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.
A 752 km round trip from Snina - roughly 12 h 58 in the saddle. The stops in between: Vihorlat, Rožok, Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy and Terebowiec stream valley. It crosses Slovakia, Ukraine and Poland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 17 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 Vihorlat.
Vihorlat is a range of old volcanoes in the far east of Slovakia, close to the Ukrainian border, and its higher slopes are covered with some of the last primeval beech forests in Europe. The trees here have grown, died and rotted without human interference for a very long time, and the forest is part of the transnational UNESCO site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, first listed in 2007 with sites in Slovakia and Ukraine and later extended across much of the continent.
Read the complete Vihorlat write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vihorlat comes up about 92 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rožok.
Rožok is a small patch of very old forest on the eastern edge of Slovakia, close to the borders with Poland and Ukraine, and it is one of the components of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a World Heritage Site that stretches across many countries. Here, on a steep slope above the Starina reservoir, beech trees have grown undisturbed for centuries, some of them huge, with smooth grey trunks and wide canopies, and fallen trees lie rotting on the forest floor, feeding fungi, insects and birds.
Read the complete Rožok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 219 km into the recorded legs you reach Rožok. Next is Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
At the very eastern tip of Slovakia, where the borders of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet on the summit of Kremenec, lies a forest that has been left to itself for longer than anyone remembers. Stužica, in the Poloniny National Park, is one of the most valuable fragments of primeval beech forest in Europe, with trees several hundred years old, fallen trunks rotting slowly on the ground, and an extraordinary richness of fungi, insects and birds. It is part of the UNESCO site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a transnational listing that started with forests in Slovakia and Ukraine.
Read the complete Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy, about halfway. Next is Terebowiec stream valley.
The far south-east corner of Poland is a place where the map runs out of road. The Terebowiec flows through the Bieszczady, the lowest and loneliest range of the Polish Carpathians, a land of wide grassy ridges called poloniny, deep beech forests and a few scattered villages, and the border with Ukraine is never far. The nearest settlements are Lutowiska, a village of a few hundred people, and across the frontier the town of Turka, so this is not a place with services. The nearest town where you can count on fuel and shops is Ustrzyki Dolne, a good half hour back along the valley road.
Read the complete Terebowiec stream valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Terebowiec stream valley sits at 376 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy comes up about 459 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Rožok.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rožok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 533 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Rožok. Next is back through Vihorlat.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vihorlat write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Vihorlat, late in the day. 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.
The route ends here after 752 km.
Havešová Primeval Forest → Vihorlat is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vihorlat → Rožok is 127 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rožok → Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Terebowiec stream valley is 83 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terebowiec stream valley → back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 83 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → back through Rožok is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rožok → back through Vihorlat is 127 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vihorlat → Havešová Primeval Forest is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.