Why this ride
From Velykyi Bereznyi it runs 261 km to Velykyi Bereznyi; allow about 4 h 30 of riding. On the way it passes Havešová Primeval Forest, Vihorlat and back through Havešová Primeval Forest.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ruská Bystrá and Vihorlat
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 261 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 30
- 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: 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ruská Bystrá
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ruská Bystrá is where the day begins. Next is Havešová Primeval Forest.
2. Havešová Primeval Forest
In the far north-east of Slovakia, in the hills where Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet, the beech forests have never been cut. Havešová is one of these primeval forests, a steep slope of giant beech trees, some over forty metres tall and hundreds of years old, with fallen trunks decaying slowly on the forest floor and new trees rising in the gaps. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, inscribed in 2007 and extended since, and it lies within Poloniny National Park, one of the least visited and most remote national parks in Central Europe.
Read the complete Havešová Primeval Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Havešová Primeval Forest comes up about 68 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vihorlat.
3. Vihorlat
Vihorlat is a range of old volcanoes in the far east of Slovakia, close to the Ukrainian border, and its higher slopes are covered with some of the last primeval beech forests in Europe. The trees here have grown, died and rotted without human interference for a very long time, and the forest is part of the transnational UNESCO site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, first listed in 2007 with sites in Slovakia and Ukraine and later extended across much of the continent.
Read the complete Vihorlat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 131 km into the recorded legs you reach Vihorlat. Next is back through Havešová Primeval Forest.
4. back through Havešová Primeval Forest
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Havešová Primeval Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Havešová Primeval Forest, late in the day. Next is Ruská Bystrá.
5. Ruská Bystrá
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ruská Bystrá write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Ruská Bystrá. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Ruská Bystrá to Havešová Primeval Forest
Ruská Bystrá → Havešová Primeval Forest is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Havešová Primeval Forest to Vihorlat
Havešová Primeval Forest → Vihorlat is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vihorlat to back through Havešová Primeval Forest
Vihorlat → back through Havešová Primeval Forest is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Havešová Primeval Forest to Ruská Bystrá
back through Havešová Primeval Forest → Ruská Bystrá is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.