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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Apriltsi it runs 282 km to Apriltsi; allow about 4 h 52 of riding. It goes by way of Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve, Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak and back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. 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 31 km this is Bulgaria Shipka Pass Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Bulgaria's Balkan range gave the whole peninsula its name, and the central stretch is where it looks most like a proper mountain wall. The Severen Dzhendem reserve lies in the Central Balkan National Park, the high ridge that runs east to west above the Rose Valley. To the south the land drops towards Kalofer and Karlovo, and to the north it falls away into the foothills and the towns around Apriltsi and Troyan. The tallest peak in the range, Botev, rises to a little over 2,300 metres not far from here, and the high ground is grassy ridge, cliff and old beech and fir forest.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve is where the day begins. Next is Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve.
The Central Balkan National Park covers the high spine of the Stara Planina, the Balkan Mountains, which divide northern Bulgaria from the Thracian plain. Sokolna is one of the strict reserves within the park, on the steep southern slopes above Kalofer and Pavel Banya, where beech forests climb towards bare ridges and peaks. Its old beech woods are part of the World Heritage site of ancient beech forests, and the area is rich in wildlife, from bears and wolves to chamois and birds of prey.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak.
In 1944 soldiers digging a shelter on the edge of Kazanlak broke into a small brick chamber and found themselves looking at some of the finest ancient paintings in the Balkans. The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, built in the fourth century BC for a ruler of the Thracians, has a narrow corridor leading to a round, beehive-shaped burial chamber, its dome covered with frescoes of a funeral feast: the dead man and his wife seated at a table, servants bringing gifts, horses and chariots racing around the top. The colours and the tenderness of the figures are extraordinary. It was listed by UNESCO in 1979.
Read the complete Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 141 km into the recorded legs you reach Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak. Next is back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve, late in the day. Next is Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve. That is the ride.
Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve → Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve → Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak → back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve → Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.