CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Orăştioara de Sus it runs 225 km to Orăştioara de Sus; allow about 3 h 54 of riding. On the way it passes Luncani-Piatra Rosie, Banita and back through Luncani-Piatra Rosie. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Grădiștea de Munte is where the Dacian capital stood, and the hills around it hold the remains of Sarmizegetusa Regia, the mountain city that Decebalus ruled from about AD 87 until the Roman legions broke it in 106. The site lies high in the Șureanu mountains, around twelve hundred metres up, on a series of man-made terraces cut into the slope. The most striking remains are the sacred zone, with circular sanctuaries of stone and wood pillars and a large round altar of andesite, often called the sun disc, which may have served as a calendar or a place of sacrifice. Whatever it was, it is a place with presence, set among dark conifers and mountain meadows.
Read the complete Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel is where the day begins. Next is Luncani-Piatra Rosie.
Piatra Rosie, the Red Rock, is one of the six Dacian fortresses of the Orastie Mountains and, arguably, the most awkward to reach, which is exactly how its builders wanted it. The fortress stands on a steep hill above the village of Luncani, with its walls stepping up the slope in terraces, built in the characteristic Dacian way, from dressed stone blocks laid with timber beams. It was part of a defensive chain that protected the Dacian capital, Sarmizegetusa Regia, which lies higher in the mountains. UNESCO listed the group in 1999.
Read the complete Luncani-Piatra Rosie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Luncani-Piatra Rosie comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Banita.
The Dacians, before the Romans conquered them, built a ring of fortresses in the mountains around their capital Sarmizegetusa Regia, and Banița is one of them, perched on a limestone peak, Piatra Cetii, above the village of the same name. It guarded the southern approach to the Dacian heartland, controlling the route from the Jiu valley, and it was taken by the Romans during Trajan's wars at the beginning of the second century. The Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains, including Banița, were inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1999.
Read the complete Banita write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 113 km into the recorded legs you reach Banita. Next is back through Luncani-Piatra Rosie.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Luncani-Piatra Rosie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Luncani-Piatra Rosie, late in the day. Next is Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel. That is the ride.
Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel → Luncani-Piatra Rosie is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Luncani-Piatra Rosie → Banita is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Banița → back through Luncani-Piatra Rosie is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Luncani-Piatra Rosie → Grădiștea de Munte - Muncel is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.