Why this ride
502 km from Lutowiska to Lutowiska, about 8 h 41 of riding. On the way it passes Wolosatka stream valley, Rožok, Ruská Bystrá and back through Rožok. It crosses Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek and Ruská Bystrá
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 502 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 41
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Bieszczady Loop
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 26 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 26 km
- Named road
- Bieszczady Loop
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek is where the day begins. Next is Wolosatka stream valley.
2. Wolosatka stream valley
The Wołosatka is a mountain stream in the far south-eastern corner of Poland, draining the slopes below Tarnica, at 1,346 metres the highest summit of the Polish Bieszczady. Its valley is part of Bieszczady National Park and of the World Heritage listing of primeval Carpathian beech forests: dark, mossy woods of beech and fir where dead trunks are left to fall and rot, and where bears, wolves, lynx and wildcats still move freely. Above the treeline the ridges open into the połoniny, high grass meadows that turn tawny in autumn and give the range its rolling, almost Scottish silhouette.
Read the complete Wolosatka stream valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wolosatka stream valley comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rožok.
3. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 176 km into the recorded legs you reach Rožok. Next is Ruská Bystrá.
4. Ruská Bystrá
Hidden in a fold of the Vihorlat hills near the Ukrainian border, the little village of Ruská Bystrá has a wooden church built in the early eighteenth century, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, with a tower and a roof of wooden shingles and an iconostasis of painted icons inside. It is one of the Greek Catholic churches included in the World Heritage listing of the Wooden Churches of the Slovak Part of the Carpathian Mountain Area, inscribed in 2008, along with Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches across the country.
Read the complete Ruská Bystrá write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ruská Bystrá, about halfway. Next is back through Rožok.
5. back through Rožok
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rožok write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Rožok sits at 336 km, about halfway. Next is back through Wolosatka stream valley.
6. back through Wolosatka stream valley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wolosatka stream valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Wolosatka stream valley comes up about 427 km into the recorded legs. Next is Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek.
7. Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek closes the day.
Leg by leg
Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek to Wolosatka stream valley
Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek → Wolosatka stream valley is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wolosatka stream valley to Rožok
Wolosatka stream valley → Rožok is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rožok to Ruská Bystrá
Rožok → Ruská Bystrá is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ruská Bystrá to back through Rožok
Ruská Bystrá → back through Rožok is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rožok to back through Wolosatka stream valley
back through Rožok → back through Wolosatka stream valley is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wolosatka stream valley to Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek
back through Wolosatka stream valley → Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.