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.
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.
436 km from Petrila to Petrila, about 9 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of Banita, Grădiștea de Munte - Dealul Șesului, Capâlna and back through Grădiștea de Munte - Dealul Șesului. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Comărnicel I
Comărnicel is the name on the map, and the Dacian fortresses of the Orăștie mountains, listed by UNESCO in 1999, are the reason this country matters. Here, in the first century BC and the first century AD, the Dacian kings built stone citadels on mountain tops, with terraces, walls and sacred precincts, the grandest of them Sarmizegetusa Regia, not far to the north-west.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Comărnicel I is where the day begins. Next is Banita.
2. Banița
The Dacians, before the Romans conquered them, built a ring of fortresses in the mountains around their capital Sarmizegetusa Regia, and Banița is one of them, perched on a limestone peak, Piatra Cetii, above the village of the same name. It guarded the southern approach to the Dacian heartland, controlling the route from the Jiu valley, and it was taken by the Romans during Trajan's wars at the beginning of the second century. The Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains, including Banița, were inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1999.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Banița comes up 31 km in. Next is Grădiștea de Munte - Dealul Șesului.
3. Grădiștea de Munte - Dealul Șesului
High in the Orastie mountains, at around twelve hundred metres, a ring of stone terraces climbs out of the beech forest, and it was once the heart of an empire. This is Sarmizegetusa Regia, the capital of the Dacian kingdom, the people who lived in what is now Romania and who fought two bitter wars against the Roman emperor Trajan in 101-102 and 105-106 AD. The site at Gradistea de Munte was a fortress, a religious centre and a town in one, with workshops, houses on artificial terraces, and a sacred precinct with round and rectangular temples marked out by stone bases and by pillars of andesite. Together with five other Dacian fortresses in the same hills, it was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1999.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
62 km in you reach Grădiștea de Munte - Dealul Șesului. Next is Capâlna.
4. Capâlna
The Dacians liked their fortresses high, hidden and hard to reach, which is why the Roman legions of Trajan took two bloody wars at the start of the second century to conquer them. Căpâlna stands on a steep wooded hill above the Sebeș valley, a Dacian citadel with stone walls built in the distinctive murus dacicus technique, blocks of cut stone tied together with timber beams, and a tower that served as the last refuge. It is one of the six Dacian fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains listed by UNESCO in 1999, along with the capital Sarmizegetusa Regia, and it is one of the easier ones to reach, with a path climbing through the forest from the valley road.