Why this ride
96 km from Songling to Songling, about 1 h 33 of riding. It goes by way of The Master-of-Nets Garden, Classical Gardens of Suzhou and back through The Master-of-Nets Garden.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Retreat & Reflection Garden and Classical Gardens of Suzhou
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 96 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 33
- 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 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Retreat & Reflection Garden is where the day begins. Next is The Master-of-Nets Garden.
2. The Master-of-Nets Garden
Suzhou has been famous for gardens for about a thousand years, and the Master-of-Nets Garden is often called the best of them, though it is among the smallest. It was first laid out in the twelfth century by a retired official and rebuilt in the eighteenth, and the name means fisherman, a modest title for a retiree who wanted to live like one. Everything is arranged to make a small plot of land feel limitless. A pond sits at the centre, with halls, pavilions and covered walkways around it, rocks piled like mountains, a zigzag bridge, and views that are framed by windows cut into walls in the shape of fans, moons and vases. One of its courtyards was copied in New York's Metropolitan Museum as the Astor Court.
Read the complete The Master-of-Nets Garden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Master-of-Nets Garden comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Classical Gardens of Suzhou.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 50 km into the recorded legs you reach Classical Gardens of Suzhou. Next is back through The Master-of-Nets Garden.
4. back through The Master-of-Nets Garden
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Master-of-Nets Garden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Master-of-Nets Garden, late in the day. Next is The Retreat & Reflection Garden.
5. The Retreat & Reflection Garden
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Retreat & Reflection Garden write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at The Retreat & Reflection Garden. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
The Retreat & Reflection Garden to The Master-of-Nets Garden
The Retreat & Reflection Garden → The Master-of-Nets Garden is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Master-of-Nets Garden to Classical Gardens of Suzhou
The Master-of-Nets Garden → Classical Gardens of Suzhou is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Classical Gardens of Suzhou to back through The Master-of-Nets Garden
Classical Gardens of Suzhou → back through The Master-of-Nets Garden is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Master-of-Nets Garden to The Retreat & Reflection Garden
back through The Master-of-Nets Garden → The Retreat & Reflection Garden is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.