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 Jondor Shaharchasi it runs 268 km to Jondor Shaharchasi; allow about 4 h 31 of riding. The stops in between: Chor Bakh Necropolis, Vobkent Minaret, Deggaron Mosque and back through Vobkent Minaret. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 38 km this is Uzbekistan Silk Road Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Thirty kilometres or so west of Bukhara, beyond the last irrigated fields, the land turns to sand and salt crust at the edge of the Kyzylkum desert, and here a low mound of eroded mud brick rises from the flat ground. This is Varakhsha, once a flourishing town and the residence of the Bukhar Khudats, the pre-Islamic rulers of the Bukhara oasis. It thrived in the early medieval centuries, when the oasis extended further than it does today, and was abandoned around the eleventh century, probably as irrigation failed and the desert advanced.
Read the complete Varakhsha Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Varakhsha Settlement is where the day begins. Next is Chor Bakh Necropolis.
A short ride west of Bukhara, in the village of Sumitan, a complex of courtyards, mosques and family tombs sits behind high walls, with blue-tiled portals rising above the surrounding houses. This is Chor Bakr, a necropolis built around the grave of Abu Bakr Said, a descendant of the Prophet who died in the tenth century. In the sixteenth century, the Shaybanid rulers of Bukhara built a memorial complex here, with a khanaqah, a mosque and a madrasa, and the cemetery became a resting place for the powerful Juybari sheikhs, a dynasty of religious leaders with great influence over the khanate. The name means "four brothers", referring to the four Abu Bakrs said to be buried here.
Read the complete Chor Bakh Necropolis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chor Bakh Necropolis comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vobkent Minaret.
Vobkent's minaret is a tall brick finger rising out of a small Uzbek town on the edge of the Bukhara oasis. It was built in the late twelfth century, in the same tradition as the more famous Kalyan minaret in Bukhara, which it predates in style by a few years and rivals in elegance. Standing nearly forty metres high, it is made entirely of fired brick laid in bands of geometric patterns, with a tapering shaft and a lantern top. Up close, the craftsmanship is startling: no two courses seem quite the same.
Read the complete Vobkent Minaret write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Vobkent Minaret. Next is Deggaron Mosque.
In the village of Hazara, in the Zarafshan valley between Bukhara and Samarkand, stands one of the oldest mosques in Central Asia. The Deggaron mosque dates from the eleventh century, and from the outside it looks almost humble: a square, squat brick building with a cluster of low domes. Inside, it is a revelation, with massive brick columns supporting a forest of small domes and arches, the brickwork laid in patterns that play with light and shadow. It is a rare survivor of the pre-Mongol architecture of the region, and it forms part of the Silk Roads listing for the Zarafshan-Karakum corridor, inscribed by UNESCO in 2023.
Read the complete Deggaron Mosque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Deggaron Mosque, about halfway. Next is back through Vobkent Minaret.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vobkent Minaret write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Vobkent Minaret sits at 181 km, about halfway. Next is back through Chor Bakh Necropolis.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chor Bakh Necropolis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chor Bakh Necropolis comes up about 230 km into the recorded legs. Next is Varakhsha Settlement.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Varakhsha Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Varakhsha Settlement closes the day.
Varakhsha Settlement → Chor Bakh Necropolis is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chor Bakh Necropolis → Vobkent Minaret is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vobkent Minaret → Deggaron Mosque is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Deggaron Mosque → back through Vobkent Minaret is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vobkent Minaret → back through Chor Bakh Necropolis is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chor Bakh Necropolis → Varakhsha Settlement is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.