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.
778 km from Lutowiska to Lutowiska, about 14 h 29 of riding. On the way it passes Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan, Havešová Primeval Forest, Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch and Bodruzal. It crosses Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 143 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 is where the day begins. 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.
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan comes up about 143 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 230 km into the recorded legs you reach Havešová Primeval Forest. 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, about halfway. Next is Bodruzal.
Bodružal is a tiny Rusyn village in the far northeast of Slovakia, close to the Polish border, with a few dozen houses scattered along a valley among the forested hills of the Low Beskids. What brings people here is its wooden church of St Nicholas, built in 1658, a three-domed Greek Catholic church with shingled walls and onion-shaped towers stepping up from east to west. It is one of the eight churches in the UNESCO listing of the wooden churches of the Slovak part of the Carpathian mountain area, and it is a perfect example of the Lemko style: compact, harmonious and rooted in its landscape. Inside, the iconostasis glows with painted saints.
Read the complete Bodruzal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bodružal sits at 188 km, about halfway. Next is back through Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
back through Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch comes up about 447 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Havešová Primeval Forest.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Havešová Primeval Forest write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 544 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Havešová Primeval Forest. 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.
back through Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 778 km.
Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa → Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan is 143 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan → Havešová Primeval Forest is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Havešová Primeval Forest → Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch is 101 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch → Bodruzal is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bodružal → back through Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch → back through Havešová Primeval Forest is 97 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Havešová Primeval Forest → 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 → Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa is 144 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.