CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
294 km from Baru to Baru, about 7 h 19 of riding. On the way it passes Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2, Costești - Grădiște, Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel and Luncani-Piatra Rosie. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
The Dacians, before the Romans conquered them, built a ring of fortresses in the mountains around their capital Sarmizegetusa Regia, and Banița is one of them, perched on a limestone peak, Piatra Cetii, above the village of the same name. It guarded the southern approach to the Dacian heartland, controlling the route from the Jiu valley, and it was taken by the Romans during Trajan's wars at the beginning of the second century. The Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains, including Banița, were inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1999.
Read the complete Banita write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Banița is where the day begins. Next is Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2.
On a hill above the Strei valley near the village of Pui, in south-western Transylvania, faint earthworks mark one of the many small Roman military posts that guarded the province of Dacia after Trajan conquered it in AD 106. The Romans held Dacia for about a hundred and seventy years, and they ringed it with forts, watchtowers and roads; in 2024 a long series of these sites was added to the World Heritage list as the Frontiers of the Roman Empire in Dacia. At Dealul Robului there is nothing grand to see, just the shape of the ground under grass and trees, but the position tells you everything: a clear view down the valley, which was one of the routes into the heart of the province.
Read the complete Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2 comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Costești - Grădiște.
The kings of Dacia put their holy places and their fortresses on the tops of mountains, and the best of them lie in the Orăștie Mountains of Hunedoara county, where six fortresses were built in the first century BC and first century AD to defend the heart of the kingdom. Costești is the entry point. The fortress of Costești-Cetățuie, on a steep hill above the valley of the Orăștioara, and its neighbour Blidaru, stood on limestone ridges with thick walls of carefully dressed stone, murus dacicus, a technique that combined stone facing with timber lacing. The Dacians fought Rome in two wars, in AD 101-102 and 105-106, under their king Decebalus, and the Romans eventually took and destroyed the fortresses, stripping the hills of their defences. UNESCO listed the group in 1999.
Read the complete Costești - Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 82 km into the recorded legs you reach Costești - Grădiște. Next is Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel.
Grădiștea de Munte is where the Dacian capital stood, and the hills around it hold the remains of Sarmizegetusa Regia, the mountain city that Decebalus ruled from about AD 87 until the Roman legions broke it in 106. The site lies high in the Șureanu mountains, around twelve hundred metres up, on a series of man-made terraces cut into the slope. The most striking remains are the sacred zone, with circular sanctuaries of stone and wood pillars and a large round altar of andesite, often called the sun disc, which may have served as a calendar or a place of sacrifice. Whatever it was, it is a place with presence, set among dark conifers and mountain meadows.
Read the complete Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel, about halfway. Next is Luncani-Piatra Rosie.
Piatra Rosie, the Red Rock, is one of the six Dacian fortresses of the Orastie Mountains and, arguably, the most awkward to reach, which is exactly how its builders wanted it. The fortress stands on a steep hill above the village of Luncani, with its walls stepping up the slope in terraces, built in the characteristic Dacian way, from dressed stone blocks laid with timber beams. It was part of a defensive chain that protected the Dacian capital, Sarmizegetusa Regia, which lies higher in the mountains. UNESCO listed the group in 1999.
Read the complete Luncani-Piatra Rosie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Luncani-Piatra Rosie sits at 67 km, about halfway. Next is back through Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel comes up about 194 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Costești - Grădiște.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Costești - Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 213 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Costești - Grădiște. Next is back through Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2, late in the day. Next is Banita.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Banita write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 294 km.
Banița → Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2 → Costești - Grădiște is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Costești - Grădiște → Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel → Luncani-Piatra Rosie is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Luncani-Piatra Rosie → back through Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel → back through Costești - Grădiște is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Costești - Grădiște → back through Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2 is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pui - Dealul Robului 1 and 2 → Banita is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.