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 474 km round trip from Levoča - roughly 8 h 50 in the saddle. On the way it passes Component of Koniar plateau, Component of Esztramos Hill, Oremus Cellars and back through Component of Esztramos Hill. It crosses from Slovakia into Hungary - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Master Paul of Levoča carved the tallest Gothic wooden altar in the world, and you can stand in front of it in the church of St James in the centre of this walled town in eastern Slovakia. Completed in the early sixteenth century, the altar rises almost nineteen metres, with life-size figures of the Virgin and saints in limewood, painted and gilded, under a forest of pinnacles. It is the masterpiece of a sculptor about whom little is known beyond his work, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments.
Read the complete Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is where the day begins. Next is Component of Koniar plateau.
The Koniar plateau is a slab of limestone lifted above the surrounding valleys in southern Slovakia, one of the high karst tablelands that together make up the Slovak Karst. From the road it looks like nothing much: open grassland, scattered trees, a few pastures, steep wooded edges falling to the valleys of the Slaná and its tributaries. The interest is underneath. Rain soaks straight through the limestone, carving caves, shafts and swallow holes, and the whole cave system of the Slovak Karst and Hungary's Aggtelek, just over the border, is protected as a single World Heritage site. Nearby you will find the Ochtinská aragonite cave, filled with white needle-like crystals, the Gombasecká cave with its thin straw stalactites and, further north, the Dobšinská ice cave.
Read the complete Component of Koniar plateau write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Component of Koniar plateau comes up about 88 km into the recorded legs. Next is Component of Esztramos Hill.
Esztramos is a lumpy limestone hill rising from the valley of the Bódva in north-eastern Hungary, a stone's throw from the Slovak border. For much of the twentieth century it was quarried for limestone and iron ore, and in the process the miners broke into caves hidden inside it, full of crystal formations. The Rákóczi Cave, the best known of them, has delicate aragonite crystals and pools, and the hill now forms part of the Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst, a World Heritage site shared between the two countries. Visits to the cave are limited and usually need to be booked, so check before you count on getting inside.
Read the complete Component of Esztramos Hill write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 148 km into the recorded legs you reach Component of Esztramos Hill. Next is Oremus Cellars.
Tolcsva is a quiet village in the Tokaj wine region of northeastern Hungary, on the slopes of the Zemplén hills above the Bodrog river. The Oremus cellars here are among the most famous in the region: a network of tunnels cut into the volcanic rock over centuries, their walls black with the noble mould that thrives in the damp, steady cold. The estate has been owned since the 1990s by the family behind Vega Sicilia, one of Spain's most celebrated wineries, and it has become a showcase for the revival of Tokaji after the communist decades.
Read the complete Oremus Cellars write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Oremus Cellars, about halfway. Next is back through Component of Esztramos Hill.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Component of Esztramos Hill write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Component of Esztramos Hill sits at 252 km, about halfway. Next is back through Component of Koniar plateau.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Component of Koniar plateau write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Component of Koniar plateau comes up about 388 km into the recorded legs. Next is Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš closes the day.
Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš → Component of Koniar plateau is 88 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Component of Koniar plateau → Component of Esztramos Hill is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Component of Esztramos Hill → Oremus Cellars is 90 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Oremus Cellars → back through Component of Esztramos Hill is 90 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Component of Esztramos Hill → back through Component of Koniar plateau is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Component of Koniar plateau → Levoča and the work of Master Paul in Spiš is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.