Why this ride
The stops in between: Besh Agyz koshk, Takhirbaj Tepe and back through Besh Agyz koshk. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Yaki Pir koshk and Takhirbaj Tepe
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 114 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 39
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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. Yaki Pir koshk
Yaki Pir koshk is a name that points to a ruined building, probably a fortified house or pavilion of the kind that medieval rulers and landowners built in the Merv oasis, and it stands close to Takhirbaj Tepe, the other ride mentioned here. The word koshk comes from the Persian for a palace or pavilion, and in the Karakum world it often means a strongly built mudbrick residence with towers.
Read the complete Yaki Pir koshk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yaki Pir koshk is where the day begins. Next is Besh Agyz koshk.
2. Besh Agyz koshk
Out on the edge of the Merv oasis in southeastern Turkmenistan, where irrigated fields fade into the sand of the Karakum desert, stand the ruins of buildings known as koshks. These were fortified mansions of mud brick, with heavily ribbed walls that look like giant corrugated cardboard, built in the early medieval period by the landed gentry of Merv. Besh Agyz, which means five mouths, is one of them, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of the Silk Roads, alongside the vast ruined cities of Ancient Merv, a World Heritage Site since 1999. Merv was for centuries one of the great cities of the Islamic world and a key stop on the routes between China and the Mediterranean, until the Mongols destroyed it in the thirteenth century.
Read the complete Besh Agyz koshk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Besh Agyz koshk comes up 19 km in. Next is Takhirbaj Tepe.
3. Takhirbaj Tepe
The Murghab river flows out of the mountains of Afghanistan and dies in the sands of the Karakum desert, and where it fans out into a delta lies the oasis of Merv, in what is now southern Turkmenistan. For thousands of years people have farmed here, building cities one beside another as rivers shifted and empires came and went. Takhirbaj Tepe is one of the oldest of these settlements, a mound in the northern part of the oasis dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages, long before the great medieval city that made Merv famous. It forms part of the State Historical and Cultural Park Ancient Merv, listed by UNESCO in 1999, alongside sites such as Yaz Tepe and Gobekli Tepe nearby.
Read the complete Takhirbaj Tepe write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
39 km in you reach Takhirbaj Tepe. Next is back through Besh Agyz koshk.
4. back through Besh Agyz koshk
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Besh Agyz koshk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Besh Agyz koshk, late in the day. Next is Yaki Pir koshk.
5. Yaki Pir koshk
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yaki Pir koshk write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Yaki Pir koshk. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Yaki Pir koshk to Besh Agyz koshk
Yaki Pir koshk → Besh Agyz koshk is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Besh Agyz koshk to Takhirbaj Tepe
Besh Agyz koshk → Takhirbaj Tepe is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Takhirbaj Tepe to back through Besh Agyz koshk
Takhirbaj Tepe → back through Besh Agyz koshk is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Besh Agyz koshk to Yaki Pir koshk
back through Besh Agyz koshk → Yaki Pir koshk is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.