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.
A 296 km round trip from Șinca Nouă - roughly 5 h 58 in the saddle. It goes by way of Village of Prejmer-Tartlau, Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului and back through Village of Prejmer-Tartlau. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Codru is an old Romanian word for a deep forest, and the Codrul Secular Șinca, the ancient forest of Șinca, is exactly that: a stand of old-growth beech and fir on the northern slopes of the Făgăraș mountains in Brașov county, where trees have grown, died and fallen for centuries without being cut. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the ancient and primeval beech forests of Europe, a chain of protected forests across many countries that together tell the story of how beech spread across the continent after the last ice age. Walking among trees that are hundreds of years old, with fallen trunks covered in moss and fungi and the canopy closing high above, is a humbling experience.
Read the complete Codrul secular Șinca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Codrul secular Șinca is where the day begins. Next is Village of Prejmer-Tartlau.
In the Burzenland plain east of Brașov, the village of Prejmer, known to its Saxon founders as Tartlau, is home to one of the most remarkable buildings in Romania: a fortified church surrounded by massive circular walls, with hundreds of storage rooms built into them on several levels. The church was begun in the thirteenth century by the Teutonic Knights, who were invited into the region by the Hungarian king to defend the frontier, and later strengthened by the Saxon villagers, who built the walls to protect themselves against Ottoman and Tatar raids. It is part of the UNESCO listing of villages with fortified churches in Transylvania.
Read the complete Village of Prejmer-Tartlau write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Village of Prejmer-Tartlau comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului.
The Homoród valley runs south through the Székely land of Harghita county, a gentle, green valley between wooded hills, with villages of whitewashed churches and carved gates. Ocland is one of them, a small village with a fortified church, and on a hill above it stood a medieval castle, Cetatea Hășmașului, of which only traces remain. The rides that pass here connect it with the fortified churches of Transylvania, the extraordinary defensive churches built by the Saxon and Székely communities in the Middle Ages to protect themselves from Tatar and Ottoman raids.
Read the complete Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 142 km into the recorded legs you reach Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului. Next is back through Village of Prejmer-Tartlau.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Prejmer-Tartlau write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Village of Prejmer-Tartlau, late in the day. Next is Codrul secular Șinca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Codrul secular Șinca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Codrul secular Șinca. That is the ride.
Codrul secular Șinca → Village of Prejmer-Tartlau is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Village of Prejmer-Tartlau → Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului → back through Village of Prejmer-Tartlau is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Village of Prejmer-Tartlau → Codrul secular Șinca is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.