Why this ride
From Gâlgău it runs 153 km to Gâlgău; allow about 3 h 02 of riding. The stops in between: Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha, Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1, Tihău - Dealul Cucului and Cliț - Fața Chicerii.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului and Cliț - Fața Chicerii
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 153 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 02
- 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. Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului
Somewhere above the Someș valley, on a hill the villagers call Dealul Hanului, the inn hill, the Romans kept watch over the northern edge of their province of Dacia. After Trajan's conquest in 106, the new province had to be defended on all sides, and its northern frontier, in what the Romans called Dacia Porolissensis, ran through these hills between the Meseș mountains and the upper Someș. Forts, watchtowers and earthworks controlled the valleys, and Căpâlna, near the village of Gâlgău, is one of the many small sites that formed that network, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire in Dacia that Romania has put forward for UNESCO listing.
Read the complete Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului is where the day begins. Next is Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha.
2. Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha
Ileanda is a village in the north of Sălaj county, where the river Someș swings north-west out of the Transylvanian basin through a valley flanked by wooded hills. On the hill called Ciuha, above the village, the Romans had a post on the northern edge of their province of Dacia, one of the watchtowers and forts that guarded the frontier from the second to the third century. The site belongs to the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia, inscribed by UNESCO in 2024. Do not expect a ruin with walls to wander through: what survives is mostly earthwork and traces in the ground, and the joy lies in the climb and the view rather than the remains.
Read the complete Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1.
3. Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1
Preluci is the sort of place that does not appear in guidebooks and does not seem to mind. The name on the stop points to a stone, a crag or outcrop above the village, and the ride starts and ends here, which gives you a good excuse to look at it properly before you go. The country around is the Sălaj hill belt where it nudges toward the Someș valley, a mix of oak and beech forest, pasture, and villages strung along small streams.
Read the complete Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1. Next is Tihău - Dealul Cucului.
4. Tihău - Dealul Cucului
Dealul Cucului means cuckoo hill, and the name fits the place: a low, wooded rise above the village of Tihău, close to the town of Jibou in the Someș valley of Sălaj county, where in spring the cuckoo's call echoes across the meadows. The point belongs to the network of archaeological sites along the Roman frontier of Dacia in the northwest of the province, near the confluence of the Almaș and Someș rivers, a strategic spot where valleys meet and roads cross. As with many of these sites, there may be little to see on the surface, but the location makes sense once you look at the map.
Read the complete Tihău - Dealul Cucului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tihău - Dealul Cucului, about halfway. Next is Cliț - Fața Chicerii.
5. Cliț - Fața Chicerii
Northern Sălaj is quiet country: low wooded hills, hay meadows, plum orchards and villages strung along the Someș river and its side valleys, with wooden churches and haystacks built around poles in the fields. Cliț is a small village near Băbeni, and the point named Fața Chicerii lies in the hills above it. Names in this list follow the pattern of the Romanian archaeological record, a village and then the local name of a hillside, and in this part of Sălaj many such points belong to the line of watchtowers and small forts of the Roman frontier of Dacia, which UNESCO recognised in 2024.
Read the complete Cliț - Fața Chicerii write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cliț - Fața Chicerii sits at 70 km, about halfway. Next is back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului.
6. back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tihău - Dealul Cucului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului comes up about 92 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1.
7. back through Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 108 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1. Next is back through Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha.
8. back through Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha, late in the day. Next is Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului.
9. Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 153 km.
Leg by leg
Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului to Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha
Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului → Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha to Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1
Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha → Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1 is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1 to Tihău - Dealul Cucului
Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1 → Tihău - Dealul Cucului is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tihău - Dealul Cucului to Cliț - Fața Chicerii
Tihău - Dealul Cucului → Cliț - Fața Chicerii is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cliț - Fața Chicerii to back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului
Cliț - Fața Chicerii → back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului to back through Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1
back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului → back through Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1 is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1 to back through Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha
back through Preluci - Piatra Prelucilor 1 → back through Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha to Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului
back through Ileanda - Dealul Ciuha → Căpâlna - Dealul Hanului is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.