Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului and Church of the Holy Parasceve
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
309 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 23
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 309 km round trip from Ciceu-Giurgeşti - roughly 7 h 23 in the saddle. On the way it passes Perisor - Corobana, Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci, Church of the Holy Parasceve and back through Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului
The countryside around Vârful Runcului is the landscape that two of Romania's best-loved writers came from, and it shows in their work. Liviu Rebreanu, born in the Năsăud area in 1885, set his novel Ion, about a peasant's hunger for land, in villages very like these, and the poet George Coșbuc grew up not far away in the valleys north of Năsăud. The hill itself, a rounded summit above the Someș valley, carries traces of the Roman watch system that once guarded the northern frontier of Dacia, part of the World Heritage listing since 2024, but its real charm is the view of the farmland Rebreanu wrote about.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului is where the day begins. Next is Perisor - Corobana.
2. Perisor - Corobana
Țara Năsăudului, the Land of Năsăud, is a hilly corner of Bistrița-Năsăud county in northern Romania, and it has a strong sense of its own identity. In the eighteenth century the Habsburgs organised the villages here into a military frontier district, with a Romanian border regiment that defended the empire's eastern edge in return for freedom from serfdom. The people of the area were proud of that status, and the schools and institutions founded with the regiment's funds helped create a remarkable tradition of learning. Two of Romania's best-loved writers grew up nearby: the poet George Coșbuc, born in the village that now bears his name, and the novelist Liviu Rebreanu, whose books describe the lives of Transylvanian peasants.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Perisor - Corobana comes up 28 km in. Next is Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci.
3. Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci
The Țibleș massif rises like a dark green wall between Maramureș and the Bistrița country of northern Romania, an old volcanic range topped by the Țibleș peak at around eighteen hundred metres. On its southern flanks, above the village of Groșii Țibleșului, lie the forests of Preluci, part of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe that UNESCO has protected as one sprawling, multi-country site. These are woods left largely to themselves, where old beeches grow huge, fall, rot and feed the next generation without a forester in sight.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
56 km in you reach Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci. Next is Church of the Holy Parasceve.
4. Church of the Holy Parasceve
Maramureș is one of the few corners of Europe where wood is still the language of the sacred, and the church of Saint Parascheva at Poienile Izei is a good place to learn it. It stands on a small rise above the Izei valley, a dark timber church with a steep, double-tiered shingled roof and a slender spire, built in the early seventeenth century and moved to its present spot later. Inside, the walls and ceiling carry painted scenes from the eighteenth century, and the one that always gets quoted is a vivid Last Judgment in which sinners get remarkably specific punishments.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului closes the day.
Leg by leg
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului to Perisor - Corobana
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului → Perisor - Corobana is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Perisor - Corobana to Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci
Perisor - Corobana → Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci to Church of the Holy Parasceve
Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci → Church of the Holy Parasceve is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Parasceve to back through Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci
Church of the Holy Parasceve → back through Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci to back through Perisor - Corobana
back through Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci → back through Perisor - Corobana is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Perisor - Corobana to Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului
back through Perisor - Corobana → Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.