Why this ride
From Bayramaly it runs 780 km to Bayramaly; allow about 13 h 28 of riding. The stops in between: Takhirbaj Tepe, Akja Gala Caravanserai and back through Takhirbaj Tepe. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Timurid iwans or Askhab and Akja Gala Caravanserai
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 780 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 13 h 28
- 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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Timurid iwans or Askhab
Just outside the town of Bayramaly in Turkmenistan's Mary region lies the biggest archaeological landscape in Central Asia, the oasis of Merv. People have farmed here since the Bronze Age, thanks to the Murghab river, which fans out into the Karakum desert and makes a green island in a sea of sand. Over the centuries, Merv became a great Silk Road city, called Mary or Marw, and at its height in the twelfth century under the Seljuk sultans it was one of the largest cities in the world. Then, in 1221, the Mongols came, and the chroniclers wrote of enormous slaughter. The city never recovered its former glory.
Read the complete Timurid iwans or Askhab write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Timurid iwans or Askhab is where the day begins. Next is Takhirbaj Tepe.
2. Takhirbaj Tepe
The Murghab river flows out of the mountains of Afghanistan and dies in the sands of the Karakum desert, and where it fans out into a delta lies the oasis of Merv, in what is now southern Turkmenistan. For thousands of years people have farmed here, building cities one beside another as rivers shifted and empires came and went. Takhirbaj Tepe is one of the oldest of these settlements, a mound in the northern part of the oasis dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages, long before the great medieval city that made Merv famous. It forms part of the State Historical and Cultural Park Ancient Merv, listed by UNESCO in 1999, alongside sites such as Yaz Tepe and Gobekli Tepe nearby.
Read the complete Takhirbaj Tepe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Takhirbaj Tepe comes up about 195 km into the recorded legs. Next is Akja Gala Caravanserai.
3. Akja Gala Caravanserai
The Silk Road across the Karakum was never a single road. It was a series of wells, forts and caravanserais, a day's travel apart, where camels could drink and merchants could sleep behind walls. Akja Gala is one of these shelters, a square brick building with a central courtyard and rooms around it, set in sand and saxaul scrub between Merv and the Amu Darya, the river called the Oxus by the Greeks.
Read the complete Akja Gala Caravanserai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 390 km into the recorded legs you reach Akja Gala Caravanserai. Next is back through Takhirbaj Tepe.
4. back through Takhirbaj Tepe
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Takhirbaj Tepe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Takhirbaj Tepe, late in the day. Next is Timurid iwans or Askhab.
5. Timurid iwans or Askhab
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Timurid iwans or Askhab write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Timurid iwans or Askhab. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Timurid iwans or Askhab to Takhirbaj Tepe
Timurid iwans or Askhab → Takhirbaj Tepe is 195 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Takhirbaj Tepe to Akja Gala Caravanserai
Takhirbaj Tepe → Akja Gala Caravanserai is 195 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Akja Gala Caravanserai to back through Takhirbaj Tepe
Akja Gala Caravanserai → back through Takhirbaj Tepe is 195 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Takhirbaj Tepe to Timurid iwans or Askhab
back through Takhirbaj Tepe → Timurid iwans or Askhab is 195 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.