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.
A 288 km round trip from Eibenstock - roughly 4 h 40 in the saddle. On the way it passes Františkovy Lázne, Margravial Opera House Bayreuth and back through Františkovy Lázne. It crosses from Germany into Czechia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Eibenstock sits high in the western Erzgebirge, at about six hundred metres above the sea, in a country of spruce forests and cold, clear streams. It owes its origins to tin: miners worked the tin deposits here from the Middle Ages, and the mining landscape around the town, with old spoil heaps, shafts and water channels, is part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, which UNESCO recognised in 2019. Today, the traces are quiet, softened by moss and birch.
Read the complete Eibenstock Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eibenstock Mining Landscape is where the day begins. Next is Františkovy Lázne.
Františkovy Lázně, known in German as Franzensbad, is a small spa town in the far west of the Czech Republic that looks as if it has been painted in a single colour: yellow and white Empire-style buildings, colonnades and pavilions set in spacious parks, all laid out in the early nineteenth century around mineral springs. It was named after Emperor Francis I of Austria, and it became a fashionable resort, especially for women, because its waters and mud baths were believed to help with fertility. The bronze statue of a little boy holding a fish, known as František, is said to bring luck to women who touch it, and you will see that his foot has been polished by countless hands. Since 2021, the town has been part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage site, along with its larger neighbours, Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně.
Read the complete Františkovy Lázne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Františkovy Lázne comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is Margravial Opera House Bayreuth.
Bayreuth's Margravial Opera House is the sort of building that makes you wonder how a small provincial court could afford it. It was built between 1745 and 1750 for Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and his wife, Wilhelmine, the sister of Frederick the Great, who was a composer, writer and patron and the driving force behind the court's cultural life. The interior, designed by the Italian theatre architect Giuseppe Galli Bibiena and his son Carlo, is a Baroque jewel box of carved and painted wood, with gold and blue tiers, a royal box like a throne and a stage deep enough for elaborate scenery.
Read the complete Margravial Opera House Bayreuth write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 144 km into the recorded legs you reach Margravial Opera House Bayreuth. Next is back through Františkovy Lázne.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Františkovy Lázne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Františkovy Lázne, late in the day. Next is Eibenstock Mining Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eibenstock Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Eibenstock Mining Landscape. That is the ride.
Eibenstock Mining Landscape → Františkovy Lázne is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Františkovy Lázne → Margravial Opera House Bayreuth is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Margravial Opera House Bayreuth → back through Františkovy Lázne is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Františkovy Lázne → Eibenstock Mining Landscape is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.