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 426 km round trip from Novi Travnik - roughly 9 h 10 in the saddle. The stops in between: Prašuma Janj, Ravanjska vrata, Dugo polje at Blidinje and back through Ravanjska vrata. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Maculje
Central Bosnia is a country of green hills folded one behind another, and Maculje sits in the middle of it, a few kilometres from Novi Travnik in the Lašva valley. If you have not heard of it, you are in good company, because what draws people here is quiet and very old. Maculje is a necropolis of stećci, the massive carved limestone tombstones that medieval Bosnians, Croatians and Serbs raised between roughly the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries. They stand in the grass in rows, slabs shaped like chests and gabled roofs, with weathered carvings of crescent moons, spirals, hunters and dancers.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Maculje is where the day begins. Next is Prašuma Janj.
2. Prašuma Janj
Prašuma means primeval forest, and Janj is one of the few places in Europe where that word is literally true. In the hills above the Janj river, between Šipovo and Donji Vakuf in central Bosnia, a block of mixed beech, fir and spruce forest has survived without logging, its oldest trees reaching enormous heights and girths. Since 2021 it has been part of the World Heritage site of ancient beech forests of Europe, joining a chain of reserves from the Carpathians to the Pyrenees.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Prašuma Janj comes up about 94 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ravanjska vrata.
3. Ravanjska vrata
The Kupres plateau is one of the high, open places of Bosnia and Herzegovina, more than a thousand metres up, with wide grasslands, cold winters and a sky that seems close enough to touch. Ravanjska vrata, the gates of Ravno, lies in this landscape, between Kupres and Tomislavgrad, and it is known for a group of stećci, the carved medieval tombstones that are found across Bosnia, Herzegovina and the neighbouring countries. UNESCO listed a selection of these necropolises in 2016. The stones are often decorated with spirals, crosses, hunting scenes and figures with raised hands, and their makers remain a subject of debate.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 151 km into the recorded legs you reach Ravanjska vrata. Next is Dugo polje at Blidinje.
4. Dugo polje at Blidinje
High on a karst plateau in Herzegovina, between the massive mountains of Čvrsnica and Vran, lies Blidinje, a wide upland valley of meadows, limestone outcrops and black pine forests at around twelve hundred metres. At Dugo polje, the long field, a cluster of medieval tombstones stands in the grass, carved with crosses, spirals, rosettes, hunting scenes and human figures. These are stećci, the distinctive gravestones of the medieval Balkans, made between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and Dugo polje is one of the most impressive groups, part of the collection of stećci sites listed by UNESCO in 2016 across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.