Băneasa - La Cetate and Gresia - La Biserică

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Băneasa - La Cetate

   Băneasa is Teleorman, and Teleorman is flat. The Wallachian plain here spreads out between the Danube, to the south, and the lower Vedea valley, with big fields, long horizons and the sort of sky that makes motorcyclists look for any rise at all. The label "La Cetate" marks one such rise, where traces of an old fortification are known locally, and the nearby "Traian - La Culă" name hints at the Roman presence that once ran across this part of southern Romania.

   Read the complete Băneasa - La Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Băneasa - La Cetate is where the day begins. Next is Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui.

2. 2. Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui

   Southern Romania is as flat as a table, and the Teleorman plain, through which the river Vedea flows towards the Danube, is wheat and sunflower country as far as the eye can see. The Romans pushed their frontier across this plain in the second century, building a long earthen rampart known as the Limes Transalutanus, east of the Olt river, with a ditch and a line of forts and towers behind it. Near Roșiorii de Vede, at Valea Urlui, one of these sites is part of the Roman frontier of Dacia listed by UNESCO. The rampart can still be traced in places as a low bank running through the fields, and on the ground you need a good eye, or a guide, to spot it. From the air it is much clearer.

   Read the complete Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gresia - La Biserică.

3. 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 47 km into the recorded legs you reach Gresia - La Biserică. Next is back through Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui.

4. 4. back through Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui, late in the day. Next is Băneasa - La Cetate.

5. 5. Băneasa - La Cetate

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Băneasa - La Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Băneasa - La Cetate. That is the ride.