Chiuiești - Muncelul Chiuieștiului and Zagra - Dealul Lupului

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Chiuiești - Muncelul Chiuieștiului

   North of Dej, in the hills of Cluj county, the land rises into a rolling upland of pastures, orchards and beech woods, cut by small valleys and dotted with villages. Muncelul Chiuieștiului is one of the hilltops above the village of Chiuiești, and the name is listed among archaeological sites of the Roman frontier in Dacia, which in this region ran along the hills to protect the province from the free Dacians and other peoples to the north. What exactly stood on this hilltop is something to learn from the local signs rather than assume; much of the frontier here consisted of small watchtowers and earthworks that left only faint traces.

   Read the complete Chiuiești - Muncelul Chiuieștiului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Chiuiești - Muncelul Chiuieștiului is where the day begins. Next is Ciceu-Poieni - Podul Milcoaiei.

2. 2. Ciceu-Poieni - Podul Milcoaiei

   Ciceu-Poieni is a tiny village in the hills north of the Someș, the kind of place that rarely appears on a map, and near it, at a spot called Podul Milcoaiei, the Romans placed a watchtower on the northern border of Dacia. It is part of the Dacian frontier on the World Heritage list, and today it is just a slight hump in the ground among fields and woods, but its position on the high ground gives a wide view over the valleys, which is exactly why it was chosen. The towers were placed so that each could see its neighbours and pass signals along the frontier with fire and smoke.

   Read the complete Ciceu-Poieni - Podul Milcoaiei write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Ciceu-Poieni - Podul Milcoaiei comes up 18 km in. Next is Perișor - Vârful Colnicului.

3. 3. Perișor - Vârful Colnicului

   The upper valley of the Zagra stream, in the hills of Bistrița-Năsăud county in northern Transylvania, is the sort of place that has produced poets. The village of Hordou, now named Coșbuc, birthplace of the poet George Coșbuc, lies not far away, near Năsăud, and Liviu Rebreanu, one of Romania's great novelists, was born in Târlișua, a little to the west. The hills around Perișor and Zagra, with the summit called Vârful Colnicului, are a landscape of meadows, beech woods and scattered farms that seems to have stepped out of their books.

   Read the complete Perișor - Vârful Colnicului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   36 km in you reach Perișor - Vârful Colnicului. Next is Ciceu-Poieni - Vârful Osoiului.

4. 4. Ciceu-Poieni - Vârful Osoiului

   Hay is still cut by hand in the hills of northern Transylvania, and the slopes near Ciceu-Poieni are as good a place as any to see why that matters. This is a country of steep meadows above small villages, with clumps of forest, plum trees along the lanes and the stone-and-wood houses of farmers who still keep a few cows and sheep. Vârful Osoiului is a hilltop name rather than a signed attraction, about four kilometres from Negrilești, and it works best as a way to understand the landscape between the Someș valley and the hills of the north.

   Read the complete Ciceu-Poieni - Vârful Osoiului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Ciceu-Poieni - Vârful Osoiului, about halfway. Next is Zagra - Dealul Lupului.

5. 5. 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

   Zagra - Dealul Lupului sits at 72 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ciceu-Poieni - Vârful Osoiului.

6. 6. back through Ciceu-Poieni - Vârful Osoiului

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ciceu-Poieni - Vârful Osoiului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Ciceu-Poieni - Vârful Osoiului comes up 90 km in. Next is back through Perișor - Vârful Colnicului.

7. 7. back through Perișor - Vârful Colnicului

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Perișor - Vârful Colnicului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   108 km in you reach back through Perișor - Vârful Colnicului. Next is back through Ciceu-Poieni - Podul Milcoaiei.

8. 8. back through Ciceu-Poieni - Podul Milcoaiei

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ciceu-Poieni - Podul Milcoaiei write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Ciceu-Poieni - Podul Milcoaiei, late in the day. Next is Chiuiești - Muncelul Chiuieștiului.

9. 9. Chiuiești - Muncelul Chiuieștiului

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Chiuiești - Muncelul Chiuieștiului 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 262 km.