On the hills between the valley of the Someș and the Meseș mountains, in the north-west of Transylvania, the ground rises in gentle ridges, and this is the highest point in a small stretch of country near the villages of Vad, Gâlgău and Poiana Blenchii. The label is Muncel, meaning little hill, and Comorița, which carries the sense of a small treasure, and both names tell you about the country: low, open, rounded hills, used for generations as pasture and orchard land. A lot of local folklore has treasure buried in hills like this, and many an old shepherd has a tale of a hoard or a lost mine.
This part of Romania lies along the line of the old Roman frontier in the province of Dacia Porolissensis, with watchtowers on the ridge tops, and the hills have the sort of long views that suited a lookout. The Romans came in the early second century and left in the 270s, and what remains today is mostly in the ground. What you see above it is the working landscape of Transylvania: hay meadows, strip fields, plum trees, wooden fences and farms with a horse in the yard.
The riding is a pleasure of the unhurried kind. Small county roads wind through villages and across ridges, with long open views toward the blue shapes of the mountains. The asphalt can be patchy, and there are sometimes gravel tracks, farm vehicles and herds of cows to share the road with, so a relaxed pace is the way to go. In late spring the meadows are full of flowers, in July the hay is cut and the smell is wonderful, and in autumn the woods turn gold. Winters are snowy, and minor roads can become hard going.
Vad, Poiana Blenchii and Gâlgău are small places with a couple of shops and little else, so plan your fuel in advance and treat these villages as a place to stop for water and a chat. The larger towns in the area have fuel and food, and ask locally for the cheaper restaurants, where a plate of grilled meat, sour soup and polenta will fill you up for a modest sum. The sparse traffic, the blue hills and the sense of unchanging rural life are what makes this part of Romania such a good place to ride without a plan.