Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1 and Perisor - Corobana

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1

   The Someș river cuts through the low hills of north-western Transylvania in a series of wide loops, and at Cormeniș, a small village in Sălaj county, it passes below a bank where the Romans placed one of their watchtowers. This was the northern edge of the province of Dacia Porolissensis, the frontier facing the free Dacian tribes beyond, and a line of towers and small forts ran along the hills, linked by signals and patrols. The site at Râpa Malului, the riverbank cliff, is one of the many components of the Dacian frontier listed by UNESCO in 2024. As so often on the Dacian limes, there is little to see apart from a slight rise in a field, but standing up there with the river below, you can easily imagine a small garrison watching the valley.

   Read the complete Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1 is where the day begins. Next is Gâlgău - Casa Popii.

2. 2. Gâlgău - Casa Popii

   The Someș river winds through northern Transylvania in a broad valley between rolling hills, and near Gâlgău and Poiana Blenchii, it forms a natural corridor between the Transylvanian plateau and the northwest. In Roman times, this valley marked the northern edge of the province of Dacia, and the frontier ran along the hills above it, with watchtowers and small forts. Casa Popii, the priest's house, near Gâlgău, is one of the sites of that frontier listed by UNESCO in 2024: probably a watchtower position on a ridge overlooking the valley. As with many of these sites, there is little to see above ground, but the views over the valley and the hills explain its purpose.

   Read the complete Gâlgău - Casa Popii write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Gâlgău - Casa Popii comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului.

3. 3. Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului

   The countryside around Vârful Runcului is the landscape that two of Romania's best-loved writers came from, and it shows in their work. Liviu Rebreanu, born in the Năsăud area in 1885, set his novel Ion, about a peasant's hunger for land, in villages very like these, and the poet George Coșbuc grew up not far away in the valleys north of Năsăud. The hill itself, a rounded summit above the Someș valley, carries traces of the Roman watch system that once guarded the northern frontier of Dacia, part of the World Heritage listing since 2024, but its real charm is the view of the farmland Rebreanu wrote about.

   Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 81 km into the recorded legs you reach Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului. Next is Perisor - Corobana.

4. 4. Perisor - Corobana

   Țara Năsăudului, the Land of Năsăud, is a hilly corner of Bistrița-Năsăud county in northern Romania, and it has a strong sense of its own identity. In the eighteenth century the Habsburgs organised the villages here into a military frontier district, with a Romanian border regiment that defended the empire's eastern edge in return for freedom from serfdom. The people of the area were proud of that status, and the schools and institutions founded with the regiment's funds helped create a remarkable tradition of learning. Two of Romania's best-loved writers grew up nearby: the poet George Coșbuc, born in the village that now bears his name, and the novelist Liviu Rebreanu, whose books describe the lives of Transylvanian peasants.

   Read the complete Perisor - Corobana write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Perisor - Corobana, about halfway. Next is back through Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului.

5. 5. back through Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului sits at 101 km, about halfway. Next is back through Gâlgău - Casa Popii.

6. 6. back through Gâlgău - Casa Popii

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gâlgău - Casa Popii write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Gâlgău - Casa Popii comes up about 220 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1.

7. 7. Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1 closes the day.