Why this ride
A 93 km round trip from Karlovy Vary - roughly 1 h 54 in the saddle. On the way it passes The Red Tower of Death, Mědník Hill Mining Landscape and back through The Red Tower of Death.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Karlovy Vary and Mědník Hill Mining Landscape
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 93 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 54
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Castle Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 17 km this is Castle Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
- Named road
- Castle Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Karlovy Vary
Legend has it that Emperor Charles IV was out hunting in the forests of western Bohemia in the fourteenth century when a stag he was chasing, or in some versions one of his hounds, fell into a pool of scalding water, and that is how the hot springs of Karlovy Vary were found. Whatever the truth, the town that grew up around them bears his name, Karlsbad in German, and by the nineteenth century it had become one of the most fashionable spas in Europe, visited by tsars, composers, poets and the cream of European society. In 2021, it became part of the UNESCO listing of the Great Spa Towns of Europe.
Read the complete Karlovy Vary write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Karlovy Vary is where the day begins. Next is The Red Tower of Death.
2. The Red Tower of Death
The name sounds like a horror film, and the reality was grim enough. In the 1950s, the communist government of Czechoslovakia sent tens of thousands of political prisoners to labour camps in the Jáchymov region to mine uranium for the Soviet nuclear programme. In a red brick building near Ostrov, known as the Red Tower of Death, prisoners crushed and sorted uranium ore by hand, without protection, exposed to dust and radiation. Many died or suffered lasting illness. The building is now a memorial, part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region World Heritage listing, and a powerful reminder of the human cost of the Cold War.
Read the complete The Red Tower of Death write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Red Tower of Death comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mědník Hill Mining Landscape.
3. Mědník Hill Mining Landscape
Mědník is a small, steep hill on the Czech side of the Ore Mountains, or Krušné hory, the range that forms the border between Bohemia and Saxony. It rises above the village of Měděnec, whose name, like the hill's, comes from the Czech word for copper. For centuries, miners tunnelled into the hill for copper and iron ore, and the hill is now part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, inscribed by UNESCO in 2019 as a cross-border site.
Read the complete Mědník Hill Mining Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 47 km into the recorded legs you reach Mědník Hill Mining Landscape. Next is back through The Red Tower of Death.
4. back through The Red Tower of Death
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Red Tower of Death write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Red Tower of Death, late in the day. Next is Karlovy Vary.
5. Karlovy Vary
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Karlovy Vary write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Karlovy Vary. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Karlovy Vary to The Red Tower of Death
Karlovy Vary → The Red Tower of Death is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Red Tower of Death to Mědník Hill Mining Landscape
The Red Tower of Death → Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape to back through The Red Tower of Death
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → back through The Red Tower of Death is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Red Tower of Death to Karlovy Vary
back through The Red Tower of Death → Karlovy Vary is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.