Why this ride
228 km from Ibăneşti to Ibăneşti, about 5 h 09 of riding. It goes by way of Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii, Vătava - Cetățele, Sântioana - Vârful Mortila and Sărățel - Cetate 1.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică and Sărățel - Cetate 1
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 228 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 09
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică
Up the Gurghiu valley in Mureș County, the villages still wear wood: carved gates, shingled roofs, little wooden churches and stacks of firewood against every wall. Ibănești is one of the best known of them, a long village strung along the valley where traditional dress, music and crafts have hung on more stubbornly than in most of Transylvania. On a hill nearby, Cetățuia Mică, the little citadel, marks a point on the eastern frontier of Roman Dacia, where a chain of small forts and watchtowers looked toward the volcanic Gurghiu mountains and the lands beyond. These eastern posts are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listing for Dacia, added by UNESCO in 2024, though on the ground they are grassy earthworks rather than walls.
Read the complete Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică is where the day begins. Next is Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii.
2. Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii
Salt has shaped this part of Transylvania as much as any river. The hills of the eastern Transylvanian basin sit on enormous salt deposits, and the springs and lakes are often salty, as in Sărățeni, whose name says it all, and where a small salt museum explains the history. Ideciu de Sus, a village in the Mureș valley above Reghin, lies in this country, and the hill of Dealul Custurii nearby carried a Roman watchtower on the eastern frontier of Dacia, included in UNESCO's inscription of 2024. The Romans valued salt highly, and controlling the deposits was one reason they kept a watchful eye on these hills.
Read the complete Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vătava - Cetățele.
3. Vătava - Cetățele
For about a century and a half, the Roman province of Dacia was a wedge of empire pushed north of the Danube, and its eastern edge ran along the curve of the Carpathians through what is now central Romania. In 2024, UNESCO added the frontiers of the Roman Empire in Dacia to its list, a long chain of forts, watchtowers and earthworks. Vătava, in the upper Mureș valley, is one of the sites, with traces of a Roman fortification on a hill called Cetățele, the little fortresses. Not much is visible to the casual eye: earthworks, a few stones, the outline of a position chosen for its view along the valley.
Read the complete Vătava - Cetățele write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Vătava - Cetățele. Next is Sântioana - Vârful Mortila.
4. Sântioana - Vârful Mortila
Sântioana sits in rolling country on the edge of the Transylvanian Plain, in Bistrița-Năsăud county, a gentle landscape of low hills, fields, orchards and scattered woods. The hilltop of Vârful Mortila, above the village, is one of the many archaeological places recorded in this part of Transylvania, a high point that would have made a natural lookout or settlement site for earlier peoples. There is little to see on the surface, but the view from the top gives a fine sense of the landscape, with the Transylvanian hills rolling away in every direction and the mountains rising on the horizon.
Read the complete Sântioana - Vârful Mortila write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sântioana - Vârful Mortila, about halfway. Next is Sărățel - Cetate 1.
5. Sărățel - Cetate 1
The name Sărățel means the little salty place, and this corner of Bistrița-Năsăud has salt underground: springs of brine rise here and there in the hills, and for centuries people used them for cooking, curing meat and treating animals. Salt was one of the reasons the Romans wanted Dacia, along with gold, and on a hill near the village they placed a fort, Cetate, meaning the citadel, at the north-eastern corner of their province. Behind it lay the valley of the Șieu and the road towards the interior; in front, the hills where the free Dacians lived. The site is now part of the Roman frontier of Dacia on the World Heritage list, though, like most of these places, it is visible mainly as an outline of banks and ditches.
Read the complete Sărățel - Cetate 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sărățel - Cetate 1 sits at 86 km, about halfway. Next is back through Sântioana - Vârful Mortila.
6. back through Sântioana - Vârful Mortila
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sântioana - Vârful Mortila write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sântioana - Vârful Mortila comes up about 141 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Vătava - Cetățele.
7. back through Vătava - Cetățele
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vătava - Cetățele write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Vătava - Cetățele. Next is back through Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii.
8. back through Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii, late in the day. Next is Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică.
9. Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică 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 228 km.
Leg by leg
Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică to Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii
Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică → Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii to Vătava - Cetățele
Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii → Vătava - Cetățele is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vătava - Cetățele to Sântioana - Vârful Mortila
Vătava - Cetățele → Sântioana - Vârful Mortila is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sântioana - Vârful Mortila to Sărățel - Cetate 1
Sântioana - Vârful Mortila → Sărățel - Cetate 1 is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sărățel - Cetate 1 to back through Sântioana - Vârful Mortila
Sărățel - Cetate 1 → back through Sântioana - Vârful Mortila is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sântioana - Vârful Mortila to back through Vătava - Cetățele
back through Sântioana - Vârful Mortila → back through Vătava - Cetățele is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vătava - Cetățele to back through Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii
back through Vătava - Cetățele → back through Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii to Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică
back through Ideciu de Sus - Dealul Custurii → Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.