Yasynia-Tserkva of Our Lord’s Ascension and Chornohora

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Yasynia-Tserkva of Our Lord’s Ascension

   High in the Ukrainian Carpathians, in the valley of the Black Tisa, the village of Yasinia stretches along the river beneath steep spruce-clad slopes. On a rise near its centre stands a small wooden church, the Church of the Ascension, sometimes called the Strukivska church, built in the early nineteenth century by Hutsul craftsmen without nails. Its stepped roofs, covered in wooden shingles, and its small domes give it a cosy, fairytale shape, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine.

   Read the complete Yasynia-Tserkva of Our Lord’s Ascension write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Yasynia-Tserkva of Our Lord’s Ascension is where the day begins. Next is Svydovets.

2. 2. Svydovets

   The Svydovets is a long, high ridge in the Ukrainian Carpathians, rising above the upper Tisza valley near the town of Rakhiv in Zakarpattia. Its southern and northern slopes hold some of the wildest primeval beech forest left in Europe, protected as part of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve and included in the UNESCO site of Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe. Above the trees lie broad alpine meadows, the polonyna, where Hutsul shepherds traditionally drove their flocks each summer, with glacial lakes tucked below the ridge.

   Read the complete Svydovets write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Svydovets comes up 20 km in. Next is Chornohora.

3. 3. Chornohora

   Chornohora, the Black Mountain, is the highest range of the Ukrainian Carpathians, a long ridge of rounded summits above the forests on the border between the Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. Its highest peak, Hoverla, rises to 2,061 metres, the highest point in Ukraine, and on summer weekends it can be busy with hikers. Along the ridge to the southeast stands Pip Ivan, crowned by the ruins of an astronomical and meteorological observatory built by Poland in the 1930s, when this was the border with Czechoslovakia. Locals call it the White Elephant, and seeing it loom out of the mist is unforgettable.

   Read the complete Chornohora write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   40 km in you reach Chornohora. Next is back through Svydovets.

4. 4. back through Svydovets

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Svydovets write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Svydovets, late in the day. Next is Yasynia-Tserkva of Our Lord’s Ascension.

5. 5. Yasynia-Tserkva of Our Lord’s Ascension

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Yasynia-Tserkva of Our Lord’s Ascension write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Yasynia-Tserkva of Our Lord’s Ascension. That is the ride.