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 104 km round trip from Suzhou - roughly 1 h 32 in the saddle. On the way it passes Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal, Classical Gardens of Suzhou and back through Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Wang Xianchen was a retired imperial official who, around 1509, in the Ming dynasty, bought a piece of marshy land in Suzhou and made a garden. He named it after a line in an ancient essay about how a humble man can learn to govern his own small plot, and the name has a modest, ironic ring: the Humble Administrator's Garden is the largest in Suzhou, covering about five hectares, and is regarded as one of the finest in China. It belongs to the group of classical Suzhou gardens that UNESCO inscribed in 1997.
Read the complete The Humble Administrator's Garden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Humble Administrator's Garden 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 Classical Gardens of Suzhou.
A classical Chinese garden is a whole landscape squeezed into a courtyard: rocks stand in for mountains, ponds for lakes, and a winding covered walkway reveals one framed view after another, each window cut in a different shape. Suzhou, a canal city west of Shanghai, perfected the art over centuries, as scholars, officials and merchants built private retreats behind high white walls. Nine of its gardens are listed by UNESCO as the Classical Gardens of Suzhou, among them the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Lingering Garden and the tiny, exquisite Master-of-Nets Garden, and the Retreat and Reflection Garden in the water town of Tongli.
Read the complete Classical Gardens of Suzhou write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Classical Gardens of Suzhou. 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 Humble Administrator's Garden.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Humble Administrator's Garden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at The Humble Administrator's Garden. That is the ride.
The Humble Administrator's Garden → 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 → Classical Gardens of Suzhou is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Classical Gardens of Suzhou → back through Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suzhou Section of Jiangnan Canal → The Humble Administrator's Garden is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.