Brebu - Caput Bubali /Cetăţuie and Voislova - Gara CFR
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
203 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 36
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.
203 km from Cornuțel to Cornuțel, about 4 h 36 of riding. The stops in between: Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe, Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate, Voislova - Gara CFR and back through Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Brebu - Caput Bubali /Cetăţuie
Caput Bubali, the head of the buffalo, is a wonderfully odd Roman name, and it belongs to a station on the road that carried troops and supplies north from the Danube into the heart of Dacia after Trajan's conquest. The hill known as Cetățuie, near the villages of Brebu and Cornuțel in the Banat, holds the earthworks of a fort that guarded this route as it threaded through the hills towards Tibiscum, the important Roman centre near Caransebeș. It is part of the Dacian frontier group listed by UNESCO in 2024, and like much of it, it needs a little imagination and a good eye for ditches and banks.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Brebu - Caput Bubali /Cetăţuie is where the day begins. Next is Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe.
2. Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe
Zăvoi lies in the valley of the Bistra, a river running east to west between the Poiana Ruscă mountains to the north and the Țarcu range to the south, and for most riders it is a waypoint on one of the best roads in western Romania: the old route from Caransebeș in the Banat over the Iron Gate of Transylvania to Hațeg and the Roman capital of Dacia at Sarmizegetusa. The Romans used this corridor too. The road between their fort at Tibiscum, near Caransebeș, and the colony of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa passed through the valley, and Agnaviae was a station along it, where travellers and couriers stopped to rest. Today little remains above ground, but the line of the valley is unchanged.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate.
3. Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate
Jupa is a village in the Banat, just beside the site of Tibiscum, the Roman town that grew where the Timiș and the Bistra meet at the foot of the Southern Carpathians. Today it has an archaeological museum and a field of excavations, with the remains of the fort, the baths and the civilian houses that once stood here. The Romans took over the Dacian lands in the early second century, and Tibiscum, sitting on a main road to the Danube, became a busy place of soldiers, merchants, craftsmen and priests. Some of the finds from the town show how mixed it was, with Greek, Roman and local gods all being worshipped.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate. Next is Voislova - Gara CFR.
4. Voislova - Gara CFR
The Bistra valley is a natural corridor, and armies have known it for millennia. Running east from Caransebeș toward the Iron Gate of Transylvania and the Hațeg basin, it was the route by which Trajan's legions advanced on the Dacian heartland in the wars of AD 101 to 106, and later the road that linked Roman forts and towns along the way. Near the village of Voislova, by the railway station, the remains of a Roman site have been identified as counted within the UNESCO serial site of the Dacian frontier, a reminder of how important this valley was to the Roman presence in the province.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Brebu - Caput Bubali /Cetăţuie closes the day.
Leg by leg
Brebu - Caput Bubali /Cetăţuie to Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe
Brebu - Caput Bubali /Cetăţuie → Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe to Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate
Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe → Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate to Voislova - Gara CFR
Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate → Voislova - Gara CFR is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Voislova - Gara CFR to back through Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate
Voislova - Gara CFR → back through Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate to back through Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe
back through Jupa - Tibiscum / Cetate → back through Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe to Brebu - Caput Bubali /Cetăţuie
back through Zăvoi - Agnaviae / Balta Neagră-Fânețe → Brebu - Caput Bubali /Cetăţuie is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.