Huta is a Romanian word for a glassworks or ironworks, and the name usually points to an old forest industry: a place where charcoal burners and glassblowers once worked in clearings in the beech woods. The village of this name lies in the hills between Ciucea, in Cluj county, and the villages of Cizer and Stârciu in the neighbouring county of Sălaj, in the broken country where the Meseș and Plopiș mountains meet.
The hills are green, wooded and steeply folded, with farms in the clearings, hay meadows scattered up the slopes and orchards of plum and apple near the houses. The area lay close to the Roman frontier, with watchtowers scattered along the high ground, and in later centuries it belonged to the Hungarian kingdom and then to the principality of Transylvania, with Hungarian and Romanian villages sitting side by side. You see both cultures in the church towers, the village names and the food.
For a rider, this is quiet, winding country. The lanes are narrow and the asphalt varies, with some good stretches and some broken edges where the tarmac meets the verge. Cows, horse carts and walkers use the road, so approach each bend with care. There are fine views from the ridges in clear weather, with layer after layer of hills fading into blue, and in early morning mist fills the valleys. In spring the meadows are full of wild flowers, in late summer the air smells of hay and ripe plums, and in autumn the beech woods turn a deep copper. Winters bring snow and ice to the minor roads.
Ciucea, on the main road between Cluj and Oradea, is the place for fuel and a proper meal, and Cizer and Stârciu have little more than a shop and a bar. The closest real town to the north is Zalău, in Sălaj county. Carry some cash for village shops, and be ready for a friendly interrogation about where you are from and how much the bike cost. A glass of homemade plum brandy, tuică, is the polite thing to refuse with a smile when you are riding, and to accept with a nod if you are staying the night.