Why this ride
It goes by way of Rožok, Ruská Bystrá and back through Rožok. It crosses Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy and Ruská Bystrá
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 138 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 38
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
Scenic road chapters
Bieszczady Loop
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 17 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 10 km
- Named road
- Bieszczady Loop
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is where the day begins. Next is Rožok.
2. Rožok
Rožok is a small patch of very old forest on the eastern edge of Slovakia, close to the borders with Poland and Ukraine, and it is one of the components of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a World Heritage Site that stretches across many countries. Here, on a steep slope above the Starina reservoir, beech trees have grown undisturbed for centuries, some of them huge, with smooth grey trunks and wide canopies, and fallen trees lie rotting on the forest floor, feeding fungi, insects and birds.
Read the complete Rožok write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rožok comes up 21 km in. Next is Ruská Bystrá.
3. 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
42 km in you reach Ruská Bystrá. Next is back through Rožok.
4. back through Rožok
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rožok write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Rožok, late in the day. Next is Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
5. Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy to Rožok
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Rožok is 10 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rožok to Ruská Bystrá
Rožok → Ruská Bystrá is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ruská Bystrá to back through Rožok
Ruská Bystrá → back through Rožok is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rožok to Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy
back through Rožok → Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 10 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.