CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 573 km round trip from Gračanica - roughly 15 h 36 in the saddle. On the way it passes Čengića Bara, Grčko groblje, Durmitor National Park and Mramor in Vrbica. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,550 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Bosnia & Herzegovina into Montenegro - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 36 km this is Montenegro Durmitor Ring, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Umoljani clings to the edge of the Bjelašnica massif above the Rakitnica canyon, an hour or so southwest of Sarajevo by road, and it is one of those mountain villages that feel a world away from the cities below. Stone houses with steep roofs, a small mosque and a scattering of shepherds' huts sit on a high green plateau, and nearby, at a spot known as Dolovi, a group of medieval tombstones called stećci lies in the grass. These carved limestone monuments, made between roughly the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, are found across Bosnia and neighbouring countries and were inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2016. Their reliefs of hunters, dancers, spirals and crescent moons are a fascinating window onto a culture that left few written records.
Read the complete Dolovi in the village of Umoljani write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dolovi in the village of Umoljani is where the day begins. Next is Čengića Bara.
Čengića Bara is a high pasture on the plateau around Kalinovik, in the mountainous heart of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is one of the most remote of the stećci sites listed by UNESCO in 2016. A group of medieval tombstones stands in the open grassland, carved with simple decorations, weathered by centuries of wind, snow and sun. Few visitors make it here, and that is part of the appeal. The stones seem to belong to the landscape itself, as much as the rocks and the grass around them.
Read the complete Čengića Bara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Čengića Bara comes up 42 km in. Next is Grčko groblje.
Greek cemetery is what the name means, and you will find the same name attached to old graveyards across the mountains of Bosnia and Montenegro. For generations, local people attributed the mysterious carved tombstones of the medieval period to the Greeks, a vague term for ancient or foreign peoples, because nobody remembered who had made them. In fact, these stećci were carved by the medieval communities of the region between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and the groups that bear the name Grčko groblje are among the many sites included in the UNESCO listing.
Read the complete Grčko groblje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
83 km in you reach Grčko groblje. Next is Durmitor National Park.
Durmitor is the kind of mountain range that makes you pull over every few minutes. In the north of Montenegro, a limestone massif rises above a high plateau around Žabljak, with jagged peaks, glacial lakes and deep canyons carved by the Tara, Piva and Sušica rivers. The national park was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1980, and it includes the Tara canyon, one of the deepest gorges in Europe. Glaciers shaped the range, leaving cirques and lakes scattered across the high ground, of which the Black Lake near Žabljak is the best known.
Read the complete Durmitor National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Durmitor National Park, about halfway. Next is Mramor in Vrbica.
The Drina is a river that runs through every story in this part of the Balkans, and Foča sits on one of its finest stretches. The town, with about fourteen thousand people, lies where the Drina meets the Ćehotina, among steep green mountains, and the old Aladža mosque, a painted sixteenth-century building, was one of the most beautiful Ottoman monuments in the region before it was destroyed in the war of the 1990s and then rebuilt. Foča carries that history quietly, and it is a place where you should listen more than talk.
Read the complete Mramor in Vrbica write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mramor in Vrbica sits at 166 km, about halfway. Next is back through Durmitor National Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Durmitor National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Durmitor National Park comes up 208 km in. Next is back through Grčko groblje.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grčko groblje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
249 km in you reach back through Grčko groblje. Next is back through Čengića Bara.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Čengića Bara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Čengića Bara, late in the day. Next is Dolovi in the village of Umoljani.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dolovi in the village of Umoljani write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 573 km.
Dolovi in the village of Umoljani → Čengića Bara is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Čengića Bara → Grčko groblje is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grčko groblje → Durmitor National Park is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Durmitor National Park → Mramor in Vrbica is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mramor in Vrbica → back through Durmitor National Park is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Durmitor National Park → back through Grčko groblje is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Grčko groblje → back through Čengića Bara is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Čengića Bara → Dolovi in the village of Umoljani is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.