Why this ride
The stops in between: Fujian Tulou, Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang and back through Fujian Tulou. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Yanxiang Lou and Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 456 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 25
- 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. Yanxiang Lou
Yanxiang Lou belongs to the group of Fujian earthen houses recognised by UNESCO, and what distinguishes it, in a region full of astonishing buildings, is its history as the home of a single prosperous family. The word lou simply means a building of several storeys, and it is used for many of the larger tulou.
Read the complete Yanxiang Lou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Yanxiang Lou is where the day begins. Next is Fujian Tulou.
2. Fujian Tulou
Picture a giant ring of rammed earth, three or four storeys high, with almost no windows on the outside and a single heavy gate. Inside, galleries of wooden rooms face a courtyard with an ancestral hall at its heart, and up to several hundred members of one extended family once lived within those walls. That is a tulou, and the hills of south-western Fujian are dotted with them, round and square, some centuries old, many still inhabited.
Read the complete Fujian Tulou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fujian Tulou comes up about 168 km into the recorded legs. Next is Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang.
3. Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang
In the green hills of Anxi county, inland from the port city of Quanzhou in Fujian, the Xiacaopu site preserves the remains of an iron industry that flourished during the Song and Yuan dynasties, roughly from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries. Archaeologists found furnaces, slag heaps, ore-roasting pits and workshops on a hillside, evidence of large-scale production. The iron produced here was shipped down the rivers to Quanzhou and exported to Southeast Asia and beyond, and that is why the site is part of the World Heritage listing of Quanzhou, Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China, inscribed in 2021. At that time, Quanzhou was one of the largest ports in the world, visited by Arab, Persian and Indian merchants, and described by Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta.
Read the complete Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 224 km into the recorded legs you reach Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang. Next is back through Fujian Tulou.
4. back through Fujian Tulou
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fujian Tulou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Fujian Tulou, late in the day. Next is Yanxiang Lou.
5. Yanxiang Lou
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Yanxiang Lou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Yanxiang Lou. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Yanxiang Lou to Fujian Tulou
Yanxiang Lou → Fujian Tulou is 168 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fujian Tulou to Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang
Fujian Tulou → Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang to back through Fujian Tulou
Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang → back through Fujian Tulou is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fujian Tulou to Yanxiang Lou
back through Fujian Tulou → Yanxiang Lou is 168 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.