Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului and Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 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.

   Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   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 Spermezeu - Lazuri.

2. 2. Spermezeu - Lazuri

   Spermezeu is a village in the hilly country of western Bistriţa-Năsăud county, in northern Transylvania, where low ridges covered with orchards, hayfields and beech woods roll between the Someş valley and the Ţibleş mountains. The site called Spermezeu - Lazuri belongs to the series of places along the northern edge of the Roman province of Dacia, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listed in Romania in 2024. Here the Romans watched the border with watchtowers and small fortifications on hilltops, and though little remains above ground, the commanding views explain why these spots were chosen.

   Read the complete Spermezeu - Lazuri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Spermezeu - Lazuri comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal.

3. 3. Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal

   A Roman cavalry regiment kept its horses near the village of Ilișua, in the hills of northern Transylvania, for most of the time the province of Dacia existed. The fort, which modern archaeologists link with the ancient name Arcobara, was a large stone camp on the northern frontier, and its remains have been excavated over the years. It is part of the frontier of Roman Dacia listed by UNESCO in 2024. Today the site is a field with low walls and grassy mounds, and the neighbouring villages of Uriu, Cristeștii Ciceului and Braniștea go about their business around it.

   Read the complete Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Ilișua - Arcobara / Vicinal. Next is back through Spermezeu - Lazuri.

4. 4. back through Spermezeu - Lazuri

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Spermezeu - Lazuri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Spermezeu - Lazuri, late in the day. Next is Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului.

5. 5. Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului. That is the ride.