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.
539 km from Bijela to Bijela, about 13 h 17 of riding. The stops in between: Gvozno, Kučarin in Hrančići, Luburića polje and Olovci. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Gvozno.
Out on the high karst plateau around Kalinovik, south of Sarajevo, the land opens into wide pastures and rocky hills at well over a thousand metres, ringed by the mountains of Treskavica, Lelija and Zelengora. Here and there, half-hidden in the grass, lie stećci, the carved medieval tombstones that are unique to this corner of the Balkans. The necropolis at Gvozno is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of stećci, which spans Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Read the complete Gvozno write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gvozno comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kučarin in Hrančići.
Grey limestone slabs lie in the grass at Hrančići like a congregation that sat down six hundred years ago and never got up. These are stećci, the carved medieval tombstones that are found across Bosnia and Herzegovina and its neighbours, and the group at Kučarin is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of stećci graveyards in 2016. Some are plain chests, some are gabled like little houses, and a few carry reliefs of spirals, vines, shields or figures with raised hands that still nobody fully agrees how to read.
Read the complete Kučarin in Hrančići write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Kučarin in Hrančići. Next is Luburića polje.
The Romanija plateau east of Sarajevo is a strange and beautiful upland: rolling meadows and dark pine forests at around a thousand metres, under a sky that seems bigger than it should. Luburića polje, a field near the town of Sokolac, holds one of the necropolises of stećci, the medieval tombstones of the Balkans listed by UNESCO, and the surrounding countryside has been a place of burial for thousands of years.
Read the complete Luburića polje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Luburića polje, about halfway. Next is Olovci.
In a meadow above the Drinjača valley, a short way from the small town of Kladanj, a group of carved limestone blocks lies scattered among the grass and young trees. These are stećci, the medieval tombstones of Bosnia and the surrounding lands, and Olovci is one of the necropolises listed together by UNESCO as a single heritage site spread across four countries. The stones date roughly from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Some are plain slabs or chests, others shaped like little houses with pitched roofs, and the best of them carry reliefs: spirals, crescent moons, vines, hunting scenes, a figure with a raised hand. Nobody is entirely sure who was buried under them, and the arguments about whether they belonged to Catholics, Orthodox or the Bosnian church have run for a century.
Read the complete Olovci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Olovci sits at 172 km, about halfway. Next is back through Luburića polje.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Luburića polje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Luburića polje comes up about 339 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Kučarin in Hrančići.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kučarin in Hrančići write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 414 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Kučarin in Hrančići. Next is back through Gvozno.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gvozno write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gvozno, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 539 km.
Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup → Gvozno is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gvozno → Kučarin in Hrančići is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kučarin in Hrančići → Luburića polje is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Luburića polje → Olovci is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Olovci → back through Luburića polje is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Luburića polje → back through Kučarin in Hrančići is 75 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kučarin in Hrančići → back through Gvozno is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gvozno → Grčka glavica in the village of Biskup is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.