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 Shofirkon Shahri it runs 271 km to Shofirkon Shahri; allow about 5 h 19 of riding. The stops in between: Deggaron Mosque, Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex and back through Deggaron Mosque. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
North of Bukhara the irrigated land eventually runs into the sand, and on that edge lies Vardanze, the ruins of an ancient city that was once the capital of a local principality in the Bukhara oasis. Its mound of collapsed mud-brick walls and citadel rises above the fields near Shofirkon, and archaeologists have traced its history back more than two thousand years. It flourished as a trading post on the Silk Road and later declined, partly because the desert advanced and the water supply failed, and its ruins are part of the Zarafshan-Karakum corridor listed by UNESCO in 2023.
Read the complete Vardanze Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vardanze Settlement is where the day begins. 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 comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex.
Bahauddin Naqshband died in 1389 in the village where he was born, a short ride from Bukhara, and the Sufi order that bears his name went on to spread across Central Asia, India, the Ottoman Empire and beyond. The Naqshbandi order emphasised silent remembrance of God and living a spiritual life within the everyday world, and its founder's tomb became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Central Asia, so much so that locals sometimes call it the Mecca of Central Asia. The complex, with its mosques, minaret, courtyards and the tomb itself, was largely built in the sixteenth century under the Shaybanid rulers and restored in recent decades.
Read the complete Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex. Next is back through Deggaron Mosque.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Deggaron Mosque write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Deggaron Mosque, late in the day. Next is Vardanze Settlement.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vardanze Settlement write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Vardanze Settlement. That is the ride.
Vardanze Settlement → Deggaron Mosque is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Deggaron Mosque → Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bahouddin Naqshband Architectural Complex → back through Deggaron Mosque is 71 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Deggaron Mosque → Vardanze Settlement is 64 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.