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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
699 km from Snina to Snina, about 12 h 03 of riding. On the way it passes Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley, Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan, Matkiv-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Bless and back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 26 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
In the far north-east of Slovakia, in the hills where Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet, the beech forests have never been cut. Havešová is one of these primeval forests, a steep slope of giant beech trees, some over forty metres tall and hundreds of years old, with fallen trunks decaying slowly on the forest floor and new trees rising in the gaps. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, inscribed in 2007 and extended since, and it lies within Poloniny National Park, one of the least visited and most remote national parks in Central Europe.
Read the complete Havešová Primeval Forest write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Havešová Primeval Forest is where the day begins. Next is Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley.
The Bieszczady are the wildest mountains in Poland, a corner where the country meets Ukraine and Slovakia and the forest has had decades to reclaim the land. The border ridge, running along the frontier, and the valley of the upper Solinka, below it, are part of the Polish section of the Carpathian primeval beech forests, protected within Bieszczady National Park. There are no roads up here: the ridge is reached on foot, and the forest, with its old beeches, fir and sycamore, is home to wolves, lynx, brown bears, and the European bison that were reintroduced to the area.
Read the complete Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley comes up about 105 km into the recorded legs. Next is Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan.
Just below the pass that carries the road and railway from Uzhhorod into Galicia, the village of Uzhok keeps one of the finest wooden churches of the Carpathians. The tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael was built in the middle of the eighteenth century in the Boyko style, with three log chambers each topped by a tiered roof, rising in stages like a set of stacked hats, all covered in wooden shingles. It stands on a slope among old trees, with a separate bell tower nearby, and it is one of the sixteen wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine listed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 242 km into the recorded legs you reach Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan. Next is Matkiv-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Bless.
Matkiv is a small village in the upper valley of the Stryi river, in the Turka district of the Lviv region, high in the Ukrainian Carpathians. Its wooden church, the tserkva of the Synaxis of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was built in the first half of the nineteenth century, and it is a fine example of the Boyko tradition, named after the highland people who have lived in these mountains for centuries. The church has three log frames topped by tiered pyramidal roofs, each level slightly smaller than the one below, and the whole building is covered in wooden shingles that have weathered to a silver grey. It is part of the UNESCO listing of wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine.
Read the complete Matkiv-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Bless write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Matkiv-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Bless, about halfway. Next is back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan sits at 465 km, about halfway. Next is back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley comes up about 598 km into the recorded legs. Next is Havešová Primeval Forest.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Havešová Primeval Forest write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Havešová Primeval Forest closes the day.
Havešová Primeval Forest → Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley → Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan is 137 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan → Matkiv-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Bless is 109 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Matkiv-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Bless → back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan is 109 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan → back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley is 137 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley → Havešová Primeval Forest is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.