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 190 km round trip from Dărmăneşti - roughly 4 h 13 in the saddle. It goes by way of Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap, Church of St George of the former Voronet, Codrul Secular Slătioara and back through Church of St George of the former Voronet. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
In 1487 Stephen the Great of Moldavia had a small church built at Pătrăuți, dedicated to the Holy Rood, and it still stands, among the earliest of his many foundations and today part of the UNESCO listing of Moldavian churches. It is a modest building, whitewashed and low, with a steep roof, and it stands in a village on the edge of Suceava county, a stone's throw from Dărmănești. The scale surprises people who come expecting a cathedral, and then the frescoes inside bring them up short.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti 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 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of St George of the former Voronet.
Voroneț is known as the Sistine Chapel of the East, and it earned the name with a colour. The little church of St George, built in 1488 by Stephen the Great, prince of Moldavia, is covered inside and out with frescoes, and the outside, especially, glows with a deep blue that has never been exactly replicated and is now called Voroneț blue. The west wall carries a vast Last Judgment, added in 1547, in which rivers of fire pull the damned toward the pit while saints, angels and a procession of animals look on. Legend says that Stephen built the church in three months, three weeks and three days after a victory over the Ottomans.
Read the complete Church of St George of the former Voronet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of St George of the former Voronet. 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 back through Church of St George of the former Voronet.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of St George of the former Voronet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of St George of the former Voronet sits at 113 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 160 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti closes the day.
Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti → Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap is 31 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 St George of the former Voronet is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of St George of the former Voronet → Codrul Secular Slătioara is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Codrul Secular Slătioara → back through Church of St George of the former Voronet is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of St George of the former Voronet → back through 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.
back through Church of the Beheading of St John the Bap → Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.