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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 496 km round trip from Lutowiska - roughly 8 h 34 in the saddle. On the way it passes Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa, Terebowiec stream valley, Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy and Rožok. It crosses from Poland into Ukraine - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 17 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa.
In the Bieszczady mountains of south-eastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine, a wooden church stands on a gentle rise above the San valley at Smolnik. It is dedicated to St Michael the Archangel and built in the style of the Boyko people, with three log sections stepping up from east to west under shingled roofs. Since 2013 it has been part of the World Heritage Site of Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine.
Read the complete Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Terebowiec stream valley.
The far south-east corner of Poland is a place where the map runs out of road. The Terebowiec flows through the Bieszczady, the lowest and loneliest range of the Polish Carpathians, a land of wide grassy ridges called poloniny, deep beech forests and a few scattered villages, and the border with Ukraine is never far. The nearest settlements are Lutowiska, a village of a few hundred people, and across the frontier the town of Turka, so this is not a place with services. The nearest town where you can count on fuel and shops is Ustrzyki Dolne, a good half hour back along the valley road.
Read the complete Terebowiec stream valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 123 km into the recorded legs you reach Terebowiec stream valley. Next is Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
At the very eastern tip of Slovakia, where the borders of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet on the summit of Kremenec, lies a forest that has been left to itself for longer than anyone remembers. Stužica, in the Poloniny National Park, is one of the most valuable fragments of primeval beech forest in Europe, with trees several hundred years old, fallen trunks rotting slowly on the ground, and an extraordinary richness of fungi, insects and birds. It is part of the UNESCO site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a transnational listing that started with forests in Slovakia and Ukraine.
Read the complete Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy, about halfway. Next is Rožok.
Rožok is a small patch of very old forest on the eastern edge of Slovakia, close to the borders with Poland and Ukraine, and it is one of the components of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a World Heritage Site that stretches across many countries. Here, on a steep slope above the Starina reservoir, beech trees have grown undisturbed for centuries, some of them huge, with smooth grey trunks and wide canopies, and fallen trees lie rotting on the forest floor, feeding fungi, insects and birds.
Read the complete Rožok write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rožok sits at 250 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy comes up about 310 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Terebowiec stream valley.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Terebowiec stream valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 376 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Terebowiec stream valley. Next is back through Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa, late in the day. Next is Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 496 km.
Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek → Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa → Terebowiec stream valley is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Terebowiec stream valley → Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Rožok is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rožok → back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → back through Terebowiec stream valley is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Terebowiec stream valley → back through Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa → Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.