Why this ride
It goes by way of Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy, Ruská Bystrá, Stuzhytsia - Uzhok and Udava. It crosses Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan and Udava
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 769 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 13 h 16
- 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 36 km this is Bieszczady Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 36 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 Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
2. 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 comes up about 87 km into the recorded legs. 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
about 186 km into the recorded legs you reach Ruská Bystrá. Next is Stuzhytsia - Uzhok.
4. Stuzhytsia - Uzhok
Where the Bieszczady mountains of Poland meet Slovakia and Ukraine, there is a stretch of forest that has hardly been touched. The Stuzhytsia-Uzhok area, on the Ukrainian side of the watershed near the Uzhok pass, is one component of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, a World Heritage group that spans several countries and continues into the Polish Bieszczady and the Slovak Poloniny. The trees here are mostly beech, with fir and sycamore, and in the oldest stands, some of the trunks are huge, with fallen logs lying where they dropped and rotting into the soil, a kind of forest that has almost vanished from Europe. The wildlife is what you might expect from such a place: brown bears, wolves, lynx, and the European bison, which was reintroduced to the Bieszczady in the 1960s.
Read the complete Stuzhytsia - Uzhok write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stuzhytsia - Uzhok, about halfway. Next is Udava.
5. Udava
Out where Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet, the eastern Carpathians fold into long, rounded ridges covered in beech forest so continuous that from a high point it looks like a green sea. Udava is one of the Slovak pieces of the UNESCO Primeval Beech Forests listing, protected within Poloniny National Park, the most easterly and least populated corner of the country. Here the forest has been left to its own rhythms for a very long time: giant trees, fallen trunks covered in fungi and moss, a dense understory of young growth wherever light breaks through. Wolves, lynx, brown bears and even European bison roam the area, and the dawn chorus in May is unforgettable.
Read the complete Udava write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Udava sits at 386 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stuzhytsia - Uzhok.
6. back through Stuzhytsia - Uzhok
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stuzhytsia - Uzhok write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Stuzhytsia - Uzhok comes up about 477 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Ruská Bystrá.
7. back through Ruská Bystrá
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
about 586 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Ruská Bystrá. Next is back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy.
8. back through 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 through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy, 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 769 km.
Leg by leg
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan to Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy
Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan → Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy to Ruská Bystrá
Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Ruská Bystrá is 99 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ruská Bystrá to Stuzhytsia - Uzhok
Ruská Bystrá → Stuzhytsia - Uzhok is 108 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stuzhytsia - Uzhok to Udava
Stuzhytsia - Uzhok → Udava is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Udava to back through Stuzhytsia - Uzhok
Udava → back through Stuzhytsia - Uzhok is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stuzhytsia - Uzhok to back through Ruská Bystrá
back through Stuzhytsia - Uzhok → back through Ruská Bystrá is 108 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ruská Bystrá to back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy
back through Ruská Bystrá → back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy is 99 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy to Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan
back through Stužica - Bukovské Vrchy → Uzhok-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Archan is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Smolnik-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Archa and Turzańsk-Tserkva of Saint Michael the Arch · 581 km
- Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the and Matkiv-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Bless · 318 km
- Vihorlat and Matkiv-Tserkva of the Synaxis of the Bless · 769 km
- Polonina Wetlinska and Smerek and Ruská Bystrá · 160 km