CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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 547 km round trip from Geoagiu - roughly 16 h 24 in the saddle. The stops in between: Costesti-Cetatuie, Comărnicel II, Voineasa - Crac-Găuri and Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 36 km this is Romania Transalpina, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Romans loved hot water, and at Geoagiu-Băi, in the hills above the Mureș valley, they found it: thermal springs that fed baths at the settlement of Germisara, where soldiers and officials came to bathe and dedicated altars to the nymphs and gods of the waters. The Roman pools carved into the travertine are still visible, and the modern spa uses the same springs. Drumul Romanilor, the Romans' road, recalls the routes that linked the forts and towns of Dacia, and the area is part of the World Heritage listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia.
Read the complete Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor is where the day begins. Next is Costesti-Cetatuie.
The Dacians built their strongholds high in the Orăștie mountains, and the fortress of Costești-Cetățuie was one of the gateways to their heartland. Standing on a steep hill above the valley of the Grădiștea river, it was protected by walls built in the Dacian style, the murus dacicus, with large cut stone blocks bound by timber beams, and by earthen ramparts and palisades. It guarded the road up the valley to Sarmizegetusa Regia, the capital of King Decebalus, which the Romans captured in the wars of 101 to 106 that turned Dacia into a province. The fortresses of the Orăștie mountains are listed together by UNESCO.
Read the complete Costesti-Cetatuie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Costești-Cetățuie comes up 35 km in. Next is Comărnicel II.
The Retezat range rises to the south, its granite peaks carrying snow into early summer, and the whole area belongs to Hunedoara county, a land of old mining, Dacian history and shepherds who still move flocks through the hills.
Read the complete Comărnicel II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
69 km in you reach Comărnicel II. Next is Voineasa - Crac-Găuri.
North of the Jiu Valley, the land rises steeply into the Șureanu and Parâng mountains, a wild region of high ridges, deep valleys, spruce forests and alpine meadows. Crac-Găuri lies up in this high country, linked by name to the old routes that crossed the mountains in Roman times, when Dacia was a province and soldiers watched the passes between the Transylvanian basin and the south. Little is visible today, and the remoteness is half the attraction: this is mountain land, where shepherds bring their flocks to high pastures in summer and the forest stretches for miles.
Read the complete Voineasa - Crac-Găuri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Voineasa - Crac-Găuri, about halfway. Next is Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor.
Petroșani is the capital of the Jiu valley, a long trench between the Retezat, Vâlcan, Parâng and Șureanu mountains in south-western Romania, and for most of the twentieth century it was the heart of the country's hard-coal industry. The hills around the town, including Dealul Botanilor, look down on a landscape of mining towns, pit heads and miners' housing, with the high mountains rising all around.
Read the complete Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Voineasa - Crac-Găuri.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voineasa - Crac-Găuri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Voineasa - Crac-Găuri comes up 173 km in. Next is back through Comărnicel II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Comărnicel II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
208 km in you reach back through Comărnicel II. Next is back through Costesti-Cetatuie.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Costesti-Cetatuie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Costesti-Cetatuie, late in the day. Next is Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 547 km.
Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor → Costesti-Cetatuie is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Costești-Cetățuie → Comărnicel II is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Comărnicel II → Voineasa - Crac-Găuri is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Voineasa - Crac-Găuri → Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor → back through Voineasa - Crac-Găuri is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Voineasa - Crac-Găuri → back through Comărnicel II is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Comărnicel II → back through Costesti-Cetatuie is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Costesti-Cetatuie → Geoagiu / Drumul Romanilor is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.