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.
A 106 km round trip from Panjakent - roughly 1 h 48 in the saddle. The stops in between: Proto-urban Site of Sarazm, Suleimantepa and back through Proto-urban Site of Sarazm. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
On a dusty loess terrace just outside modern Panjakent, a few low mud ridges and pits are all that remain of one of the richest cities on the Silk Road. Fourteen centuries ago this was a Sogdian town of merchants, with two-storey houses, temples and walls covered in paintings of feasts, heroes and gods. The best frescoes went to the Hermitage in St Petersburg and to the Rudaki museum in town, so bring some imagination with you, but standing among the excavated streets with the Zeravshan glittering below, the scale of the place still lands.
Read the complete Town of Ancient Penjikent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Town of Ancient Penjikent 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 17 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 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Suleimantepa. 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, late in the day. Next is Town of Ancient Penjikent.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Town of Ancient Penjikent write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Town of Ancient Penjikent. That is the ride.
Town of Ancient Penjikent → Proto-urban Site of Sarazm is 17 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 → 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 → Town of Ancient Penjikent is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.