CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
A 313 km round trip from Dubrovnik - roughly 6 h 50 in the saddle. The stops in between: Grebnice, Boljuni, Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards and Radimlja. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Dubrovnik was once an independent republic, called Ragusa, and it lasted for centuries by being clever. It was a small city-state that paid tribute to bigger powers, traded with everyone, banned slavery early, and kept a splendid ring of walls that still surrounds the old town. Walking the walls, about two kilometres of stone with towers and bastions, takes an hour or two, and offers views over terracotta roofs and a glittering sea. In 1991 and 1992 the city was shelled during the Yugoslav war, and the damage has been repaired, though a few signs remain. UNESCO added it to its list in 1979.
Read the complete Dubrovnik write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dubrovnik is where the day begins. Next is Grebnice.
Grebnice, a name that simply means something like grave-stones, is a field of stećci near Bileća in eastern Herzegovina. These are the massive carved tombstones of medieval Bosnia and its neighbours, cut from local limestone between roughly the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, shaped like chests, slabs or little houses with gabled roofs, and sometimes covered with spirals, rosettes, swords, shields and dancing figures. UNESCO listed a selection of the most important sites together in 2016, and the necropolis here is one of the eastern Herzegovinian groups. Standing among them on a still afternoon, with the grass grown up around the stones, is a strangely moving experience.
Read the complete Grebnice write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grebnice comes up about 70 km into the recorded legs. Next is Boljuni.
In the stony hills of eastern Herzegovina, a few kilometres from Stolac, a field of grey limestone blocks lies scattered among oak scrub and dry grass. These are stećci, medieval tombstones carved between roughly the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and Boljuni has a few hundred of them, many decorated with reliefs: rosettes, crescents, spirals, hunters with spears, dancing figures holding hands, a man raising an oversized hand as if in greeting. Nobody fully agrees on who made them or what all the symbols mean, which makes standing among them oddly moving. Together with other cemeteries across Bosnia and Herzegovina and its neighbours, Boljuni is part of the UNESCO site of Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards, inscribed in 2016.
Read the complete Boljuni write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 142 km into the recorded legs you reach Boljuni. Next is Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards.
Radimlja, just outside Stolac in Herzegovina, is the finest of the stećak graveyards, and it lies right beside the main road, which makes it one of the easiest pieces of medieval Europe to stop for. Stećci are massive limestone tombstones, shaped like chests, slabs or little gabled houses, carved between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries across the medieval kingdom of Bosnia and neighbouring lands. Many are decorated with reliefs: spirals, vines, crescents, stars, hunting scenes, dancers holding hands, and knights with swords and shields, and one figure at Radimlja raises an oversized right hand in what may be a greeting or a blessing. In 2016 UNESCO listed a group of these graveyards across four countries together.
Read the complete Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards, about halfway. Next is Radimlja.
Above the Bregava river valley, a few kilometres from Stolac in Herzegovina, a hillside is covered with huge stone slabs that look like sarcophagi and tilting boxes. These are stećci, medieval tombstones that were carved in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and Radimlja is the best known cemetery of them. Over a hundred of them stand here, and several carry reliefs of exceptional quality, showing hunting scenes, riders with spears, dancing in a circle, stylised crescent moons, spirals and vines. In 2016 UNESCO listed a group of these sites together.
Read the complete Radimlja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Radimlja sits at 135 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards comes up about 160 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Boljuni.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Boljuni write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 177 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Boljuni. Next is back through Grebnice.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grebnice write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Grebnice, late in the day. Next is Dubrovnik.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dubrovnik write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 313 km.
Dubrovnik → Grebnice is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grebnice → Boljuni is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Boljuni → Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards → back through Boljuni is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Boljuni → back through Grebnice is 71 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Grebnice → Dubrovnik is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.