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.
537 km from Orăştioara de Sus to Orăştioara de Sus, about 11 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor, Vețel - Micia / Grădiște, Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic and Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP. The line favours views over speed.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor.
The Romans loved hot water, and at Geoagiu-Băi, in the hills above the Mureș valley, they found it: thermal springs that fed baths at the settlement of Germisara, where soldiers and officials came to bathe and dedicated altars to the nymphs and gods of the waters. The Roman pools carved into the travertine are still visible, and the modern spa uses the same springs. Drumul Romanilor, the Romans' road, recalls the routes that linked the forts and towns of Dacia, and the area is part of the World Heritage listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia.
Read the complete Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vețel - Micia / Grădiște.
The Mureș flows west across Transylvania towards Hungary, and near the village of Vețel, just west of Deva, the Romans built one of the most important forts in their province of Dacia. Micia guarded the river and the road along the valley, the main route between Transylvania and the Pannonian plain, and around the fort grew a large civil settlement with baths, temples and an amphitheatre. Excavations have revealed much of it, though part of the site lies under a power station built in the twentieth century.
Read the complete Vețel - Micia / Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Vețel - Micia / Grădiște. Next is Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic.
In the Apuseni mountains of western Romania, gold has shaped the land and its people for two thousand years. The Romans came for it after conquering Dacia, organising the mining from a centre at Ampelum, today the town of Zlatna, whose name comes from the Slavic word for gold. Trâmpoiele, on the high ground near Almașu Mare, is one of the many small sites connected to that Roman presence, where mining, settlement and watch posts dotted the hills. A little further north, the mining landscape of Roșia Montană, with its Roman galleries cut deep into the rock, was listed by UNESCO in 2021 and gives the clearest idea of how the ancient gold was won.
Read the complete Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic, about halfway. Next is Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP.
In the Mureș valley near Ocna Mureș, the village of Războieni-Cetate takes the second half of its name, cetate, fortress, from the Roman fort that once stood here, guarding the road and the river in central Dacia. The fort was a base for a cavalry unit, and its remains, close to the farm buildings of the communist era collective, the CAP, whose stables give the site its odd label, are part of the World Heritage listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia. Little is visible above ground, but the outline of the fort can be traced in the fields.
Read the complete Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP sits at 209 km, about halfway. Next is back through Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic comes up about 371 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Vețel - Micia / Grădiște.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vețel - Micia / Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 445 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Vețel - Micia / Grădiște. Next is back through Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 537 km.
Costești-Cetățuie → Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor → Vețel - Micia / Grădiște is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vețel - Micia / Grădiște → Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic → Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP → back through Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic is 98 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic → back through Vețel - Micia / Grădiște is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vețel - Micia / Grădiște → back through Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor → Costesti-Cetatuie is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.