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.
From Kolochava it runs 559 km to Kolochava; allow about 13 h 57 of riding. It goes by way of Gorgany, Maramarosh and back through Gorgany. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Synevyr - Vilshany
Lake Synevyr is the largest mountain lake in the Ukrainian Carpathians, a dark, deep pool surrounded by spruce forest at about a thousand metres, formed thousands of years ago when a landslide blocked a valley. It is called the sea eye, and on a calm day, it reflects the trees and the sky like a mirror. A sad legend tells of a count's daughter, Syn, who fell in love with a shepherd, Vyr; the count had the young man killed, and the girl wept so much that her tears formed the lake. The lake is the centrepiece of the Synevyr National Park, which protects a large area of old forests in Zakarpattia, and nearby there is a rehabilitation centre for brown bears rescued from captivity, where you can see them in large forest enclosures.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Synevyr - Vilshany is where the day begins. Next is Gorgany.
2. Gorgany
The Gorgany are the wildest part of the Ukrainian Carpathians, a range of sandstone peaks rising above dense forests in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. What makes them unusual are the gorgany themselves, the fields of loose stone blocks that cover the upper slopes and summits, formed by frost shattering the rock. Walking across them is slow and tiring, and the forests below, of spruce, beech and Swiss stone pine, are among the most pristine in Ukraine, with brown bears, wolves, lynx and red deer. The Gorgany nature reserve protects a part of this landscape.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gorgany comes up 74 km in. Next is Maramarosh.
3. Maramarosh
On the map, the line between Romania and Ukraine runs along the Tisza river here, and on either side of it the Carpathians rise in forested ridges. Maramarosh is the old name for the whole region, Maramureș to Romanians, and it is also the name of a protected forest within the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve on the Ukrainian side, one component of the World Heritage inscription for ancient and primeval beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe. These are forests where beech trees have grown undisturbed since the last ice age, with giants several hundred years old and a richness of life that has vanished from most of Europe.