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.
From Lutowiska it runs 877 km to Lutowiska; allow about 15 h 08 of riding. On the way it passes Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy, Udava, Havešová Primeval Forest and back through Udava. It crosses from Poland into Slovakia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 25 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 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 131 km into the recorded legs. Next is Udava.
Out where Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet, the eastern Carpathians fold into long, rounded ridges covered in beech forest so continuous that from a high point it looks like a green sea. Udava is one of the Slovak pieces of the UNESCO Primeval Beech Forests listing, protected within Poloniny National Park, the most easterly and least populated corner of the country. Here the forest has been left to its own rhythms for a very long time: giant trees, fallen trunks covered in fungi and moss, a dense understory of young growth wherever light breaks through. Wolves, lynx, brown bears and even European bison roam the area, and the dawn chorus in May is unforgettable.
Read the complete Udava write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 298 km into the recorded legs you reach Udava. 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.
Havešová Primeval Forest, about halfway. Next is back through Udava.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Udava write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Udava sits at 585 km, about halfway. 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 comes up about 746 km into the recorded legs. 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.
Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa closes the day.
Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa → Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 131 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Udava is 167 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Udava → Havešová Primeval Forest is 141 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Havešová Primeval Forest → back through Udava is 141 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Udava → back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 167 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa is 131 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.