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.
401 km from Spišské Podhradie to Spišské Podhradie, about 8 h 21 of riding. The stops in between: Kezmarok, Church of the Archangel Michael, Church of St Leonard and Salt Mine in Bochnia. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Slovakia into Poland - 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 54 km this is Slovak High Tatras Freedom Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Spread across a ridge in eastern Slovakia, with the jagged peaks of the High Tatras rising on the northern horizon, the Spiš region holds one of Europe's great clusters of medieval monuments. The town of Levoča, the old regional capital, was a wealthy royal free town, and its walls, burgher houses and Renaissance town hall still surround a long central square. Inside the church of St James stands Master Paul of Levoča's carved Gothic altarpiece, finished in the early sixteenth century and the tallest of its kind in the world, an astonishing tower of limewood saints and filigree.
Read the complete Levoča write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Levoča is where the day begins. Next is Kezmarok.
Kežmarok sits at the foot of the High Tatras in northern Slovakia, and on a clear day the jagged peaks of the smallest high mountain range in Europe rise above the town like a wall. It is an old town with a mixed history: founded by German settlers in the Middle Ages, it was a free royal town and a centre of trade and crafts, and its wealthy citizens built a castle, churches and fine houses around the square.
Read the complete Kezmarok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Kežmarok comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Archangel Michael.
From the outside, the church in Dębno Podhalańskie looks like a sturdy wooden barn with a steep shingled roof and a squat tower, the kind of building you might ride past without a second glance. Step inside and the walls explode with colour: every surface covered in stencilled and painted patterns, animals, plants and geometric figures, dating back to around 1500, one of the best-preserved medieval painted interiors in Poland. The church, built of larch in the late fifteenth century, is part of the UNESCO listing of Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, a group of Gothic timber churches that show the skill of local carpenters who built without nails.
Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 98 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of the Archangel Michael. Next is Church of St Leonard.
The hills around Limanowa in southern Poland have a nickname that suits them perfectly: the Beskid Wyspowy, the Island Beskids. Instead of forming a continuous ridge, the summits rise individually from the surrounding valleys like islands from a sea, each one wooded, rounded and separate. Driving through the area is a constant game of spotting the next hump on the horizon. The famous wooden church of St Leonard stands at Lipnica Murowana, in the hills to the north of here, and it is one of the Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland listed by UNESCO in 2003.
Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of St Leonard, about halfway. Next is Salt Mine in Bochnia.
People were mining salt at Bochnia by the middle of the thirteenth century, which makes it the oldest salt mine in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe still open to visitors. For centuries the salt from here and from Wieliczka, about twenty-five kilometres to the west, filled the coffers of the Polish kings; at times it accounted for a remarkable share of the royal income. Together the two mines and the royal castle at Wieliczka form a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Read the complete Salt Mine in Bochnia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Salt Mine in Bochnia sits at 181 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of St Leonard.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of St Leonard comes up about 247 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Church of the Archangel Michael.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 303 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of the Archangel Michael. Next is back through Kezmarok.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kezmarok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kezmarok, late in the day. Next is Levoča.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Levoča write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 401 km.
Levoča → Kezmarok is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kežmarok → Church of the Archangel Michael is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Archangel Michael → Church of St Leonard is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of St Leonard → Salt Mine in Bochnia is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Salt Mine in Bochnia → back through Church of St Leonard is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of St Leonard → back through Church of the Archangel Michael is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Archangel Michael → back through Kezmarok is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kezmarok → Levoča is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.