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.
581 km from Peshkopi to Peshkopi, about 17 h 14 of riding. On the way it passes Church of the Virgin of Leviša, Dečani Monastery, Patriarchate of Peć Monastery and Lumi i gashit. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
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.
Dlaboka Reka 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 100 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dečani Monastery.
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.
At least about 162 km into the recorded legs you reach Dečani Monastery. Next is Patriarchate of Peć Monastery.
The Serbian Orthodox Church has had its seat at Pec since the thirteenth century, and the Patriarchate stands where the Rugova gorge opens onto the plain, with the walls of the mountains rising straight behind it. Three churches, joined by a shared porch, make up the complex, and inside them the walls are covered in frescoes that range from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The oldest, the Church of the Holy Apostles, was built under Archbishop Arsenije and has a serene, early painting style, while the later churches added by his successors show the growing wealth and ambition of the medieval Serbian state. UNESCO lists it together with Visoki Decani and other monasteries as the Medieval Monuments in Kosovo.
Read the complete Patriarchate of Peć Monastery write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Patriarchate of Peć Monastery, about halfway. Next is Lumi i gashit.
Here the borders of Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania meet in the Prokletije, the Accursed Mountains, a rugged range of limestone peaks that rises above two thousand metres and is among the wildest country in the Balkans. The label uses the Albanian name for a stream, Lumi i Gashit, the river of Gashi, and the nearest places on the Montenegrin side are Plav and Gusinje, where Albanians and Bosniaks make up a large share of the population. Plav sits on a glacial lake, a cold, clear body of water ringed by high peaks, with a small mosque, an old Ottoman tower house and a quiet lakeshore promenade.
Read the complete Lumi i gashit write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lumi i gashit sits at 191 km, about halfway. Next is back through Patriarchate of Peć Monastery.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Patriarchate of Peć Monastery write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Patriarchate of Peć Monastery comes up about 400 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through 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.
about 421 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Dečani Monastery. 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 Dlaboka Reka.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dlaboka Reka write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 581 km.
Dlaboka Reka → Church of the Virgin of Leviša is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
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.
Dečani Monastery → Patriarchate of Peć Monastery is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Patriarchate of Peć Monastery → Lumi i gashit is 109 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lumi i gashit → back through Patriarchate of Peć Monastery is 108 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Patriarchate of Peć Monastery → back through Dečani Monastery is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dečani Monastery → back through Church of the Virgin of Leviša is 61 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through 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.