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.
From Panjakent it runs 204 km to Panjakent; allow about 3 h 21 of riding. The stops in between: Proto-urban Site of Sarazm, Suleimantepa, Kafirkala Settlement and back through Suleimantepa. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Water is the oldest story in Central Asia, and the Zeravshan valley has told it for thousands of years. The river, whose name means gold-bearing, runs down from the glaciers of the Pamir-Alay in Tajikistan and into the desert of Uzbekistan, and every village along it lives by canals and underground channels. The word koriz, or kariz, is the local name for a qanat, a gently sloping tunnel that carries groundwater from the foothills to the fields, and the name Toksankoriz, as I read it, points to a system of many such channels.
Read the complete Toksankoriz Irrigation System write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Toksankoriz Irrigation System is where the day begins. Next is Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Five thousand years ago, in the fertile Zeravshan valley of what is now north-western Tajikistan, people built a settlement of mud-brick houses, temples and workshops that became one of the earliest towns in Central Asia. Sarazm, near Panjakent and right next to the Uzbek border, was a centre of metal working, trading copper, tin and turquoise with places as far away as Iran, Afghanistan and India. Inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2010, the site has revealed burials with jewellery, including the richly adorned grave of a woman known as the Princess of Sarazm.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Suleimantepa.
Urgut is only a few kilometres from here, and if you ride into town on a market day you will understand quickly why the Silk Road needed places like this. The bazaar in Urgut is one of the biggest in Uzbekistan, sprawling, loud and full of everything from suzani embroidery and old coins to cattle and car parts. Suleimantepa, a low mound just outside, is one of the archaeological sites recognised as part of the Zarafshan valley corridor of the Silk Roads, the chain of settlements, forts and caravan stops along the river that fed Samarkand and Bukhara.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Suleimantepa. Next is Kafirkala Settlement.
A few kilometres south of Samarkand, on a mound beside an old irrigation canal, lie the ruins of Kafirkala, a fortified settlement that was an important centre of the Sogdian civilisation before the Arab conquest in the eighth century. The name means fortress of the infidels, given later by Muslim inhabitants. Excavations have revealed a citadel with walls, a palace and remains that tell of the last days of the Sogdian rulers before the city was burned.
Read the complete Kafirkala Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kafirkala Settlement, about halfway. Next is back through Suleimantepa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Suleimantepa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Suleimantepa sits at 136 km, about halfway. Next is back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Proto-urban Site of Sarazm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm comes up about 177 km into the recorded legs. Next is Toksankoriz Irrigation System.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Toksankoriz Irrigation System write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Toksankoriz Irrigation System closes the day.
Toksankoriz Irrigation System → Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → Suleimantepa is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suleimantepa → Kafirkala Settlement is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kafirkala Settlement → back through Suleimantepa is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suleimantepa → back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm → Toksankoriz Irrigation System is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.