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.
505 km from Klisura to Klisura, about 14 h 52 of riding. It goes by way of Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve, Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve, Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak and back through Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 114 km this is Bulgaria Shipka Pass Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Balkan range, called Stara Planina in Bulgarian, runs across the whole of the country like a long, wooded wall, and it gave its name to the entire Balkan peninsula. The Tsarichina reserve lies in its central part, within the Central Balkan National Park, in a deep valley that holds some of the oldest and best preserved forests in Bulgaria. The beech and fir trees are huge, and in places have never been cut, so the forest has the tall, silent, shadowy character of ancient woodland. It belongs to the beech forest sites that UNESCO linked together across Europe.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Tsarichina Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central Balkan - Tsarichina Reserve is where the day begins. Next is Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve.
Steneto is a deep, wild valley on the northern slopes of the Balkan range in central Bulgaria, enclosed by cliffs and covered in ancient beech forest, and it is one of the strict reserves of Central Balkan National Park, part of the Primeval Beech Forests World Heritage listing. Access is restricted, and nature is left to itself: old trees fall and rot, and the forest is home to bears, wolves, wild boar and a rich variety of birds, including several species of woodpecker and owl. The Cherni Osam river flows through the valley, and its clear waters are home to trout.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve.
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.
about 138 km into the recorded legs you reach Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve. 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.
Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, about halfway. Next is back through 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 through Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve sits at 150 km, about halfway. Next is back through Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve comes up about 438 km into the recorded legs. Next is Central Balkan - Tsarichina Reserve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Tsarichina Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central Balkan - Tsarichina Reserve closes the day.
Central Balkan - Tsarichina Reserve → Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve → Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve → Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak is 114 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak → back through Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve is 114 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Central Balkan - Severen Dzhendem Reserve → back through Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Central Balkan - Steneto Reserve → Central Balkan - Tsarichina Reserve is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.