Čengića Bara and Dolovi in the village of Umoljani
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
177 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 59
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
177 km from Kalinovik to Kalinovik, about 3 h 59 of riding. It goes by way of Gvozno, Dolovi in the village of Umoljani and back through Gvozno. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Čengića Bara is where the day begins. Next is Gvozno.
2. Gvozno
Out on the high karst plateau around Kalinovik, south of Sarajevo, the land opens into wide pastures and rocky hills at well over a thousand metres, ringed by the mountains of Treskavica, Lelija and Zelengora. Here and there, half-hidden in the grass, lie stećci, the carved medieval tombstones that are unique to this corner of the Balkans. The necropolis at Gvozno is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of stećci, which spans Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gvozno comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dolovi in the village of Umoljani.
3. Dolovi in the village of Umoljani
Umoljani clings to the edge of the Bjelašnica massif above the Rakitnica canyon, an hour or so southwest of Sarajevo by road, and it is one of those mountain villages that feel a world away from the cities below. Stone houses with steep roofs, a small mosque and a scattering of shepherds' huts sit on a high green plateau, and nearby, at a spot known as Dolovi, a group of medieval tombstones called stećci lies in the grass. These carved limestone monuments, made between roughly the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, are found across Bosnia and neighbouring countries and were inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2016. Their reliefs of hunters, dancers, spirals and crescent moons are a fascinating window onto a culture that left few written records.