Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - and Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -

   On a terrace above the river Someș, near the village of Cășeiu, a few kilometres from Dej in northern Transylvania, the Romans built a fort they called Samum. It guarded the northern edge of their province of Dacia, which they conquered in the early second century after two hard wars against the Dacian king Decebalus. The fort controlled the valley and the routes into the province, and today its outline can still be traced in the fields, with low walls and earthworks where archaeologists have uncovered gates, towers and barracks. In 2024 the Dacian frontier was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.

   Read the complete Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - is where the day begins. Next is Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului.

2. 2. Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului

   Bram Stoker never came to Transylvania, but he sent Jonathan Harker through Bistrița, and the town still enjoys the connection. Dealul Muncelului, a hill above the village of Negrilești, sits west of Bistrița in the Someș valley, and from here the road east leads through the Saxon town to the Tihuța pass, the Borgo Pass of the novel, where Count Dracula's carriage is supposed to have met his English visitor. It is a fine excuse for a ride, even if the vampire is fiction and the real history more interesting.

   Read the complete Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Zagra - Dealul Lupului.

3. 3. Zagra - Dealul Lupului

   Zagra is the last farming village before the land begins to climb in earnest toward the Rodna mountains, the highest range in the Eastern Carpathians north of the Prislop pass. Pietrosul Rodnei, at about 2,300 metres, is the summit, and the whole massif is protected as a national park and biosphere reserve, with glacial lakes, rocky ridges and alpine meadows that stay snowy into June. From the Dealul Lupului, the Wolf Hill, you look across a patchwork of hayfields toward those peaks, which look closer than they are.

   Read the complete Zagra - Dealul Lupului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach Zagra - Dealul Lupului. Next is Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal.

4. 4. Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal

   A Roman cavalry regiment kept its horses near the village of Ilișua, in the hills of northern Transylvania, for most of the time the province of Dacia existed. The fort, which modern archaeologists link with the ancient name Arcobara, was a large stone camp on the northern frontier, and its remains have been excavated over the years. It is part of the frontier of Roman Dacia listed by UNESCO in 2024. Today the site is a field with low walls and grassy mounds, and the neighbouring villages of Uriu, Cristeștii Ciceului and Braniștea go about their business around it.

   Read the complete Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal, about halfway. Next is back through Zagra - Dealul Lupului.

5. 5. back through Zagra - Dealul Lupului

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Zagra - Dealul Lupului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Zagra - Dealul Lupului sits at 104 km, about halfway. Next is back through Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului.

6. 6. back through Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului comes up about 186 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -.

7. 7. Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - closes the day.