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.
From Rudabánya it runs 461 km to Rudabánya; allow about 8 h 51 of riding. It goes by way of Dobšinská Ice Cave, Kezmarok, Church of the Archangel Michael and Church of St Leonard. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses Hungary, Slovakia and Poland - carry ID and check vignette or 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 59 km this is Slovak High Tatras Freedom Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Under the hills on the border of Hungary and Slovakia lies one of the largest cave systems in Europe. The Baradla cave, entered from Aggtelek on the Hungarian side and from Domica on the Slovak side, runs for some twenty-five kilometres through limestone, a gallery of stalactites, stalagmites and underground rivers, and parts of it are open to visitors. It is the heart of the Aggtelek and Slovak Karst, a cross-border UNESCO site of more than seven hundred caves, listed in 1995 and extended in 2000. Concerts are held in the largest chamber, where the acoustics are excellent, and the temperature underground stays at a constant cool level, a relief in summer.
Read the complete Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst is where the day begins. Next is Dobšinská Ice Cave.
Step out of a warm summer day into the Dobšinská Ice Cave and the temperature drops to just below freezing within a few metres. The cave, on the northern edge of the Slovak Paradise in eastern Slovakia, holds a vast mass of ice, tens of thousands of cubic metres, with frozen floors, walls and columns that have built up over thousands of years. It was explored in 1870 by Eugen Ruffinyi, opened to visitors soon after, and became one of the first caves in Europe to be lit by electricity. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst, shared with Hungary.
Read the complete Dobšinská Ice Cave write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dobšinská Ice Cave comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kezmarok.
Kežmarok sits at the foot of the High Tatras in northern Slovakia, and on a clear day the jagged peaks of the smallest high mountain range in Europe rise above the town like a wall. It is an old town with a mixed history: founded by German settlers in the Middle Ages, it was a free royal town and a centre of trade and crafts, and its wealthy citizens built a castle, churches and fine houses around the square.
Read the complete Kezmarok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 121 km into the recorded legs you reach Kezmarok. Next is Church of the Archangel Michael.
From the outside, the church in Dębno Podhalańskie looks like a sturdy wooden barn with a steep shingled roof and a squat tower, the kind of building you might ride past without a second glance. Step inside and the walls explode with colour: every surface covered in stencilled and painted patterns, animals, plants and geometric figures, dating back to around 1500, one of the best-preserved medieval painted interiors in Poland. The church, built of larch in the late fifteenth century, is part of the UNESCO listing of Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, a group of Gothic timber churches that show the skill of local carpenters who built without nails.
Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Archangel Michael, about halfway. Next is Church of St Leonard.
The hills around Limanowa in southern Poland have a nickname that suits them perfectly: the Beskid Wyspowy, the Island Beskids. Instead of forming a continuous ridge, the summits rise individually from the surrounding valleys like islands from a sea, each one wooded, rounded and separate. Driving through the area is a constant game of spotting the next hump on the horizon. The famous wooden church of St Leonard stands at Lipnica Murowana, in the hills to the north of here, and it is one of the Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland listed by UNESCO in 2003.
Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of St Leonard sits at 197 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of the Archangel Michael.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Archangel Michael comes up about 287 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kezmarok.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kezmarok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 341 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kezmarok. Next is back through Dobšinská Ice Cave.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dobšinská Ice Cave write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dobšinská Ice Cave, late in the day. Next is Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 461 km.
Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst → Dobšinská Ice Cave is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dobšinská Ice Cave → Kezmarok is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kežmarok → Church of the Archangel Michael is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Archangel Michael → Church of St Leonard is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of St Leonard → back through Church of the Archangel Michael is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Archangel Michael → back through Kezmarok is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kezmarok → back through Dobšinská Ice Cave is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dobšinská Ice Cave → Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.