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 311 km round trip from Valea Vișeului - roughly 7 h 08 in the saddle. On the way it passes Church of Saint Nicholas, Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, Church of the Holy Archangels and back through Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. It crosses from Ukraine into Romania - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 58 km this is Romania Maramures Wooden Churches Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The river Tisza runs fast and green out of the Ukrainian Carpathians, and for many kilometres it forms the border between Romania and Ukraine. On the Ukrainian bank, the forests of Kuziy and Trybushany are among the primeval beech woods protected in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve and listed by UNESCO as part of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe. From the Romanian side, around Valea Vișeului, you look across the river at steep, wooded slopes where the trees have grown and died without interference for centuries.
Read the complete Kuziy - Trybushany write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kuziy - Trybushany is where the day begins. Next is Church of Saint Nicholas.
Budești is one of the old villages of the Cosău valley in Maramureș, the far northern corner of Romania, where traditional life has survived longer than almost anywhere else in Europe. Its wooden church of St Nicholas, built in the seventeenth century, is a masterpiece of the local carpentry tradition: a dark timber body with a tall, steep shingled roof and a slender spire that seems to pierce the sky. Inside, the walls are covered with painted scenes from the Bible, and among the church's treasures is a coat of chain mail said to have belonged to Pintea the Brave, a legendary outlaw hero of the region. The church is one of eight in the UNESCO listing of the Wooden Churches of Maramureș.
Read the complete Church of Saint Nicholas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of Saint Nicholas comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Nativity of the Virgin.
Ieud is a long village strung along a side valley of the Iza river in Maramureș, in Romania's far north, and it has not one but two wooden churches. The one on the hill, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, is one of the eight Wooden Churches of Maramureș listed by UNESCO, and it is one of the oldest, with a tall, slender bell tower and a double roof of wooden shingles that reaches almost to the ground. Inside, the walls are covered with eighteenth-century paintings on wood and cloth, with scenes from the Last Judgement in which the damned are dressed in the clothes of the local enemies of the time. The church is also known for the Ieud Codex, a manuscript found here, one of the oldest texts written in the Romanian language.
Read the complete Church of the Nativity of the Virgin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. Next is Church of the Holy Archangels.
The wooden church at Rogoz stands in the Lăpuș country, a quieter, lesser-known corner of Maramureș, south of the mountains and away from the main tourist circuits. Built in the seventeenth century and dedicated to the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, it is unusual in shape: the roof is asymmetric and overhangs deeply on one side, and the eaves are supported by carved wooden brackets shaped like horse heads, a detail that seems to come straight out of folk tradition. Inside, the walls are painted with scenes from the Bible, including a vivid Last Judgement. It is one of the eight churches in the UNESCO listing of the Wooden Churches of Maramureș.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Archangels write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Archangels, about halfway. Next is back through Church of the Nativity of the Virgin.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Nativity of the Virgin write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Nativity of the Virgin sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of Saint Nicholas.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Saint Nicholas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of Saint Nicholas comes up about 253 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kuziy - Trybushany.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kuziy - Trybushany write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kuziy - Trybushany closes the day.
Kuziy - Trybushany → Church of Saint Nicholas is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Saint Nicholas → Church of the Nativity of the Virgin is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin → Church of the Holy Archangels is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Archangels → back through Church of the Nativity of the Virgin is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Nativity of the Virgin → back through Church of Saint Nicholas is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of Saint Nicholas → Kuziy - Trybushany is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.