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.
444 km from Jablanica to Jablanica, about 9 h 23 of riding. It goes by way of Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup, Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards and back through Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 85 km this is Bosnia Mostar to Sarajevo Mountain Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
High on a karst plateau in Herzegovina, between the massive mountains of Čvrsnica and Vran, lies Blidinje, a wide upland valley of meadows, limestone outcrops and black pine forests at around twelve hundred metres. At Dugo polje, the long field, a cluster of medieval tombstones stands in the grass, carved with crosses, spirals, rosettes, hunting scenes and human figures. These are stećci, the distinctive gravestones of the medieval Balkans, made between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and Dugo polje is one of the most impressive groups, part of the collection of stećci sites listed by UNESCO in 2016 across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Read the complete Dugo polje at Blidinje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dugo polje at Blidinje is where the day begins. Next is Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup.
The Greek hillock, Grčka glavica, is a misleading name: the medieval tombstones that crown it have nothing to do with Greece. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, folk tradition often credited the stećci, the great carved medieval tombstones of the region, to Greeks, giants or other mysterious ancestors, and the names have stuck. The necropolis near the village of Biskup, in the hills south of Konjic, is a group of these stones, some decorated with reliefs of crosses, rosettes, hunting scenes or figures, and it is one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of stećci medieval tombstone graveyards, listed in 2016.
Read the complete Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup comes up about 85 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards.
Radimlja, just outside Stolac in Herzegovina, is the finest of the stećak graveyards, and it lies right beside the main road, which makes it one of the easiest pieces of medieval Europe to stop for. Stećci are massive limestone tombstones, shaped like chests, slabs or little gabled houses, carved between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries across the medieval kingdom of Bosnia and neighbouring lands. Many are decorated with reliefs: spirals, vines, crescents, stars, hunting scenes, dancers holding hands, and knights with swords and shields, and one figure at Radimlja raises an oversized right hand in what may be a greeting or a blessing. In 2016 UNESCO listed a group of these graveyards across four countries together.
Read the complete Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 222 km into the recorded legs you reach Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards. Next is back through Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup, late in the day. Next is Dugo polje at Blidinje.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dugo polje at Blidinje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Dugo polje at Blidinje. That is the ride.
Dugo polje at Blidinje → Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup → Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards is 137 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards → back through Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup is 133 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup → Dugo polje at Blidinje is 89 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.