Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less and Bodruzal
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
317 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 33
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: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
317 km from Muszyna to Muszyna, about 6 h 33 of riding. The stops in between: Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve, Ladomirová, Bodruzal and back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve. It crosses from Poland into Slovakia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less
Hidden among the hills of the Beskid Sądecki, close to the Slovak border in southern Poland, the little wooden church at Powroźnik is one of the oldest of its kind still standing in the country. Its oldest parts date from around 1600, and it belongs to the group of wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region listed by UNESCO in 2013. A tserkva is an Eastern-rite church, and this one was built by the Lemkos, the Rusyn highlanders who farmed these valleys for centuries until most were forcibly resettled after the Second World War. Today it serves as a Catholic church, but the shape tells its origin story at once: a tower with a bulging onion-like cap, stepped shingle roofs and dark timber walls weathered almost black.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less is where the day begins. Next is Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve.
2. Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve
Bardejov's main square is a long, gently sloping rectangle lined with Gothic and Renaissance burgher houses, their tall gables painted in pastel colours, with the Gothic Basilica of St Giles at the top and the old town hall standing alone in the middle. The town grew rich in the Middle Ages on trade between Hungary and Poland, and its walls, bastions and moat largely survive. Bardejov was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2000, along with its Jewish suburb, with a synagogue and ritual bath from the eighteenth century, a reminder of the community that lived here until the Holocaust.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ladomirová.
3. Ladomirová
In the village of Ladomirová, just north of Svidník in north-eastern Slovakia, a small wooden church dedicated to the Archangel Michael stands on a gentle rise among trees. Built in the eighteenth century by the Greek Catholic community without using a single nail, it has three wooden towers with onion-shaped tops, rising in height from east to west, and its interior holds an iconostasis of painted icons. It is one of the eight wooden churches of the Slovak Carpathians inscribed together by UNESCO in 2008, and its simplicity and craftsmanship are deeply moving.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve, about halfway. Next is Bodruzal.
5. Bodružal
Bodružal is a tiny Rusyn village in the far northeast of Slovakia, close to the Polish border, with a few dozen houses scattered along a valley among the forested hills of the Low Beskids. What brings people here is its wooden church of St Nicholas, built in 1658, a three-domed Greek Catholic church with shingled walls and onion-shaped towers stepping up from east to west. It is one of the eight churches in the UNESCO listing of the wooden churches of the Slovak part of the Carpathian mountain area, and it is a perfect example of the Lemko style: compact, harmonious and rooted in its landscape. Inside, the iconostasis glows with painted saints.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 317 km.
Leg by leg
Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less to Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve
Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less → Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve to Ladomirová
Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve → Ladomirová is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ladomirová to Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve
Ladomirová → Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve to Bodruzal
Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve → Bodruzal is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bodružal to back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve
Bodružal → back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve to back through Ladomirová
back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve → back through Ladomirová is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ladomirová to back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve
back through Ladomirová → back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve to Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less
back through Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve → Powroźnik-Tserkva of Saint James the Less is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.