Coasta Ogrăzii, the slope of the yard, is a hill name that recurs around Buciumi, and the first of the two points sits on the side of a ridge about five kilometres from Stârciu. Hillside names like this describe the old pattern of farming here: a garden or paddock on a slope close to the house, kept for fruit, vegetables or a cow, with the forest above and the stream below. It is a landscape of small scale, in which a family might own a dozen scattered plots of a few hundred square metres each.
That pattern comes from land reform and its reversal. After the Second World War, the communist government collectivised farmland, and in the early 1990s the land was returned in small parcels to the heirs of former owners, often with no clear boundaries. The result is a patchwork, with hay cut in strips of different lengths and a good deal of abandoned land that is turning into scrub and birch. Some farmers have gone, and others have stayed and kept a few cows. The change is visible from the road, and it is one reason the hay meadows are so rich in flowers: the traditional, low-intensity farming that created them still goes on in many places.
For the rider, the lanes on this slope are among the better ones in the area, with a recent patch of asphalt in places and a firm, if narrow, gravel track in others. The bends are smooth, the gradients modest, and the views across the hills are wide. Even so, the usual rural hazards apply: a cow in the road, a tractor around a blind corner, a dog asleep in the middle of a bridge. Slow down at the entrances to farms, where mud and straw often cover the surface, and keep an eye out for children playing near the roadside.
Fuel is available in Zalău rather than in Stârciu, which is a small village with a shop and little else, so plan a stop in town. Carry water, a spare layer and some cash.
A weekday afternoon in mid-June, when the hay is down and the air smells of cut grass, shows the place at its best.