Component neighbouring Silica and Jasov and Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
370 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 36
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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 Rožňava it runs 370 km to Rožňava; allow about 6 h 36 of riding. The stops in between: Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš, Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less and back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš. It crosses from Slovakia into Poland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Component neighbouring Silica and Jasov
The Silica plateau is a high, flat limestone table in the Slovak Karst, a few kilometres north of the Hungarian border, and it forms part of the same cross-border UNESCO site as the Aggtelek caves. The label points to the country around Silica and Jasov, a landscape of dry meadows and beech woods broken by sinkholes, gorges and caves, with small villages tucked in the folds. Jasov, in the valley below, has a large Premonstratensian monastery, founded in the thirteenth century, with a grand Baroque church and a cave beneath the hill that is open to visitors. Nearby is the Ochtiná Aragonite Cave, one of very few caves in the world with spiky, branching aragonite crystals.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Component neighbouring Silica and Jasov is where the day begins. Next is Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš.
2. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš comes up about 88 km into the recorded legs. Next is Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less.
3. Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less
Hidden among the hills of the Beskid Sądecki, close to the Slovak border in southern Poland, the little wooden church at Powroźnik is one of the oldest of its kind still standing in the country. Its oldest parts date from around 1600, and it belongs to the group of wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region listed by UNESCO in 2013. A tserkva is an Eastern-rite church, and this one was built by the Lemkos, the Rusyn highlanders who farmed these valleys for centuries until most were forcibly resettled after the Second World War. Today it serves as a Catholic church, but the shape tells its origin story at once: a tower with a bulging onion-like cap, stepped shingle roofs and dark timber walls weathered almost black.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 184 km into the recorded legs you reach Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less. Next is back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš.
4. back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Component neighbouring Silica and Jasov. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Component neighbouring Silica and Jasov to Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš
Component neighbouring Silica and Jasov → Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš to Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less is 96 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less to back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš
Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less → back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 99 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 to Component neighbouring Silica and Jasov
back through Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → Component neighbouring Silica and Jasov is 87 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.