Why this ride
From Eremitu it runs 290 km to Eremitu; allow about 6 h 21 of riding. The stops in between: Monor - Dealul Braniște, Sărățel - Cetate 1, Vătava - Cetățele and Livezile - Poderei. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor and Livezile - Poderei
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 290 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 21
- 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. Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor
Transylvania's rolling middle country does not have an obvious centre of gravity, and Chiheru de Jos sits right in it. The village lies in Mures county, in the hills between the Gurghiu valley and the upper Mures, a region of grassy ridges, orchards, and beech and oak woods that rise to the dark mass of the Calimani and Gurghiu mountains to the east.
Read the complete Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor is where the day begins. Next is Monor - Dealul Braniște.
2. Monor - Dealul Braniște
This is the Transylvanian Plain at its northern edge, a land of soft hills rather than mountains, and Dealul Braniște is one of the rounded rises between the villages of Monor and Batoș in Mureș and Bistrița-Năsăud country. Braniște usually means a protected wood or reserved pasture, and the hill still carries patches of oak among the fields. From the top the view runs out over a rumpled carpet of meadows, orchards and strip fields, with the Călimani mountains a blue line far to the east.
Read the complete Monor - Dealul Braniște write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monor - Dealul Braniște comes up about 41 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sărățel - Cetate 1.
3. Sărățel - Cetate 1
The name Sărățel means the little salty place, and this corner of Bistrița-Năsăud has salt underground: springs of brine rise here and there in the hills, and for centuries people used them for cooking, curing meat and treating animals. Salt was one of the reasons the Romans wanted Dacia, along with gold, and on a hill near the village they placed a fort, Cetate, meaning the citadel, at the north-eastern corner of their province. Behind it lay the valley of the Șieu and the road towards the interior; in front, the hills where the free Dacians lived. The site is now part of the Roman frontier of Dacia on the World Heritage list, though, like most of these places, it is visible mainly as an outline of banks and ditches.
Read the complete Sărățel - Cetate 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Sărățel - Cetate 1. Next is Vătava - Cetățele.
4. Vătava - Cetățele
For about a century and a half, the Roman province of Dacia was a wedge of empire pushed north of the Danube, and its eastern edge ran along the curve of the Carpathians through what is now central Romania. In 2024, UNESCO added the frontiers of the Roman Empire in Dacia to its list, a long chain of forts, watchtowers and earthworks. Vătava, in the upper Mureș valley, is one of the sites, with traces of a Roman fortification on a hill called Cetățele, the little fortresses. Not much is visible to the casual eye: earthworks, a few stones, the outline of a position chosen for its view along the valley.
Read the complete Vătava - Cetățele write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vătava - Cetățele, about halfway. Next is Livezile - Poderei.
5. Livezile - Poderei
Leave Bistriţa eastwards on the DN17 and within minutes you are in Livezile, a long village strung out along the valley of the Bistriţa river where the Transylvanian hills start to bunch up towards the Eastern Carpathians. Poderei is the name of a hillside here where the Romans kept watch over the northern edge of their province of Dacia, and the site is one of the many small components of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listed in Romania in 2024. There is nothing to visit in the sense of ruins; what you get is the hill, the view up the valley and the knowledge that legionaries stared at the same ridges.
Read the complete Livezile - Poderei write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Livezile - Poderei sits at 148 km, about halfway. Next is back through Vătava - Cetățele.
6. back through Vătava - Cetățele
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vătava - Cetățele write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Vătava - Cetățele comes up about 181 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Sărățel - Cetate 1.
7. back through Sărățel - Cetate 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sărățel - Cetate 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 218 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Sărățel - Cetate 1. Next is back through Monor - Dealul Braniște.
8. back through Monor - Dealul Braniște
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monor - Dealul Braniște write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Monor - Dealul Braniște, late in the day. Next is Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor.
9. Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor 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 290 km.
Leg by leg
Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor to Monor - Dealul Braniște
Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor → Monor - Dealul Braniște is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monor - Dealul Braniște to Sărățel - Cetate 1
Monor - Dealul Braniște → Sărățel - Cetate 1 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sărățel - Cetate 1 to Vătava - Cetățele
Sărățel - Cetate 1 → Vătava - Cetățele is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vătava - Cetățele to Livezile - Poderei
Vătava - Cetățele → Livezile - Poderei is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Livezile - Poderei to back through Vătava - Cetățele
Livezile - Poderei → back through Vătava - Cetățele is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vătava - Cetățele to back through Sărățel - Cetate 1
back through Vătava - Cetățele → back through Sărățel - Cetate 1 is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sărățel - Cetate 1 to back through Monor - Dealul Braniște
back through Sărățel - Cetate 1 → back through Monor - Dealul Braniște is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monor - Dealul Braniște to Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor
back through Monor - Dealul Braniște → Chiheru de Jos - Dealul Pogor is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.