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 398 km round trip from Žabljak - roughly 9 h 50 in the saddle. The stops in between: Grčko groblje, Čengića Bara, Kalufi in Krekovi and back through Čengića Bara. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,550 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Montenegro into Bosnia & Herzegovina - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 79 km this is Montenegro Durmitor Ring, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Near Žabljak, on the high plateau below Durmitor, a group of medieval tombstones lies in a meadow at Bare Žugića. These are stećci, massive carved stones that mark graves from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, found across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Some are simple slabs, others shaped like houses or sarcophagi, decorated with carvings of spirals, crosses, vines, hunting scenes, dancers and figures with raised hands. Their makers belonged to various Christian communities of the medieval Balkans, and their meaning is still debated. In 2016 UNESCO listed a selection of the most important sites, including Bare Žugića, as the Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards. Seeing these stones in a high meadow, surrounded by mountains, is quietly moving.
Read the complete Bare Žugića write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bare Žugića is where the day begins. Next is Grčko groblje.
Greek cemetery is what the name means, and you will find the same name attached to old graveyards across the mountains of Bosnia and Montenegro. For generations, local people attributed the mysterious carved tombstones of the medieval period to the Greeks, a vague term for ancient or foreign peoples, because nobody remembered who had made them. In fact, these stećci were carved by the medieval communities of the region between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and the groups that bear the name Grčko groblje are among the many sites included in the UNESCO listing.
Read the complete Grčko groblje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grčko groblje comes up about 79 km into the recorded legs. Next is Čengića Bara.
Čengića Bara is a high pasture on the plateau around Kalinovik, in the mountainous heart of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is one of the most remote of the stećci sites listed by UNESCO in 2016. A group of medieval tombstones stands in the open grassland, carved with simple decorations, weathered by centuries of wind, snow and sun. Few visitors make it here, and that is part of the appeal. The stones seem to belong to the landscape itself, as much as the rocks and the grass around them.
Read the complete Čengića Bara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 152 km into the recorded legs you reach Čengića Bara. Next is Kalufi in Krekovi.
The Nevesinjsko polje is a broad, flat-floored basin high in the karst of eastern Herzegovina, ringed by bare limestone hills, and at Krekovi, near its edge, a group of stećci known as Kalufi stands in the grass. These medieval tombstones, carved between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, belong to the transnational World Heritage Site inscribed in 2016. At Krekovi you find slabs, chests and gabled forms, some decorated with crosses, rosettes and borders, set in rows facing roughly east to west in the old tradition.
Read the complete Kalufi in Krekovi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kalufi in Krekovi, about halfway. Next is back through Čengića Bara.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Čengića Bara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Čengića Bara sits at 170 km, about halfway. Next is back through Grčko groblje.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grčko groblje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Grčko groblje comes up about 320 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bare Žugića.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bare Žugića write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bare Žugića closes the day.
Bare Žugića → Grčko groblje is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grčko groblje → Čengića Bara is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Čengića Bara → Kalufi in Krekovi is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kalufi in Krekovi → back through Čengića Bara is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Čengića Bara → back through Grčko groblje is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Grčko groblje → Bare Žugića is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.