Why this ride
A 332 km round trip from Huanren - roughly 5 h 35 in the saddle. It goes by way of Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty, Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast and back through Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Wunu Mountain City and Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 332 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 35
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Wunu Mountain City
Wunu Mountain City is a ruined fortress on a flat-topped crag in Liaoning province, in the green hills of northeastern China, and it was probably the first capital of the Goguryeo kingdom. Before that kingdom grew into a power that rivalled Chinese dynasties, its founders chose a mountain stronghold above a river for safety. Cliffs shelter the plateau on almost every side, and the builders closed the few gaps with stone walls. Inside, there are traces of buildings, a spring, a soldier's quarters and a platform that may have served as a lookout. It is part of the Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom, listed by UNESCO in 2004, which takes in sites around Huanren and Ji'an.
Read the complete Wunu Mountain City write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wunu Mountain City is where the day begins. Next is Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty.
2. Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty
Before Beijing, before the Forbidden City, the people who would rule China as the Qing dynasty were a clan of forest-edge farmers and hunters in the hills of eastern Liaoning. Yongling is their ancestral grave. It lies near Xinbin, a Manchu autonomous county in the mountains east of Fushun, not far from Hetu Ala, the small hill town that Nurhaci made his first capital, and it holds the remains of the forebears of that remarkable man, who united the Jurchen tribes in the late sixteenth century and set in motion the conquest of China by his successors.
Read the complete Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty comes up about 83 km into the recorded legs. Next is Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast.
3. Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast
Long before the Manchus took Beijing, they had a home, and it was in the green, hilly country east of Shenyang, where the Hun river comes out of the Changbai foothills. Yongling, the Qing dynasty's earliest imperial tomb, stands there in the county of Xinbin, built at the start of the seventeenth century and expanded afterwards to house the ancestors of Nurhaci, the chief who united the Jurchen tribes and founded the line that would rule China until 1912. It is an old-fashioned ceremonial complex, with walls, a stone bridge, spirit-way sculptures and a tomb mound behind, set against a wooded hillside, and it makes a clear point: before they were emperors of China, these people were mountain chieftains.
Read the complete Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 166 km into the recorded legs you reach Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast. Next is back through Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty.
4. back through Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty, late in the day. Next is Wunu Mountain City.
5. Wunu Mountain City
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wunu Mountain City write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Wunu Mountain City. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Wunu Mountain City to Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty
Wunu Mountain City → Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty to Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast
Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty → Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast is 83 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast to back through Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty
Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynast → back through Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty to Wunu Mountain City
back through Yongling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty → Wunu Mountain City is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.