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.
A 394 km round trip from Tomislavgrad - roughly 7 h 33 in the saddle. On the way it passes Dugo polje at Blidinje, Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar, Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards and Potkuk in Bitunja. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The Kupres plateau is one of the high, open places of Bosnia and Herzegovina, more than a thousand metres up, with wide grasslands, cold winters and a sky that seems close enough to touch. Ravanjska vrata, the gates of Ravno, lies in this landscape, between Kupres and Tomislavgrad, and it is known for a group of stećci, the carved medieval tombstones that are found across Bosnia, Herzegovina and the neighbouring countries. UNESCO listed a selection of these necropolises in 2016. The stones are often decorated with spirals, crosses, hunting scenes and figures with raised hands, and their makers remain a subject of debate.
Read the complete Ravanjska vrata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ravanjska vrata is where the day begins. Next is Dugo polje at Blidinje.
High on a karst plateau in Herzegovina, between the massive mountains of Čvrsnica and Vran, lies Blidinje, a wide upland valley of meadows, limestone outcrops and black pine forests at around twelve hundred metres. At Dugo polje, the long field, a cluster of medieval tombstones stands in the grass, carved with crosses, spirals, rosettes, hunting scenes and human figures. These are stećci, the distinctive gravestones of the medieval Balkans, made between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and Dugo polje is one of the most impressive groups, part of the collection of stećci sites listed by UNESCO in 2016 across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Read the complete Dugo polje at Blidinje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dugo polje at Blidinje comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar.
The Old Bridge in Mostar is a single stone arch, slender and impossibly high, leaping across the emerald-green Neretva between two fortified towers. The Ottomans built it in the 1560s, designed by an architect named Mimar Hayruddin, and for more than four centuries it stood as a symbol of the city. On 9 November 1993, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was shelled and collapsed into the river. It was rebuilt with the original techniques and stone recovered from the riverbed and reopened in 2004, and the following year UNESCO listed the Old Bridge Area as a symbol of reconciliation and cultural coexistence.
Read the complete Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 139 km into the recorded legs you reach Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar. Next is Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards.
Radimlja, just outside Stolac in Herzegovina, is the finest of the stećak graveyards, and it lies right beside the main road, which makes it one of the easiest pieces of medieval Europe to stop for. Stećci are massive limestone tombstones, shaped like chests, slabs or little gabled houses, carved between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries across the medieval kingdom of Bosnia and neighbouring lands. Many are decorated with reliefs: spirals, vines, crescents, stars, hunting scenes, dancers holding hands, and knights with swords and shields, and one figure at Radimlja raises an oversized right hand in what may be a greeting or a blessing. In 2016 UNESCO listed a group of these graveyards across four countries together.
Read the complete Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards, about halfway. Next is Potkuk in Bitunja.
Grey limestone, thin grass, a scatter of oaks and juniper, and among them heavy blocks of carved stone lying where they were set some six or seven hundred years ago. Potkuk, near the hamlet of Bitunja in eastern Herzegovina, is one of the necropolises of stećci, the medieval tombstones that were added to the World Heritage list in 2016 together with sites across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Read the complete Potkuk in Bitunja write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Potkuk in Bitunja sits at 158 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards comes up about 224 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 257 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar. Next is back through Dugo polje at Blidinje.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dugo polje at Blidinje write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dugo polje at Blidinje, late in the day. Next is Ravanjska vrata.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ravanjska vrata write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 394 km.
Ravanjska vrata → Dugo polje at Blidinje is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dugo polje at Blidinje → Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar → Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards → Potkuk in Bitunja is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Potkuk in Bitunja → back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards → back through Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar → back through Dugo polje at Blidinje is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dugo polje at Blidinje → Ravanjska vrata is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.