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: 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.
An 825 km round trip from Velykyi Bereznyi - roughly 6 h in the saddle. The stops in between: Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy, Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan, Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa and Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch. It crosses Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 36 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ruská Bystrá is where the day begins. Next is Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
At the very eastern tip of Slovakia, where the borders of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet on the summit of Kremenec, lies a forest that has been left to itself for longer than anyone remembers. Stužica, in the Poloniny National Park, is one of the most valuable fragments of primeval beech forest in Europe, with trees several hundred years old, fallen trunks rotting slowly on the ground, and an extraordinary richness of fungi, insects and birds. It is part of the UNESCO site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a transnational listing that started with forests in Slovakia and Ukraine.
Read the complete Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy comes up about 97 km into the recorded legs. Next is Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan.
Just below the pass that carries the road and railway from Uzhhorod into Galicia, the village of Uzhok keeps one of the finest wooden churches of the Carpathians. The tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael was built in the middle of the eighteenth century in the Boyko style, with three log chambers each topped by a tiered roof, rising in stages like a set of stacked hats, all covered in wooden shingles. It stands on a slope among old trees, with a separate bell tower nearby, and it is one of the sixteen wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine listed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 183 km into the recorded legs you reach Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan. Next is Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa.
In the Bieszczady mountains of south-eastern Poland, close to the border with Ukraine, a wooden church stands on a gentle rise above the San valley at Smolnik. It is dedicated to St Michael the Archangel and built in the style of the Boyko people, with three log sections stepping up from east to west under shingled roofs. Since 2013 it has been part of the World Heritage Site of Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine.
Read the complete Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa, about halfway. Next is Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch.
The wooden church of Saint Michael the Archangel in Turzańsk stands on a gentle slope in the foothills of the Bieszczady mountains, in the far southeast of Poland, near the borders with Slovakia and Ukraine, with its onion domes rising above the trees. It was built in the early nineteenth century by the Lemko or Boyko communities, the Ruthenian highlanders who once lived in these mountains, and it is one of the wooden tserkvas of the Polish and Ukrainian Carpathian region listed by UNESCO in 2013. Inside, an iconostasis of painted icons separates the nave from the sanctuary, and the church is still used for Orthodox services.
Read the complete Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch sits at 413 km, about halfway. Next is back through Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa comes up about 557 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 647 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan. Next is back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy, late in the day. Next is Ruská Bystrá.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ruská Bystrá write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 825 km.
Ruská Bystrá → Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 97 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan is 85 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan → Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa is 90 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa → Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch is 142 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch → back through Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa is 142 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa → back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan is 90 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan → back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 85 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Ruská Bystrá is 97 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.