Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor and Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor

   Out on the flat Romanian plain east of the Olt river, the village of Crâmpoia sits among endless fields of wheat, maize and sunflowers, and its name has a place in Roman history. A Roman earthen fort near the village stood on the Limes Transalutanus, the frontier line that the Romans built east of the Olt in the early third century, running from the Danube northward toward the Carpathians, a long earthen rampart with forts and watchtowers. The local name Reduta Tătarilor, the Tatars' redoubt, reflects a common habit in Romania of attributing old earthworks to the Tatars or other invaders, long after the Romans were forgotten. The site is part of the UNESCO-listed frontier of Dacia.

   Read the complete Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor is where the day begins. Next is Gresia - La Biserică.

2. 2. Gresia - La Biserică

   The Wallachian plain in southern Romania is about as flat as Europe gets: a vast expanse of wheat, maize and sunflower fields stretching to the horizon, broken only by lines of acacia trees, irrigation channels and villages strung along the road. Teleorman county, where Gresia lies, is in the heart of it. Two thousand years ago, this was frontier land. The Romans built a long earthwork rampart with forts and towers running north to south east of the river Olt, known as the Limes Transalutanus, to protect their province of Dacia. Gresia and the sites around it, including Roșiorii de Vede, Crâmpoia and Izbășești, lie along its line. Little survives above ground, and the remains need a trained eye or an archaeologist's map to spot, but the idea of a Roman frontier running through these fields adds depth to a landscape that can seem empty.

   Read the complete Gresia - La Biserică write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Gresia - La Biserică comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui.

3. 3. Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui

   Southern Romania is as flat as a table, and the Teleorman plain, through which the river Vedea flows towards the Danube, is wheat and sunflower country as far as the eye can see. The Romans pushed their frontier across this plain in the second century, building a long earthen rampart known as the Limes Transalutanus, east of the Olt river, with a ditch and a line of forts and towers behind it. Near Roșiorii de Vede, at Valea Urlui, one of these sites is part of the Roman frontier of Dacia listed by UNESCO. The rampart can still be traced in places as a low bank running through the fields, and on the ground you need a good eye, or a guide, to spot it. From the air it is much clearer.

   Read the complete Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui. Next is back through Gresia - La Biserică.

4. 4. back through Gresia - La Biserică

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gresia - La Biserică write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Gresia - La Biserică, late in the day. Next is Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor.

5. 5. Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor. That is the ride.