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.
A 317 km round trip from Limanowa - roughly 6 h 24 in the saddle. The stops in between: Church of the Archangel Michael, Kezmarok, Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš and Levoča. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Poland into Slovakia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 55 km this is Tatra Foothills Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The hills around Limanowa in southern Poland have a nickname that suits them perfectly: the Beskid Wyspowy, the Island Beskids. Instead of forming a continuous ridge, the summits rise individually from the surrounding valleys like islands from a sea, each one wooded, rounded and separate. Driving through the area is a constant game of spotting the next hump on the horizon. The famous wooden church of St Leonard stands at Lipnica Murowana, in the hills to the north of here, and it is one of the Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland listed by UNESCO in 2003.
Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of St Leonard is where the day begins. Next is Church of the Archangel Michael.
From the outside, the church in Dębno Podhalańskie looks like a sturdy wooden barn with a steep shingled roof and a squat tower, the kind of building you might ride past without a second glance. Step inside and the walls explode with colour: every surface covered in stencilled and painted patterns, animals, plants and geometric figures, dating back to around 1500, one of the best-preserved medieval painted interiors in Poland. The church, built of larch in the late fifteenth century, is part of the UNESCO listing of Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, a group of Gothic timber churches that show the skill of local carpenters who built without nails.
Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Archangel Michael comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kezmarok.
Kežmarok sits at the foot of the High Tatras in northern Slovakia, and on a clear day the jagged peaks of the smallest high mountain range in Europe rise above the town like a wall. It is an old town with a mixed history: founded by German settlers in the Middle Ages, it was a free royal town and a centre of trade and crafts, and its wealthy citizens built a castle, churches and fine houses around the square.
Read the complete Kezmarok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 109 km into the recorded legs you reach Kezmarok. Next is Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš.
Master Paul of Levoča carved the tallest Gothic wooden altar in the world, and you can stand in front of it in the church of St James in the centre of this walled town in eastern Slovakia. Completed in the early sixteenth century, the altar rises almost nineteen metres, with life-size figures of the Virgin and saints in limewood, painted and gilded, under a forest of pinnacles. It is the masterpiece of a sculptor about whom little is known beyond his work, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments.
Read the complete Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš, about halfway. Next is Levoča.
Spread across a ridge in eastern Slovakia, with the jagged peaks of the High Tatras rising on the northern horizon, the Spiš region holds one of Europe's great clusters of medieval monuments. The town of Levoča, the old regional capital, was a wealthy royal free town, and its walls, burgher houses and Renaissance town hall still surround a long central square. Inside the church of St James stands Master Paul of Levoča's carved Gothic altarpiece, finished in the early sixteenth century and the tallest of its kind in the world, an astonishing tower of limewood saints and filigree.
Read the complete Levoča write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Levoča sits at 137 km, about halfway. Next is back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš comes up about 176 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kezmarok.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kezmarok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 208 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kezmarok. Next is back through Church of the Archangel Michael.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Archangel Michael, late in the day. Next is Church of St Leonard.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 317 km.
Church of St Leonard → Church of the Archangel Michael is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Archangel Michael → Kezmarok is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kežmarok → Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → Levoča is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Levoča → back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → back through Kezmarok is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kezmarok → back through Church of the Archangel Michael is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Archangel Michael → Church of St Leonard is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.