Why this ride
From Corbu it runs 172 km to Corbu; allow about 3 h 28 of riding. The stops in between: Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor, Gresia - La Biserică, Vallum - Troian and back through Gresia - La Biserică.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Afrimești - Urluieni and Vallum - Troian
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 172 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 28
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Afrimești - Urluieni
Flat. That is the first impression of this part of southern Romania, in Argeș county, where the land stretches away towards the Danube in wide fields of maize and sunflowers, broken only by lines of trees and small villages. But across this plain, in the second century AD, the Romans built a frontier: the Limes Transalutanus, a line of earthworks and forts running north to south east of the Olt river, protecting the province of Dacia. At Urluieni, near the village of Afrimești, stood one of its forts.
Read the complete Afrimești - Urluieni write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Afrimești - Urluieni is where the day begins. Next is Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor.
2. Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor
Out on the flat Romanian plain east of the Olt river, the village of Crâmpoia sits among endless fields of wheat, maize and sunflowers, and its name has a place in Roman history. A Roman earthen fort near the village stood on the Limes Transalutanus, the frontier line that the Romans built east of the Olt in the early third century, running from the Danube northward toward the Carpathians, a long earthen rampart with forts and watchtowers. The local name Reduta Tătarilor, the Tatars' redoubt, reflects a common habit in Romania of attributing old earthworks to the Tatars or other invaders, long after the Romans were forgotten. The site is part of the UNESCO-listed frontier of Dacia.
Read the complete Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gresia - La Biserică.
3. Gresia - La Biserică
The Wallachian plain in southern Romania is about as flat as Europe gets: a vast expanse of wheat, maize and sunflower fields stretching to the horizon, broken only by lines of acacia trees, irrigation channels and villages strung along the road. Teleorman county, where Gresia lies, is in the heart of it. Two thousand years ago, this was frontier land. The Romans built a long earthwork rampart with forts and towers running north to south east of the river Olt, known as the Limes Transalutanus, to protect their province of Dacia. Gresia and the sites around it, including Roșiorii de Vede, Crâmpoia and Izbășești, lie along its line. Little survives above ground, and the remains need a trained eye or an archaeologist's map to spot, but the idea of a Roman frontier running through these fields adds depth to a landscape that can seem empty.
Read the complete Gresia - La Biserică write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Gresia - La Biserică. Next is Vallum - Troian.
4. Vallum - Troian
The Romanian word vallum is a Latin leftover, and it means a rampart. Across the plain north of the Danube, in Teleorman county, a line of low earthworks stretches over the fields, and local people call it Troianul, Trajan's ditch, though no one is sure whether Trajan had anything to do with it. Folk memory has also attached the name of Novac, a legendary hero, to the same banks, and archaeologists suggest the line may have formed part of a Roman or late Roman defence of the Wallachian Plain, though the dating remains debated. What you will find on the ground is subtle: a long, shallow hump in a wheat field, a line of poplars following an old ditch.
Read the complete Vallum - Troian write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vallum - Troian, about halfway. Next is back through Gresia - La Biserică.
5. back through Gresia - La Biserică
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gresia - La Biserică write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Gresia - La Biserică sits at 113 km, about halfway. Next is back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor.
6. back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor comes up about 140 km into the recorded legs. Next is Afrimești - Urluieni.
7. Afrimești - Urluieni
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Afrimești - Urluieni write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Afrimești - Urluieni closes the day.
Leg by leg
Afrimești - Urluieni to Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor
Afrimești - Urluieni → Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor to Gresia - La Biserică
Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor → Gresia - La Biserică is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gresia - La Biserică to Vallum - Troian
Gresia - La Biserică → Vallum - Troian is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vallum - Troian to back through Gresia - La Biserică
Vallum - Troian → back through Gresia - La Biserică is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gresia - La Biserică to back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor
back through Gresia - La Biserică → back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor to Afrimești - Urluieni
back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor → Afrimești - Urluieni is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.