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.
322 km from Deçan to Deçan, about 7 h 53 of riding. On the way it passes Church of the Virgin of Leviša, Dlaboka Reka and back through Church of the Virgin of Leviša. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Kosovo into North Macedonia - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Visoki Dečani is a monastery that looks as if a Romanesque church from Italy had settled in the Balkan mountains. It lies in the valley of the Bistrica river, in western Kosovo, under the steep wall of the Prokletije or Accursed mountains, and its main church, built between 1327 and 1335 for the Serbian king Stefan Dečanski, is a large block of pink, grey and yellow marble, with carved portals, lions and a rose window, the work of a Franciscan master from the Adriatic coast. Inside it is a different world, with more than a thousand painted scenes covering every inch of wall and ceiling, one of the largest surviving cycles of Byzantine painting in the Balkans. It was listed by UNESCO in 2004, with other medieval monuments of Kosovo.
Read the complete Dečani Monastery write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dečani Monastery is where the day begins. Next is Church of the Virgin of Leviša.
In the middle of Prizren's old town, behind a wall and a fence, stands a brick-and-stone church whose bell tower rises above the rooftops. This is the Church of the Virgin of Leviša, Bogorodica Ljeviška in Serbian, one of the most important medieval monuments in the Balkans. It was rebuilt in the early fourteenth century under the Serbian king Milutin on the site of an older church, and its interior was covered with frescoes that are among the finest of their time.
Read the complete Church of the Virgin of Leviša write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Virgin of Leviša comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dlaboka Reka.
Few borderlands in the Balkans feel as folded and unhurried as the country around Peshkopi, in the Dibra mountains of north-eastern Albania. Across the frontier the same people are Macedonia's Dlaboka Reka, the Deep River, and the double name tells you the story: a Slavic and Albanian valley land cut through by a political line that locals still cross for weddings and markets. The Black Drin runs through the region, the great peaks of the Korab range stand along the border, and Mount Korab itself, at 2,764 metres, is the highest in both Albania and North Macedonia.
Read the complete Dlaboka Reka write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach Dlaboka Reka. Next is back through Church of the Virgin of Leviša.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Virgin of Leviša write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Virgin of Leviša, late in the day. Next is Dečani Monastery.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dečani Monastery write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Dečani Monastery. That is the ride.
Dečani Monastery → Church of the Virgin of Leviša is 61 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Church of the Virgin of Leviša → Dlaboka Reka is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Dlaboka Reka → back through Church of the Virgin of Leviša is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Church of the Virgin of Leviša → Dečani Monastery is 62 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.