A valley is the simplest of landscapes, and the one that goes by the name of Valea Leșului lies in the hills of Sălaj, in the north-west of Romania, a few kilometres from the village of Lozna. The second part of the ride title, Piciorul Andreichii, uses the word for foot in the sense of a spur of land running down a hillside, so the label describes a ridge beside a stream, and again it comes from an archaeological register.
Hay is the thing that defines this country in early summer. The meadows are not sprayed or ploughed, and in June they are full of wild flowers, with clover, sage, orchids and knapweed, a mix that has almost vanished from western Europe. Farmers cut the grass by scythe or small mower and stack it into haystacks on tall poles, which stand in the fields all winter, and the sight of them under frost is a classic of the Romanian countryside. Storks nest on telegraph poles in the villages, and the evenings are loud with frogs.
The riding follows the valleys. A rider here travels a narrow ribbon of tarmac along a stream, past wooden gates, fruit trees and a church with a tin roof, and every few kilometres there is a bend that opens a view of a ridge covered in oak and hornbeam. The surface often changes without warning, from smooth to broken, and some side roads end in gravel. Livestock, children and old bicycles share the road, and local drivers expect you to give way. The dry season is from May to September, with thunderstorms in July, and October brings fog in the valleys, which burns off by midday.
Jibou, to the south, and Zalău, to the west, are towns with stations and shops. A village shop can sell bread, salami, sheep cheese and sweet biscuits.
If you stop for a moment on a ridge, you can smell the hay on the wind, which for a rider is as good as any monument.