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.
305 km from Orăştioara de Sus to Orăştioara de Sus, about 5 h 09 of riding. The stops in between: Village of Câlnic, Village of Valea Viilor and back through Village of Câlnic. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. 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 Village of Câlnic.
Câlnic, a small village south of Sebeș in Alba county, is home to one of the strangest fortresses among the Saxon sites of Transylvania. Unlike most of its neighbours, it began not as a fortified church but as a noble residence. In the thirteenth century a local count built a stone keep here, surrounded by walls and a moat. Later the villagers bought it, added a chapel and storerooms, and turned it into a peasant refuge, where families could shelter from raids behind the walls. The result, still ringed by water on parts of its perimeter, is part of the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania World Heritage site.
Read the complete Village of Câlnic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Village of Câlnic comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is Village of Valea Viilor.
Valea Viilor means Valley of the Vineyards, and the name is honest: the slopes around the village were planted with vines long before anyone thought of mapping them. The Saxons called it Wurmloch, and its fortified church, a tall Gothic hall with a defensive storey built over the choir and a ring wall around it, is one of the seven on the World Heritage list.
Read the complete Village of Valea Viilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 152 km into the recorded legs you reach Village of Valea Viilor. Next is back through Village of Câlnic.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Câlnic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Village of Câlnic, 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.
Back at Costesti-Cetatuie. That is the ride.
Costești-Cetățuie → Village of Câlnic is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Village of Câlnic → Village of Valea Viilor is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Village of Valea Viilor → back through Village of Câlnic is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Village of Câlnic → Costesti-Cetatuie is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.