CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
103 km from Geoagiu to Geoagiu, about 2 h 46 of riding. It goes by way of Costesti-Cetatuie, Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel and back through Costesti-Cetatuie. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Warm water has drawn people to this corner of the Mureș valley for at least two thousand years. Below the hill of Dealul Urie, near the spa town of Geoagiu-Băi, the Romans built Germisara, a fort on the hill at Cigmău and a bath settlement around the hot springs a few kilometres away, and soldiers and settlers from across the empire came to soak their aches in the thermal pools. Excavations in one of the old spring basins brought up a remarkable hoard of votive offerings, including small gold plaques dedicated to the healing gods and the nymphs, thrown into the water by grateful bathers. The ruins of the fort on Dealul Urie are low and grassy, but the setting, above a broad river plain with mountains on both sides, makes the climb worthwhile.
Read the complete Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie is where the day begins. Next is Costesti-Cetatuie.
The Dacians built their strongholds high in the Orăștie mountains, and the fortress of Costești-Cetățuie was one of the gateways to their heartland. Standing on a steep hill above the valley of the Grădiștea river, it was protected by walls built in the Dacian style, the murus dacicus, with large cut stone blocks bound by timber beams, and by earthen ramparts and palisades. It guarded the road up the valley to Sarmizegetusa Regia, the capital of King Decebalus, which the Romans captured in the wars of 101 to 106 that turned Dacia into a province. The fortresses of the Orăștie mountains are listed together by UNESCO.
Read the complete Costesti-Cetatuie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Costești-Cetățuie comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel.
Grădiștea de Munte is where the Dacian capital stood, and the hills around it hold the remains of Sarmizegetusa Regia, the mountain city that Decebalus ruled from about AD 87 until the Roman legions broke it in 106. The site lies high in the Șureanu mountains, around twelve hundred metres up, on a series of man-made terraces cut into the slope. The most striking remains are the sacred zone, with circular sanctuaries of stone and wood pillars and a large round altar of andesite, often called the sun disc, which may have served as a calendar or a place of sacrifice. Whatever it was, it is a place with presence, set among dark conifers and mountain meadows.
Read the complete Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 51 km into the recorded legs you reach Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel. Next is back through Costesti-Cetatuie.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Costesti-Cetatuie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Costesti-Cetatuie, late in the day. Next is Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie. That is the ride.
Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie → Costesti-Cetatuie is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Costești-Cetățuie → Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel → back through Costesti-Cetatuie is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Costesti-Cetatuie → Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.