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 438 km round trip from Uście Gorlickie - roughly 9 h 01 in the saddle. It goes by way of Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi, Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch and Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek. 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 56 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The little wooden church at Kwiatoń is often called the most beautiful of its kind in Poland, and when you see it you understand why. Built in the seventeenth century by the Lemko community, it has three parts, each topped by a tower with a bulbous cupola, rising in height from the sanctuary at the east to the bell tower at the west, all clad in wooden shingles and set in a green churchyard among old trees. Inside, painted walls and an iconostasis of icons glow in the dim light. It is one of the wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine inscribed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Kwiatoń-Tserkva of Saint Paraskeva write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kwiatoń-Tserkva of Saint Paraskeva is where the day begins. Next is Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska.
The church of St Michael the Archangel in Binarowa looks, from the outside, like a simple barn with a tower: dark shingled walls, a steep roof and a small onion-topped belfry. Step inside and the walls and ceiling explode with colour, covered with painted decoration of saints, scenes from the Bible and floral patterns, some of them centuries old. Built around 1500 of larch and fir, without nails in the traditional joinery, it is one of the Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, a group of Gothic churches inscribed as a World Heritage site. The local story is that it was built from timber left over from another church, but whatever its origins, the result is one of the finest wooden interiors in Poland.
Read the complete Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi.
Haczów, a village in the foothills of the Carpathians in southeastern Poland, has a church that is considered the largest Gothic wooden church in Europe, and one of the oldest. Built in the fifteenth century, probably on the site of an earlier church, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Michael the Archangel is a massive structure of larch logs, with a steep shingled roof and a bell tower, standing among old trees. Inside, the walls are covered with polychrome paintings, the oldest from the late fifteenth century, showing saints, biblical scenes and decorative patterns, and the atmosphere is dim, warm and fragrant with old wood. In 2003 the church was listed by UNESCO among the Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, along with five others in the region. It is still used for worship, so check visiting times and dress respectfully.
Read the complete Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 102 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi. Next is Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch.
The wooden church of Saint Michael the Archangel in Turzańsk stands on a gentle slope in the foothills of the Bieszczady mountains, in the far southeast of Poland, near the borders with Slovakia and Ukraine, with its onion domes rising above the trees. It was built in the early nineteenth century by the Lemko or Boyko communities, the Ruthenian highlanders who once lived in these mountains, and it is one of the wooden tserkvas of the Polish and Ukrainian Carpathian region listed by UNESCO in 2013. Inside, an iconostasis of painted icons separates the nave from the sanctuary, and the church is still used for Orthodox services.
Read the complete Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch, about halfway. Next is Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek.
In the far southeastern corner of Poland, where the country meets Slovakia and Ukraine, the Bieszczady mountains rise in long, rounded ridges covered with beech forest. Above the tree line, the summits are open meadows called połoniny, and Połonina Wetlińska is one of the most beautiful, a long grassy ridge with views over endless forested hills. Smerek, a peak at its western end, rises to over twelve hundred metres. On the ridge, the Chatka Puchatka, Winnie the Pooh's hut, a small mountain refuge, has been a beloved stop for hikers for decades. The walk up from Wetlina or the Przełęcz Wyżna pass takes a couple of hours, and the view from the top, especially at sunset, is unforgettable.
Read the complete Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek sits at 206 km, about halfway. Next is back through Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch comes up about 282 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 337 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi. Next is back through Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, late in the day. Next is Kwiatoń-Tserkva of Saint Paraskeva.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kwiatoń-Tserkva of Saint Paraskeva write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 438 km.
Kwiatoń-Tserkva of Saint Paraskeva → Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska → Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi → Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch → Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek → back through Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch → back through Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Vi → back through Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska → Kwiatoń-Tserkva of Saint Paraskeva is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.