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 Ružomberok it runs 449 km to Ružomberok; allow about 9 h 28 of riding. It goes by way of Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the, Church of the Archangel Michael, Church of St Leonard and Salt Mine in Bochnia. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 850 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Slovakia into Poland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 65 km this is Polish Tatra Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
At the end of a narrow road climbing out of Ružomberok, a single street of log houses runs up a hillside meadow beneath the forests of the Veľká Fatra. Vlkolínec has been a World Heritage Site since 1993, chosen as the most complete surviving example of a traditional Central European mountain village of its kind, and it remains a lived-in place rather than an open-air museum, with residents, gardens and the occasional dog asleep in the sun.
Read the complete Vlkolínec write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vlkolínec is where the day begins. Next is Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the.
The Church of All Saints in Tvrdošín, at the edge of the town in the Orava valley, is a wooden Gothic church from the fifteenth century, built of larch and fir, with a shingled roof, a tower with a distinctive spire and a painted interior, and it is one of the oldest of the wooden churches listed as a World Heritage Site in Slovakia. Its Renaissance and Baroque decorations, including a carved altar and paintings, were added over the centuries.
Read the complete Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Archangel Michael.
From the outside, the church in Dębno Podhalańskie looks like a sturdy wooden barn with a steep shingled roof and a squat tower, the kind of building you might ride past without a second glance. Step inside and the walls explode with colour: every surface covered in stencilled and painted patterns, animals, plants and geometric figures, dating back to around 1500, one of the best-preserved medieval painted interiors in Poland. The church, built of larch in the late fifteenth century, is part of the UNESCO listing of Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska, a group of Gothic timber churches that show the skill of local carpenters who built without nails.
Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 124 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of the Archangel Michael. Next is Church of St Leonard.
The hills around Limanowa in southern Poland have a nickname that suits them perfectly: the Beskid Wyspowy, the Island Beskids. Instead of forming a continuous ridge, the summits rise individually from the surrounding valleys like islands from a sea, each one wooded, rounded and separate. Driving through the area is a constant game of spotting the next hump on the horizon. The famous wooden church of St Leonard stands at Lipnica Murowana, in the hills to the north of here, and it is one of the Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland listed by UNESCO in 2003.
Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of St Leonard, about halfway. Next is Salt Mine in Bochnia.
People were mining salt at Bochnia by the middle of the thirteenth century, which makes it the oldest salt mine in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe still open to visitors. For centuries the salt from here and from Wieliczka, about twenty-five kilometres to the west, filled the coffers of the Polish kings; at times it accounted for a remarkable share of the royal income. Together the two mines and the royal castle at Wieliczka form a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Read the complete Salt Mine in Bochnia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Salt Mine in Bochnia sits at 208 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of St Leonard.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of St Leonard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of St Leonard comes up about 272 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Church of the Archangel Michael.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Archangel Michael write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 327 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of the Archangel Michael. Next is back through Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the, late in the day. Next is Vlkolínec.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vlkolínec write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 449 km.
Vlkolínec → Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the → Church of the Archangel Michael is 65 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Church of the Archangel Michael → Church of St Leonard is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of St Leonard → Salt Mine in Bochnia is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Salt Mine in Bochnia → back through Church of St Leonard is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of St Leonard → back through Church of the Archangel Michael is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Archangel Michael → back through Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the is 64 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of the → Vlkolínec is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.