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.
From Starigrad it runs 415 km to Starigrad; allow about 7 h 11 of riding. On the way it passes Defensive System of Zadar, Fort of St. Nikola, Historic City of Trogir and back through Fort of St. Nikola. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Paklenica is a place where the Velebit mountains drop in a wall to the Adriatic. The national park, created in 1949, protects two gorges, Mala and Velika Paklenica, which cut into the limestone like a pair of knife wounds, with vertical walls up to four hundred metres high. The big wall of Anića Kuk is a famous climbing area, and on a clear day you can watch climbers as small as ants. Between the walls, the path winds through black pine and beech forest, with the sound of a stream and the smell of resin. Griffon vultures nest on the cliffs and often circle overhead, and the caves in the hills hold bats and old stories.
Read the complete Paklenica National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Paklenica National Park is where the day begins. Next is Defensive System of Zadar.
Zadar spent much of its life on the front line, and its walls prove it. Once the chief city of Venetian Dalmatia, it stood on the border between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Venetians turned it into one of the strongest fortress towns in the Adriatic. The ramparts, bastions and gates that survive are part of the Venetian Works of Defence between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a group of sites across Italy, Croatia and Montenegro that UNESCO inscribed in 2017.
Read the complete Defensive System of Zadar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Defensive System of Zadar comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fort of St. Nikola, 62 km on.
Šibenik has the odd distinction of being a Croatian city founded by Croats rather than by the Greeks or Romans who established most of the Adriatic coast, and its old town climbs a hillside above a natural harbour, a maze of stone lanes and stairs. The harbour is approached through a narrow channel from the sea, and the fort of St Nicholas guards the entrance, standing on a small rocky islet. The Venetians built it in the 1540s to protect the city from Ottoman galleys, and it is a remarkable piece of military design, with a triangular plan and walls shaped to deflect cannon fire. UNESCO has listed it among the Venetian Works of Defence of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, together with the defences of Zadar. The fort is reached by boat from the Šibenik waterfront.
Read the complete Fort of St. Nikola write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 147 km into the recorded legs you reach Fort of St. Nikola. Next is Historic City of Trogir.
Trogir is an island, though you barely notice it. The old town sits on a tiny islet between the mainland and the larger island of Čiovo, linked to both by short bridges, and inside its walls is one of the best preserved medieval towns on the Adriatic, a UNESCO site of narrow lanes, stone palaces and churches, crammed into an area you can walk across in five minutes.
Read the complete Historic City of Trogir write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic City of Trogir, about halfway. Next is back through Fort of St. Nikola, 62 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fort of St. Nikola write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fort of St. Nikola sits at 249 km, about halfway. Next is back through Defensive System of Zadar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Defensive System of Zadar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Defensive System of Zadar comes up about 360 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paklenica National Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paklenica National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Paklenica National Park closes the day.
Paklenica National Park → Defensive System of Zadar is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Defensive System of Zadar → Fort of St. Nikola is 94 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fort of St. Nikola → Historic City of Trogir is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic City of Trogir → back through Fort of St. Nikola is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fort of St. Nikola → back through Defensive System of Zadar is 94 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Defensive System of Zadar → Paklenica National Park is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.