CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Suzhou it runs 374 km to Suzhou; allow about 5 h 19 of riding. The stops in between: Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal, Classical Gardens of Suzhou, The Retreat & Reflection Garden and Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
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 Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal.
The Grand Canal is the longest artificial waterway in the world, stretching from Beijing to Hangzhou, and some of its sections have been in use for more than two thousand years. In the Jiangnan region, south of the Yangtze, it flows through a landscape of rice paddies, lakes and old towns, and in Wuxi it runs right through the city. The canal was listed by UNESCO in 2014, and the Wuxi section includes historic streets, bridges and warehouses along its banks.
Read the complete Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal comes up 48 km in. 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.
97 km in you reach Classical Gardens of Suzhou. Next is The Retreat & Reflection Garden.
The name says almost everything. Tuisi Garden, the Garden of Retreat and Reflection, was built in the 1880s in the water town of Tongli by an official named Ren Lansheng after he was dismissed from his post, and he called it after the old idea that a man out of office should withdraw and think about his faults. What he actually created was one of the most graceful small gardens in the region: pavilions and halls arranged around a pond as if they were floating on it, with rockeries, covered walkways and windows that frame views like paintings.
Read the complete The Retreat & Reflection Garden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Retreat & Reflection Garden, about halfway. 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.
Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal sits at 194 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Retreat & Reflection Garden.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Retreat & Reflection Garden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Retreat & Reflection Garden comes up 242 km in. Next is back through Classical Gardens of Suzhou.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Classical Gardens of Suzhou write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
290 km in you reach back through Classical Gardens of Suzhou. Next is back through Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Wuxi City 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.
The route ends here after 374 km.
The Humble Administrator's Garden → Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal → Classical Gardens of Suzhou is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Classical Gardens of Suzhou → The Retreat & Reflection Garden is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Retreat & Reflection Garden → Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nanxun Section of Jiangnan Canal → back through The Retreat & Reflection Garden is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Retreat & Reflection Garden → back through Classical Gardens of Suzhou is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Classical Gardens of Suzhou → back through Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wuxi City Section of Jiangnan Canal → The Humble Administrator's Garden is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.