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 Samarkand it runs 227 km to Samarkand; allow about 4 h 00 of riding. It goes by way of Jartepa II Temple, Suleimantepa, Town of Ancient Penjikent and back through Suleimantepa. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Uzbekistan into Tajikistan - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Ulugh Beg was a strange kind of ruler. He was Timur's grandson, governor of Samarkand and then the whole realm, but his heart lay with the stars, and around 1420 he built an observatory on a hill north-east of the city that was among the finest in the world. The principal instrument was a gigantic meridian arc, a curved track set into a trench, with a radius of some forty metres, which let his astronomers measure the positions of stars with remarkable accuracy. The star catalogue they compiled, the Zij-i-Sultani, stayed a standard reference for over two centuries, and it corrected many errors in Ptolemy's.
Read the complete Ulugh Bek's Observatory write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ulugh Bek's Observatory is where the day begins. Next is Jartepa II Temple.
The Zarafshan valley is the green artery of central Uzbekistan, carrying meltwater from the mountains of Tajikistan west past Samarkand and Bukhara into the desert. South of Samarkand, the land rises into the foothills of the Zarafshan range, and it is here, near Urgut and close to the Tajik border, that the Jartepa site lies, with remains of a temple from the Sogdian era.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Jartepa II Temple comes up about 37 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 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Suleimantepa. Next is Town of Ancient Penjikent.
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, 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 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jartepa II Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jartepa II Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Jartepa II Temple comes up about 190 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ulugh Bek's Observatory.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ulugh Bek's Observatory write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ulugh Bek's Observatory closes the day.
Ulugh Bek's Observatory → Jartepa II Temple is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jartepa II Temple → Suleimantepa is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Suleimantepa → Town of Ancient Penjikent is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town of Ancient Penjikent → back through Suleimantepa is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Suleimantepa → back through Jartepa II Temple is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jartepa II Temple → Ulugh Bek's Observatory is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.