Why this ride
The stops in between: Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba, Kurtly ‘caravanserai’, Takhirbaj Tepe and Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Yaz and Gobekli Tepes and Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 454 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 10 h 14
- 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. 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 Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba.
2. Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba
The Karakum desert surrounds the oasis of Merv on three sides, and the Murghab river, which feeds the oasis, ends in the sand a little downstream. Talkhatan Baba, a brick mosque and mausoleum in the area of Mary, belongs to the medieval Islamic centuries when Merv was one of the great cities of the world, a Seljuk capital with libraries, observatories and a population that rivalled any in Europe.
Read the complete Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba comes up 41 km in. Next is Kurtly ‘caravanserai’.
3. Kurtly ‘caravanserai’
Kurtly sits on the flat plain near Merv, in the south of the Karakum, and the caravanserai that gives the place its label is a reminder that the old Silk Road was a network of small stops as much as great cities. A caravanserai was a fortified inn where merchants and animals could rest, drink and sleep within walls, usually a day's travel from the next one. Some were grand, with arcades and domed rooms. Others were simple compounds of mud brick. Few survive intact, and the ones in Turkmenistan are often reduced to low walls and mounds.
Read the complete Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
82 km in you reach Kurtly ‘caravanserai’. Next is Takhirbaj Tepe.
4. 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
Takhirbaj Tepe, about halfway. Next is Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip.
5. Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip
Four thousand years ago, in the delta of the Murghab river, a civilisation grew up around irrigated fields and fortified settlements that archaeologists call Margiana, or the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. Kelleli, Adji Kui and Taip are names of mounds in that delta, low hills of eroded mud brick standing in the flat plain of the Karakum, where the river once split into channels and watered an oasis. People lived here between about 2300 and 1700 BC, building walled compounds with towers, workshops, graves and what may have been temples with fire altars.
Read the complete Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip sits at 164 km, about halfway. Next is back through Takhirbaj Tepe.
6. back through Takhirbaj Tepe
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Takhirbaj Tepe comes up 205 km in. Next is back through Kurtly ‘caravanserai’.
7. back through Kurtly ‘caravanserai’
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
246 km in you reach back through Kurtly ‘caravanserai’. Next is back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba.
8. back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba, late in the day. Next is Yaz and Gobekli Tepes.
9. 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
The route ends here after 454 km.
Leg by leg
Yaz and Gobekli Tepes to Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba
Yaz and Gobekli Tepes → Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba to Kurtly ‘caravanserai’
Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba → Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ to Takhirbaj Tepe
Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ → Takhirbaj Tepe is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Takhirbaj Tepe to Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip
Takhirbaj Tepe → Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip to back through Takhirbaj Tepe
Kelleli; Adji Kui; Taip → back through Takhirbaj Tepe is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Takhirbaj Tepe to back through Kurtly ‘caravanserai’
back through Takhirbaj Tepe → back through Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ to back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba
back through Kurtly ‘caravanserai’ → back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba to Yaz and Gobekli Tepes
back through Mosque/Mausoleum of Talkhattan Baba → Yaz and Gobekli Tepes is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.