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 341 km round trip from Schwarzenberg - roughly 5 h 02 in the saddle. The stops in between: Františkovy Lázne, Margravial Opera House Bayreuth and back through Františkovy Lázne. It crosses from Germany into Czechia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Schwarzenberg, in the western Erzgebirge, is a town of steep streets, slate roofs and a castle and church perched on a rock above the Schwarzwasser river, and the hills around it are riddled with old mine workings. The Rother Berg, the red mountain, takes its name from the iron ore that colours its soil, and it is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border UNESCO site listed in 2019. For eight centuries, miners in these mountains dug for silver, tin, iron, cobalt and later uranium, and their work shaped not only the landscape but the culture of the whole region.
Read the complete Rother Berg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rother Berg Mining Landscape is where the day begins. Next is Františkovy Lázne.
Františkovy Lázně, known in German as Franzensbad, is a small spa town in the far west of the Czech Republic that looks as if it has been painted in a single colour: yellow and white Empire-style buildings, colonnades and pavilions set in spacious parks, all laid out in the early nineteenth century around mineral springs. It was named after Emperor Francis I of Austria, and it became a fashionable resort, especially for women, because its waters and mud baths were believed to help with fertility. The bronze statue of a little boy holding a fish, known as František, is said to bring luck to women who touch it, and you will see that his foot has been polished by countless hands. Since 2021, the town has been part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage site, along with its larger neighbours, Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně.
Read the complete Františkovy Lázne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Františkovy Lázne comes up about 95 km into the recorded legs. Next is Margravial Opera House Bayreuth.
Bayreuth's Margravial Opera House is the sort of building that makes you wonder how a small provincial court could afford it. It was built between 1745 and 1750 for Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and his wife, Wilhelmine, the sister of Frederick the Great, who was a composer, writer and patron and the driving force behind the court's cultural life. The interior, designed by the Italian theatre architect Giuseppe Galli Bibiena and his son Carlo, is a Baroque jewel box of carved and painted wood, with gold and blue tiers, a royal box like a throne and a stage deep enough for elaborate scenery.
Read the complete Margravial Opera House Bayreuth write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 170 km into the recorded legs you reach Margravial Opera House Bayreuth. Next is back through Františkovy Lázne.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Františkovy Lázne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Františkovy Lázne, late in the day. Next is Rother Berg Mining Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rother Berg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Rother Berg Mining Landscape. That is the ride.
Rother Berg Mining Landscape → Františkovy Lázne is 95 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Františkovy Lázne → Margravial Opera House Bayreuth is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Margravial Opera House Bayreuth → back through Františkovy Lázne is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Františkovy Lázne → Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.