Why this ride
From Quanzhou it runs 496 km to Quanzhou; allow about 6 h 27 of riding. The stops in between: Sites of Dehua Kilns, Fujian Tulou and back through Sites of Dehua Kilns. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Old City and Fujian Tulou
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 496 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 27
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Old City
Quanzhou was one of the greatest ports in the world, though few outsiders have heard of it. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries, ships from Arabia, India, Persia and Southeast Asia loaded silk, porcelain and tea here, and Marco Polo, who called it Zaiton, claimed that for every ship of pepper that reached Alexandria, a hundred reached this harbour. The word satin may even come from Zaiton. In 2021, UNESCO listed the remains of this maritime city as Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China.
Read the complete The Old City write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Old City is where the day begins. Next is Sites of Dehua Kilns.
2. Sites of Dehua Kilns
Dehua, a county in the mountains of Fujian province, in south-eastern China, has been making porcelain for over a thousand years. Its white porcelain, known in the West as blanc de Chine, is famous for its pure, creamy white colour and its fine figures, especially statues of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, and other Buddhist and Taoist figures. The ancient kiln sites of Dehua, including long dragon kilns built on hillsides, are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China, inscribed in 2021.
Read the complete Sites of Dehua Kilns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sites of Dehua Kilns comes up about 105 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujian Tulou.
3. Fujian Tulou
Picture a giant ring of rammed earth, three or four storeys high, with almost no windows on the outside and a single heavy gate. Inside, galleries of wooden rooms face a courtyard with an ancestral hall at its heart, and up to several hundred members of one extended family once lived within those walls. That is a tulou, and the hills of south-western Fujian are dotted with them, round and square, some centuries old, many still inhabited.
Read the complete Fujian Tulou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 253 km into the recorded legs you reach Fujian Tulou. Next is back through Sites of Dehua Kilns.
4. back through Sites of Dehua Kilns
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sites of Dehua Kilns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns, late in the day. Next is The Old City.
5. The Old City
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Old City write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at The Old City. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
The Old City to Sites of Dehua Kilns
The Old City → Sites of Dehua Kilns is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sites of Dehua Kilns to Fujian Tulou
Sites of Dehua Kilns → Fujian Tulou is 148 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fujian Tulou to back through Sites of Dehua Kilns
Fujian Tulou → back through Sites of Dehua Kilns is 144 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns to The Old City
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns → The Old City is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.