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.
342 km from Stolac to Stolac, about 6 h 39 of riding. It goes by way of Bijača, Kalufi in Krekovi, Čengića Bara and back through Kalufi in Krekovi. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Above the Bregava river valley, a few kilometres from Stolac in Herzegovina, a hillside is covered with huge stone slabs that look like sarcophagi and tilting boxes. These are stećci, medieval tombstones that were carved in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and Radimlja is the best known cemetery of them. Over a hundred of them stand here, and several carry reliefs of exceptional quality, showing hunting scenes, riders with spears, dancing in a circle, stylised crescent moons, spirals and vines. In 2016 UNESCO listed a group of these sites together.
Read the complete Radimlja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Radimlja is where the day begins. Next is Bijača.
In western Herzegovina, near the town of Ljubuški and close to the Croatian border, the land is a mix of karst hills, fertile valleys and vineyards, baked by the sun and scented with sage and fig. Near the village of Bijača, the necropolis of stećci, the medieval tombstones that are unique to this region, is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of stećci, spread across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. The tombstones, carved with crosses, spirals, figures and inscriptions, stand among the grass and stones, a silent reminder of the people who lived here centuries ago.
Read the complete Bijača write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bijača comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kalufi in Krekovi.
The Nevesinjsko polje is a broad, flat-floored basin high in the karst of eastern Herzegovina, ringed by bare limestone hills, and at Krekovi, near its edge, a group of stećci known as Kalufi stands in the grass. These medieval tombstones, carved between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, belong to the transnational World Heritage Site inscribed in 2016. At Krekovi you find slabs, chests and gabled forms, some decorated with crosses, rosettes and borders, set in rows facing roughly east to west in the old tradition.
Read the complete Kalufi in Krekovi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 123 km into the recorded legs you reach Kalufi in Krekovi. Next is Čengića Bara.
Čengića Bara is a high pasture on the plateau around Kalinovik, in the mountainous heart of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is one of the most remote of the stećci sites listed by UNESCO in 2016. A group of medieval tombstones stands in the open grassland, carved with simple decorations, weathered by centuries of wind, snow and sun. Few visitors make it here, and that is part of the appeal. The stones seem to belong to the landscape itself, as much as the rocks and the grass around them.
Read the complete Čengića Bara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Čengića Bara, about halfway. Next is back through Kalufi in Krekovi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kalufi in Krekovi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Kalufi in Krekovi sits at 181 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bijača.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bijača write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bijača comes up about 305 km into the recorded legs. Next is Radimlja.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Radimlja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Radimlja closes the day.
Radimlja → Bijača is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bijača → Kalufi in Krekovi is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Kalufi in Krekovi → Čengića Bara is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Čengića Bara → back through Kalufi in Krekovi is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kalufi in Krekovi → back through Bijača is 87 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Bijača → Radimlja is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.