CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Groşi it runs 300 km to Groşi; allow about 6 h 46 of riding. The stops in between: Church of the Holy Paraskeva, Church of the Holy Parasceve, Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci and back through Church of the Holy Parasceve. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 37 km this is Romania Maramures Wooden Churches Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Just outside Baia Mare, where the city gives way to the hills, the countryside of northern Romania begins to show the tradition that made this region famous: churches built entirely of wood, with steep shingled roofs and tall, needle-like spires. Many of them are dedicated to the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, and this dedication is common across the region, from small village churches to some of the eight Wooden Churches of Maramureș listed by UNESCO in 1999. Surdești and Plopiș, both within a short ride of Baia Mare, are among the finest of those, with spires that seem far too tall for the buildings beneath them.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Archangels write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Archangels is where the day begins. Next is Church of the Holy Paraskeva.
In 1780 a painter named Radu Munteanu covered the inside of the wooden church at Desești with scenes that still shock and delight: a Last Judgment in which sinners are marched off to a hell full of grinning devils, alongside saints, prophets and lively village figures. The church, dedicated to the Holy Paraskeva and built in 1770 from oak logs, rises above the village with a tall, slender tower and a steep double roof of shingles. It is one of the eight wooden churches of Maramureș inscribed by UNESCO in 1999, and its paintings are among the best preserved of them all.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Paraskeva write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Paraskeva comes up 31 km in. Next is Church of the Holy Parasceve.
Maramureș is one of the few corners of Europe where wood is still the language of the sacred, and the church of Saint Parascheva at Poienile Izei is a good place to learn it. It stands on a small rise above the Izei valley, a dark timber church with a steep, double-tiered shingled roof and a slender spire, built in the early seventeenth century and moved to its present spot later. Inside, the walls and ceiling carry painted scenes from the eighteenth century, and the one that always gets quoted is a vivid Last Judgment in which sinners get remarkably specific punishments.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Parasceve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
62 km in you reach Church of the Holy Parasceve. Next is Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci.
The Țibleș massif rises like a dark green wall between Maramureș and the Bistrița country of northern Romania, an old volcanic range topped by the Țibleș peak at around eighteen hundred metres. On its southern flanks, above the village of Groșii Țibleșului, lie the forests of Preluci, part of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe that UNESCO has protected as one sprawling, multi-country site. These are woods left largely to themselves, where old beeches grow huge, fall, rot and feed the next generation without a forester in sight.
Read the complete Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci, about halfway. Next is back through Church of the Holy Parasceve.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Parasceve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Holy Parasceve sits at 123 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of the Holy Paraskeva.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Paraskeva write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Holy Paraskeva comes up 154 km in. Next is Church of the Holy Archangels.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Archangels write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Archangels closes the day.
Church of the Holy Archangels → Church of the Holy Paraskeva is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Paraskeva → Church of the Holy Parasceve is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Parasceve → Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci → back through Church of the Holy Parasceve is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Holy Parasceve → back through Church of the Holy Paraskeva is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Holy Paraskeva → Church of the Holy Archangels is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.