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 Scheia it runs 407 km to Scheia; allow about 9 h 39 of riding. It goes by way of Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap, Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster, Codrul Secular Slătioara and Churches of Moldavia. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Suceava is the old capital of Moldavia, and the church of St George sits at its edge, a short ride from the ring of newer apartment blocks that now surround the medieval centre. It was built in the early sixteenth century under Bogdan III, son of Stephen the Great, and it belongs to the small family of Moldavian churches that UNESCO lists together. The family resemblance is easy to see once you have visited two or three: steep roofs, a short tower over the nave, buttresses, and walls that were once painted inside and out in blue, red and ochre.
Read the complete Church of St George of Suceava write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of St George of Suceava is where the day begins. Next is Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap.
Arbore is a village in Bucovina, in the north of Romania, and its church is one of the famous painted churches of Moldavia. It was built in 1503 by Luca Arbore, a nobleman at the court of Stephen the Great, and dedicated to the Beheading of St John the Baptist. Like the other painted churches of the region, its exterior walls are covered with frescoes, applied in the sixteenth century to teach the Bible to ordinary people who could not read. Arbore's frescoes, painted around 1541, are known for their green tones, and while weather has faded the walls facing the prevailing wind, the west facade still shows scenes of the Last Judgement, saints and the Book of Genesis in remarkable detail. UNESCO lists it among the eight churches of northern Moldavia.
Read the complete Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster.
Moldovița is the monastery that makes people go quiet in the courtyard. It sits in a green pocket of the Bukovina hills, ringed by a stout defensive wall with corner towers, and inside it the Church of the Annunciation is painted from the ground to the eaves with saints, prophets and battle scenes in blues, reds and ochres that have survived some five centuries of Carpathian weather. It was founded in the time of Petru Rareș, in the 1530s, and it belongs to the famous group of painted churches of northern Moldavia that UNESCO lists together.
Read the complete Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 94 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster. Next is Codrul Secular Slătioara.
Slătioara is old-growth forest of the kind that Europe has mostly lost. The reserve, tucked into the slopes of the Rarău and Giumalău ranges above the Moldova valley, protects beech, fir and spruce that have never been seriously logged, and it is part of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians that UNESCO recognised. Walk under the canopy and you notice the scale first: trunks as thick as a doorway, fallen giants furred with moss, and a dim green light even at noon.
Read the complete Codrul Secular Slătioara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Codrul Secular Slătioara, about halfway. Next is Churches of Moldavia.
Sucevița is the last and the largest of the great painted monasteries of Bucovina, and when you come down into its valley and see it for the first time, a squat fortress of white walls and towers with a church inside painted from eaves to plinth in deep greens, reds and blues, it stops you in your tracks. It was built in the 1580s and 1590s by the Movilă family, princes and churchmen of Moldavia, and its frescoes are among the best preserved of all the painted churches. UNESCO groups it with seven others as the churches of Moldavia.
Read the complete Churches of Moldavia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Churches of Moldavia sits at 164 km, about halfway. Next is back through Codrul Secular Slătioara.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Codrul Secular Slătioara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Codrul Secular Slătioara comes up about 273 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 314 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster. Next is back through Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap, late in the day. Next is Church of St George of Suceava.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of St George of Suceava write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 407 km.
Church of St George of Suceava → Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap → Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster → Codrul Secular Slătioara is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Codrul Secular Slătioara → Churches of Moldavia is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Churches of Moldavia → back through Codrul Secular Slătioara is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Codrul Secular Slătioara → back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster → back through Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap → Church of St George of Suceava is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.