Sestrčská Valley

The Sester Valley, also known as the Malatinska Valley, is a picturesque and deeply cut valley in the Choč Mountains, which crosses the entire range from south to north. It separates the Prosieczny Group from the Sielnické Vrchy and runs along the Sestrčský stream. It is named after the now defunct settlement of Sestrč, whose area was flooded during the construction of the Liptovská Mara reservoir in the 1970s. The route through the valley leads from Bukovina to Malatiná and is closed to car traffic, making it an ideal section for cyclists looking for peace and quiet and wilderness.

Well, many times the name of a valley comes after a name of a village that owned it. This is almost true in this case. Almost, because the village Sestrč didn’t make it until our times. Its ruins now lay underwater, the habitants were moved during the construction of the Liptov Lake in the 1970ies.
The valley is limited by very steep (almost 300 m high) walls and is very narrow. The road, initially in a very bad condition (2018) turns out to be generally a good one. It leads through a thick forest. It’s a curiosity that the valleys in the Veľký Choč range actually don’t start there - they cut the ridge completely from the north to the south, so don’t expect you will climb up to a pass and then speed down - you will ascent gently until arriving to Malatiná where the toughest part awaits and reach the final ridge only behind the village, already out of Veľký Choč range. Veľký Choč reminds us strongly of Pieniny on the other side of the Tatras. They both look like the Tatra summits submersed in the ground so that only the tops (steep and rocky) are visible.

Nice ride from Liptov to Orava.