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 Stulpicani it runs 356 km to Stulpicani; allow about 8 h 20 of riding. The stops in between: Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster, Church of St George of the former Voronet, Churches of Moldavia and Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
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 is where the day begins. 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.
Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster comes up about 41 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 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of St George of the former Voronet. 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, about halfway. Next is Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti.
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 sits at 164 km, about halfway. Next is back through Churches of Moldavia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Churches of Moldavia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Churches of Moldavia comes up about 228 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 279 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of St George of the former Voronet. 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.
back through Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 356 km.
Codrul Secular Slătioara → Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Annunciation of the Monaster → Church of St George of the former Voronet is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of St George of the former Voronet → Churches of Moldavia is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Churches of Moldavia → Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Rood of Patrauti → back through Churches of Moldavia is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Churches of Moldavia → back through Church of St George of the former Voronet is 51 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 Annunciation of the Monaster is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through 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.