Yaz and Gobekli Tepes and Gyzylja Gala Caravanserai

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Yaz and Gobekli Tepes

   Out on the edge of the Murghab oasis in south-eastern Turkmenistan, where irrigated cotton fields meet the sand of the Karakum, low mounds rise from the flat land. Tepe means hill, and these hills are the eroded remains of ancient settlements: Yaz Depe, which gave its name to an Iron Age culture of the early first millennium BC, and Gobekli Depe nearby. To an untrained eye they are just humps of clay, but they belong to one of the longest continuous stories of settlement in Central Asia.

   Read the complete Yaz and Gobekli Tepes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Yaz and Gobekli Tepes is where the day begins. Next is Gonur Tepe.

2. 2. Gonur Tepe

   Gonur Tepe lies deep in the sands north of Mary, at the end of a long track into what was once the delta of the Murghab river. Today the river runs dry long before it gets here and the desert has taken over, but four thousand years ago this was the capital of a Bronze Age civilisation that archaeologists call Margiana, or the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex. Palaces, temples, fortifications and huge cemeteries have been excavated from the mounds, and walking among the mud-brick foundations in the silence of the desert is eerie and moving.

   Read the complete Gonur Tepe write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Gonur Tepe comes up about 232 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gyzylja Gala Caravanserai.

3. 3. Gyzylja Gala Caravanserai

   The Karakum desert covers most of Turkmenistan, and its eastern edge is where the Murghab river fans out into the oasis of Merv, one of the great cities of the ancient world. In the Seljuk age, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Merv was said to be among the largest cities on earth, and the countryside around it was threaded with canals, fortresses and the roadside inns the Persians called caravanserais. This point lies in that old orbit, in the plain near Bayramaly, where the desert and the irrigated fields meet.

   Read the complete Gyzylja Gala Caravanserai write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 468 km into the recorded legs you reach Gyzylja Gala Caravanserai. Next is back through Gonur Tepe.

4. 4. back through Gonur Tepe

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gonur Tepe write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Gonur Tepe, late in the day. Next is Yaz and Gobekli Tepes.

5. 5. Yaz and Gobekli Tepes

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Yaz and Gobekli Tepes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Yaz and Gobekli Tepes. That is the ride.