Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1 and Strimbu Băiuț

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 Ilișua - Țibleș.

2. 2. Ilișua - Țibleș

   Ilișua is a small village near Uriu in the valley of the Someș Mare, and in Roman times it was the site of a fort guarding the northern frontier of Dacia. The fort, known in antiquity as Arcobara, housed a cavalry unit, and archaeologists have uncovered its walls, gates and buildings, along with inscriptions and finds now displayed in museums in the region. Like the other sites of the Roman frontier in Romania, it is part of a nomination for UNESCO world heritage, and like most of them, it is now largely fields and grassy banks, with little to see above ground but a great deal of history beneath.

   Read the complete Ilișua - Țibleș write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Ilișua - Țibleș comes up about 66 km into the recorded legs. Next is Strimbu Băiuț.

3. 3. Strimbu Băiuț

   Maramureș is a part of Romania where wooden building became an art. The county in the far north, tucked against the Ukrainian border and ringed by forested mountains, has hundreds of timber churches, and eight of them were listed by UNESCO in 1999. The one at Strâmbu, in the Băiuț area, belongs to the Nativity of the Virgin and dates from the eighteenth century, built of oak logs with a steep, double-tiered shingle roof and a tall slender spire. It looks like a church that has learned to float, with a roof that sheds the heavy snow and a tower that reaches for the sky.

   Read the complete Strimbu Băiuț write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 148 km into the recorded legs you reach Strimbu Băiuț. Next is back through Ilișua - Țibleș.

4. 4. back through Ilișua - Țibleș

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ilișua - Țibleș write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Ilișua - Țibleș, late in the day. Next is Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1.

5. 5. 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

   Back at Cormeniș - Râpa Malului 1. That is the ride.