Why this ride
It goes by way of Wolosatka stream valley, Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley, Rožok and Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy. It crosses from Ukraine into Poland - carry ID and check the toll rules.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan and Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 887 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 15 h 18
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Scenic road chapters
Bieszczady Loop
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 17 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
- Named road
- Bieszczady Loop
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan
Just below the pass that carries the road and railway from Uzhhorod into Galicia, the village of Uzhok keeps one of the finest wooden churches of the Carpathians. The tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael was built in the middle of the eighteenth century in the Boyko style, with three log chambers each topped by a tiered roof, rising in stages like a set of stacked hats, all covered in wooden shingles. It stands on a slope among old trees, with a separate bell tower nearby, and it is one of the sixteen wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine listed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan is where the day begins. Next is Wolosatka stream valley.
2. Wolosatka stream valley
The Wołosatka is a mountain stream in the far south-eastern corner of Poland, draining the slopes below Tarnica, at 1,346 metres the highest summit of the Polish Bieszczady. Its valley is part of Bieszczady National Park and of the World Heritage listing of primeval Carpathian beech forests: dark, mossy woods of beech and fir where dead trunks are left to fall and rot, and where bears, wolves, lynx and wildcats still move freely. Above the treeline the ridges open into the połoniny, high grass meadows that turn tawny in autumn and give the range its rolling, almost Scottish silhouette.
Read the complete Wolosatka stream valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wolosatka stream valley comes up about 105 km into the recorded legs. Next is Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley.
3. Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley
The Bieszczady are the wildest mountains in Poland, a corner where the country meets Ukraine and Slovakia and the forest has had decades to reclaim the land. The border ridge, running along the frontier, and the valley of the upper Solinka, below it, are part of the Polish section of the Carpathian primeval beech forests, protected within Bieszczady National Park. There are no roads up here: the ridge is reached on foot, and the forest, with its old beeches, fir and sycamore, is home to wolves, lynx, brown bears, and the European bison that were reintroduced to the area.
Read the complete Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 209 km into the recorded legs you reach Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley. Next is Rožok.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
5. 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 sits at 444 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rožok.
6. 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 comes up about 542 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley.
7. back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 665 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley. Next is back through Wolosatka stream valley.
8. back through Wolosatka stream valley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wolosatka stream valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Wolosatka stream valley, late in the day. Next is Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan.
9. Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 887 km.
Leg by leg
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan to Wolosatka stream valley
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan → Wolosatka stream valley is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wolosatka stream valley to Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley
Wolosatka stream valley → Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley to Rožok
Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley → Rožok is 123 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rožok to Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy
Rožok → Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy to back through Rožok
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → back through Rožok is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rožok to back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley
back through Rožok → back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley is 123 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley to back through Wolosatka stream valley
back through Border Ridge and Gorna Solinka valley → back through Wolosatka stream valley is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wolosatka stream valley to Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan
back through Wolosatka stream valley → Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.