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 Kalinovik it runs 561 km to Kalinovik; allow about 14 h 24 of riding. It goes by way of Dolovi in the village of Umoljani, Kučarin in Hrančići, Luburića polje and Olovci. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
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.
Čengića Bara is where the day begins. Next is 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.
Read the complete Dolovi in the village of Umoljani write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dolovi in the village of Umoljani comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kučarin in Hrančići.
Grey limestone slabs lie in the grass at Hrančići like a congregation that sat down six hundred years ago and never got up. These are stećci, the carved medieval tombstones that are found across Bosnia and Herzegovina and its neighbours, and the group at Kučarin is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of stećci graveyards in 2016. Some are plain chests, some are gabled like little houses, and a few carry reliefs of spirals, vines, shields or figures with raised hands that still nobody fully agrees how to read.
Read the complete Kučarin in Hrančići write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 152 km into the recorded legs you reach Kučarin in Hrančići. Next is Luburića polje.
The Romanija plateau east of Sarajevo is a strange and beautiful upland: rolling meadows and dark pine forests at around a thousand metres, under a sky that seems bigger than it should. Luburića polje, a field near the town of Sokolac, holds one of the necropolises of stećci, the medieval tombstones of the Balkans listed by UNESCO, and the surrounding countryside has been a place of burial for thousands of years.
Read the complete Luburića polje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Luburića polje, about halfway. Next is Olovci.
In a meadow above the Drinjača valley, a short way from the small town of Kladanj, a group of carved limestone blocks lies scattered among the grass and young trees. These are stećci, the medieval tombstones of Bosnia and the surrounding lands, and Olovci is one of the necropolises listed together by UNESCO as a single heritage site spread across four countries. The stones date roughly from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Some are plain slabs or chests, others shaped like little houses with pitched roofs, and the best of them carry reliefs: spirals, crescent moons, vines, hunting scenes, a figure with a raised hand. Nobody is entirely sure who was buried under them, and the arguments about whether they belonged to Catholics, Orthodox or the Bosnian church have run for a century.
Read the complete Olovci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Olovci sits at 193 km, about halfway. Next is back through Luburića polje.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Luburića polje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Luburića polje comes up about 350 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kučarin in Hrančići.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kučarin in Hrančići write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 410 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kučarin in Hrančići. Next is back through Dolovi in the village of Umoljani.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dolovi in the village of Umoljani write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dolovi in the village of Umoljani, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 561 km.
Čengića Bara → Dolovi in the village of Umoljani is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dolovi in the village of Umoljani → Kučarin in Hrančići is 95 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kučarin in Hrančići → Luburića polje is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Luburića polje → Olovci is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Olovci → back through Luburića polje is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Luburića polje → back through Kučarin in Hrančići is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kučarin in Hrančići → back through Dolovi in the village of Umoljani is 90 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dolovi in the village of Umoljani → Čengića Bara is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.