Domogled - Valea Cernei - Ciucevele Cerne and Cheile Nerei-Beușnița
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
748 km
Riding-time estimate
12 h 55
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
It goes by way of Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei, Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină, Izvoarele Nerei and Cheile Nerei-Beușnița. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,350 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Domogled - Valea Cernei - Ciucevele Cerne
The Cerna valley in southwestern Romania is a deep limestone gorge between the Mehedinți and Cerna mountains, with cliffs, caves and forests rising steeply on both sides. The Domogled–Valea Cernei National Park protects this wild landscape, and its beech forests, some of them untouched for centuries, became part of the UNESCO listing of Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe in 2017. The park is also home to a rare variety of black pine that grows on the steep limestone slopes, and to bears, wolves, lynx and chamois, as well as horned vipers and a remarkable variety of butterflies.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Domogled - Valea Cernei - Ciucevele Cerne is where the day begins. Next is Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei.
2. Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei
The Cerna is a mountain river in south-western Romania, flowing through a long, deep valley between the Mehedinți and Cerna mountains before reaching the old spa town of Băile Herculane. The Domogled-Valea Cernei National Park protects this valley and the mountains around it, a landscape of limestone cliffs, gorges, caves and some of the largest old-growth beech forests in Europe, part of the UNESCO site for the ancient and primeval beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei comes up about 87 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină.
3. Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină
The Cerna valley in south-western Romania has been a corridor for armies and travellers since antiquity. Between the Banat mountains and the Mehedinți plateau, the valley carried the Roman road from the Danube crossing at Drobeta northwards toward Tibiscum and the heart of Dacia. At Mehadia, the Romans built a fort known as Ad Mediam, and the remains called Praetorium or Zidină, meaning ruined walls, mark the site. The stone foundations are visible in places, and the site is one of the components of the Roman frontier in Dacia proposed for World Heritage status.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 171 km into the recorded legs you reach Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină. Next is Izvoarele Nerei.
4. Izvoarele Nerei
High in the Semenic mountains of south-western Romania, in the Banat region, the Nera river is born in a forest of ancient beech trees. The Izvoarele Nerei reserve, the springs of the Nera, protects one of the largest areas of virgin beech forest in Europe, with trees over thirty metres tall and centuries old, untouched by logging. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Izvoarele Nerei, about halfway. Next is Cheile Nerei-Beușnița.
5. Cheile Nerei-Beușnița
The water at Ochiul Beiului, the Bey's Eye, is such an intense turquoise that it looks dyed, and the legend says it formed from the tears of a Turkish nobleman mourning a lost love. It is one of the jewels of the Cheile Nerei-Beușnița National Park, in the mountains of Banat in south-western Romania, where the Nera river has cut a deep gorge through limestone over about twenty kilometres. The park's ancient beech forests are part of the UNESCO listing of primeval beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe, and the waterfalls, caves and karst springs make it one of the most beautiful corners of the country.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 577 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină. Next is back through Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei.
8. back through Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 748 km.
Leg by leg
Domogled - Valea Cernei - Ciucevele Cerne to Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei
Domogled - Valea Cernei - Ciucevele Cerne → Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei to Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină
Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei → Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină to Izvoarele Nerei
Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină → Izvoarele Nerei is 101 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Izvoarele Nerei to Cheile Nerei-Beușnița
Izvoarele Nerei → Cheile Nerei-Beușnița is 101 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cheile Nerei-Beușnița to back through Izvoarele Nerei
Cheile Nerei-Beușnița → back through Izvoarele Nerei is 101 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Izvoarele Nerei to back through Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină
back through Izvoarele Nerei → back through Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină is 101 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină to back through Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei
back through Mehadia - Praetorium / Zidină → back through Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei to Domogled - Valea Cernei - Ciucevele Cerne
back through Domogled - Valea Cernei - Iauna Craiovei → Domogled - Valea Cernei - Ciucevele Cerne is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.