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.
From Ostrov it runs 299 km to Ostrov; allow about 5 h 08 of riding. It goes by way of Rother Berg Mining Landscape, Hoher Forst Mining Landscape, Františkovy Lázne and back through Hoher Forst Mining Landscape. It crosses from Czechia into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
The name sounds like a horror film, and the reality was grim enough. In the 1950s, the communist government of Czechoslovakia sent tens of thousands of political prisoners to labour camps in the Jáchymov region to mine uranium for the Soviet nuclear programme. In a red brick building near Ostrov, known as the Red Tower of Death, prisoners crushed and sorted uranium ore by hand, without protection, exposed to dust and radiation. Many died or suffered lasting illness. The building is now a memorial, part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region World Heritage listing, and a powerful reminder of the human cost of the Cold War.
Read the complete The Red Tower of Death write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Red Tower of Death is where the day begins. Next is Rother Berg Mining Landscape.
Schwarzenberg, in the western Erzgebirge, is a town of steep streets, slate roofs and a castle and church perched on a rock above the Schwarzwasser river, and the hills around it are riddled with old mine workings. The Rother Berg, the red mountain, takes its name from the iron ore that colours its soil, and it is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border UNESCO site listed in 2019. For eight centuries, miners in these mountains dug for silver, tin, iron, cobalt and later uranium, and their work shaped not only the landscape but the culture of the whole region.
Read the complete Rother Berg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rother Berg Mining Landscape comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hoher Forst Mining Landscape.
The Erzgebirge, the Ore Mountains, got their name for a good reason. In 1168, according to tradition, silver was found near Freiberg, and a rush followed that turned a forested ridge on the border between Saxony and Bohemia into one of the richest mining districts in Europe. For eight centuries, miners dug silver, tin, cobalt and iron from the hills, and later uranium, and the landscape is full of the traces: spoil heaps, pits, water channels, stamp mills and miners' towns. UNESCO listed the Ore Mountain mining region in 2019, in a property that spans Germany and the Czech Republic.
Read the complete Hoher Forst Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Hoher Forst Mining Landscape. Next is Františkovy Lázne.
Františkovy Lázně, known in German as Franzensbad, is a small spa town in the far west of the Czech Republic that looks as if it has been painted in a single colour: yellow and white Empire-style buildings, colonnades and pavilions set in spacious parks, all laid out in the early nineteenth century around mineral springs. It was named after Emperor Francis I of Austria, and it became a fashionable resort, especially for women, because its waters and mud baths were believed to help with fertility. The bronze statue of a little boy holding a fish, known as František, is said to bring luck to women who touch it, and you will see that his foot has been polished by countless hands. Since 2021, the town has been part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage site, along with its larger neighbours, Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně.
Read the complete Františkovy Lázne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Františkovy Lázne, about halfway. Next is back through Hoher Forst Mining Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hoher Forst Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Hoher Forst Mining Landscape sits at 182 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rother Berg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape comes up about 264 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Red Tower of Death.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Red Tower of Death write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Red Tower of Death closes the day.
The Red Tower of Death → Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rother Berg Mining Landscape → Hoher Forst Mining Landscape is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hoher Forst Mining Landscape → Františkovy Lázne is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Františkovy Lázne → back through Hoher Forst Mining Landscape is 89 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Hoher Forst Mining Landscape → back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape → The Red Tower of Death is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.