeshore, which cannot sail, has become the punchline of that tale.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Summer Palace. Next is Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial.
4. Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial
The Temple of Heaven was where the emperor of China, as Son of Heaven, performed the annual ceremonies of prayer for a good harvest. It was built in the early fifteenth century under the Yongle emperor, the same ruler who raised the Forbidden City, and its layout expresses a view of the cosmos: the altar is round, for heaven, set within a square park, for earth. The great Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with its triple blue-tiled roof and wooden pillars, rests on a marble terrace and was built without nails.
Read the complete Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial, about halfway. Next is back through Summer Palace.
5. back through Summer Palace
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Summer Palace sits at 134 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ming Tombs.
6. back through Ming Tombs
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ming Tombs write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ming Tombs comes up about 171 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Great Wall.
7. The Great Wall
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Great Wall write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Great Wall closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Great Wall to Ming Tombs
The Great Wall → Ming Tombs is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ming Tombs to Summer Palace
Ming Tombs → Summer Palace is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Summer Palace to Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial
Summer Palace → Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial to back through Summer Palace
Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial → back through Summer Palace is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Summer Palace to back through Ming Tombs
back through Summer Palace → back through Ming Tombs is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ming Tombs to The Great Wall
back through Ming Tombs → The Great Wall is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.