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.
117 km from Kazanlak to Kazanlak, about 3 h 03 of riding. It goes by way of Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve, Central Balkan - Dzhendema Reserve and back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 22 km this is Bulgaria Shipka Pass Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
In 1944 soldiers digging a shelter on the edge of Kazanlak broke into a small brick chamber and found themselves looking at some of the finest ancient paintings in the Balkans. The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, built in the fourth century BC for a ruler of the Thracians, has a narrow corridor leading to a round, beehive-shaped burial chamber, its dome covered with frescoes of a funeral feast: the dead man and his wife seated at a table, servants bringing gifts, horses and chariots racing around the top. The colours and the tenderness of the figures are extraordinary. It was listed by UNESCO in 1979.
Read the complete Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak is where the day begins. Next is Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve.
The Central Balkan National Park covers the high spine of the Stara Planina, the Balkan Mountains, which divide northern Bulgaria from the Thracian plain. Sokolna is one of the strict reserves within the park, on the steep southern slopes above Kalofer and Pavel Banya, where beech forests climb towards bare ridges and peaks. Its old beech woods are part of the World Heritage site of ancient beech forests, and the area is rich in wildlife, from bears and wolves to chamois and birds of prey.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Central Balkan - Dzhendema Reserve.
Above the little town of Kalofer, the southern wall of the Balkan range rises almost vertically, cut by deep gorges with waterfalls and covered in old beech and fir forest, and up there lies the Dzhendema reserve, one of the strict nature reserves within Central Balkan National Park. The name is said to come from a Turkish word for hell, a fair description of its steep, wild terrain. Above the reserve, Botev Peak, the highest summit of the Balkan mountains at 2,376 metres, stands at the heart of the park. Bears, wolves, chamois and wild goats roam these slopes, and the old beech forests of the park are part of the transnational World Heritage site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of Europe.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Dzhendema Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Central Balkan - Dzhendema Reserve. Next is back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve, late in the day. Next is Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak. That is the ride.
Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak → Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve → Central Balkan - Dzhendema Reserve is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central Balkan - Dzhendema Reserve → back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Central Balkan - Sokolna Reserve → Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.