Fildu de Sus - Grebăn and Tihău - Dealul Cucului

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fildu de Sus - Grebăn

   Fildu de Sus is strung along a valley in the hills between Ciucea and the Crasna country, where the Apuseni mountains soften into rounded, grassy ridges, and Greban, the hill in the label, is one of those ridges. The valley is small and green, with a stream, a line of houses, and orchards climbing the slopes, and it feels a long way from the main road that carries the traffic between Cluj and Oradea. Poieni and Ciucea are the nearest villages, and Negreni lies a short distance to the east.

   Read the complete Fildu de Sus - Grebăn write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Fildu de Sus - Grebăn is where the day begins. Next is Hurez - La Frasin 1.

2. 2. Hurez - La Frasin 1

   This corner of Sălaj sits along the Roman frontier of Dacia, which makes it a more serious place than its gentle hills suggest. West of Zalău the Meseș mountains rise in a long wooded ridge, and through them runs a natural gate, the Meseș Pass, which the Romans fortified as part of their northern defences. The great site of Porolissum, with its fort, civil settlement and amphitheatre, stands on a ridge nearby, and the watchtowers and small works scattered across the hills belong to the same system.

   Read the complete Hurez - La Frasin 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hurez - La Frasin 1 comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Treznea - Cărbunarea.

3. 3. Treznea - Cărbunarea

   Treznea is a quiet village in the hills southeast of Zalău, the kind of place where the loudest sound is a cockerel or a tractor. Yet its name carries a heavy weight in Romanian memory. In September 1940, shortly after northern Transylvania was transferred to Hungary under the Second Vienna Award, Hungarian troops entering the area killed dozens of villagers here, Romanians and Jews, and burned houses. A memorial in the village commemorates the victims. It is a sombre reminder that the beautiful hills of Transylvania have seen terrible things.

   Read the complete Treznea - Cărbunarea write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 47 km into the recorded legs you reach Treznea - Cărbunarea. Next is Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor.

4. 4. Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor

   Roman Dacia's north-western frontier ran along the crest of the Meseș mountains, and the hill country around Mirșid, east of Zalău, is laced with its traces: watchtowers, earthworks and small forts placed so that each could see the next. In 2024 these remains became part of the World Heritage listing for the Frontiers of the Roman Empire in Dacia. The name of the spot, La Strâmtură by the wolves' brook, gives a fair idea of its character: a narrow place in the hills, wooded and quiet, where the eye has to work to pick out a low mound or a ditch in the grass.

   Read the complete Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor, about halfway. Next is Tihău - Dealul Cucului.

5. 5. Tihău - Dealul Cucului

   Dealul Cucului means cuckoo hill, and the name fits the place: a low, wooded rise above the village of Tihău, close to the town of Jibou in the Someș valley of Sălaj county, where in spring the cuckoo's call echoes across the meadows. The point belongs to the network of archaeological sites along the Roman frontier of Dacia in the northwest of the province, near the confluence of the Almaș and Someș rivers, a strategic spot where valleys meet and roads cross. As with many of these sites, there may be little to see on the surface, but the location makes sense once you look at the map.

   Read the complete Tihău - Dealul Cucului write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Tihău - Dealul Cucului sits at 68 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor.

6. 6. back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor comes up about 106 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Treznea - Cărbunarea.

7. 7. back through Treznea - Cărbunarea

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Treznea - Cărbunarea write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 123 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Treznea - Cărbunarea. Next is back through Hurez - La Frasin 1.

8. 8. back through Hurez - La Frasin 1

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hurez - La Frasin 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Hurez - La Frasin 1, late in the day. Next is Fildu de Sus - Grebăn.

9. 9. Fildu de Sus - Grebăn

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fildu de Sus - Grebăn write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 171 km.