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 Žatec it runs 371 km to Žatec; allow about 5 h 43 of riding. It goes by way of Mědník Hill Mining Landscape, Rother Berg Mining Landscape, Františkovy Lázne and back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape. It crosses from Czechia into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
The smell gives Žatec away in late summer. The fields around this small town in northwestern Bohemia are planted with hops, tall green vines climbing up wires on wooden poles, and when harvest comes in August, the air fills with their resinous, slightly bitter scent. Saaz hops, named after the German form of the town's name, have been prized by brewers for centuries for their fine aroma, and they are a key ingredient in Czech pilsner lagers. In 2023, UNESCO inscribed Žatec and the Landscape of Saaz Hops, recognising the town's hop warehouses, drying kilns, packing houses and the surrounding hop gardens as a unique agricultural and industrial heritage.
Read the complete Žatec write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Žatec is where the day begins. Next is Mědník Hill Mining Landscape.
Mědník is a small, steep hill on the Czech side of the Ore Mountains, or Krušné hory, the range that forms the border between Bohemia and Saxony. It rises above the village of Měděnec, whose name, like the hill's, comes from the Czech word for copper. For centuries, miners tunnelled into the hill for copper and iron ore, and the hill is now part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, inscribed by UNESCO in 2019 as a cross-border site.
Read the complete Mědník Hill Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is Rother Berg Mining Landscape.
Schwarzenberg, in the western Erzgebirge, is a town of steep streets, slate roofs and a castle and church perched on a rock above the Schwarzwasser river, and the hills around it are riddled with old mine workings. The Rother Berg, the red mountain, takes its name from the iron ore that colours its soil, and it is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border UNESCO site listed in 2019. For eight centuries, miners in these mountains dug for silver, tin, iron, cobalt and later uranium, and their work shaped not only the landscape but the culture of the whole region.
Read the complete Rother Berg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Rother Berg Mining Landscape. Next is Františkovy Lázne.
Františkovy Lázně, known in German as Franzensbad, is a small spa town in the far west of the Czech Republic that looks as if it has been painted in a single colour: yellow and white Empire-style buildings, colonnades and pavilions set in spacious parks, all laid out in the early nineteenth century around mineral springs. It was named after Emperor Francis I of Austria, and it became a fashionable resort, especially for women, because its waters and mud baths were believed to help with fertility. The bronze statue of a little boy holding a fish, known as František, is said to bring luck to women who touch it, and you will see that his foot has been polished by countless hands. Since 2021, the town has been part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage site, along with its larger neighbours, Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně.
Read the complete Františkovy Lázne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Františkovy Lázne, about halfway. Next is back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rother Berg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape sits at 202 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mědník Hill Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape comes up about 321 km into the recorded legs. Next is Žatec.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Žatec write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Žatec closes the day.
Žatec → Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rother Berg Mining Landscape → Františkovy Lázne is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Františkovy Lázne → back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape → back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → Žatec is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.