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: 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.
370 km from Ighiu to Ighiu, about 13 h 01 of riding. It goes by way of Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea, Vețel - Micia / Grădiște and back through Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 78 km this is Romania Transalpina, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
There is a hill above Ighiu called Măgulici, and from its slopes you look straight across the Mureș valley toward Alba Iulia, the old Roman Apulum. That view is the whole point. Apulum was the base of the Thirteenth Legion and the largest Roman centre in Dacia, and the hills around it were dotted with watch posts and small sites that kept an eye on the roads in and out. The frontier lists name a site on Dealul Măgulici, and while there is little to see on the ground beyond the lie of the land, standing there makes the Roman geography readable.
Read the complete Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici is where the day begins. Next is Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea.
High above the Sebeș and Cugir valleys, where the Șureanu foothills fold into long grassy shoulders, the Romans kept watch over the southern approaches to their province of Dacia. The name on the map, Muncelu-Lăutaorea, belongs to the ridge country above Pianu de Jos, and it is one of the many small frontier points that archaeologists have tied to the Roman defensive system here. Do not expect walls to lean on. What survives on these hilltops is usually a faint platform, a ditch you notice only when the light is low, and a view that explains everything about why a sentry was posted there.
Read the complete Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vețel - Micia / Grădiște.
The Mureș flows west across Transylvania towards Hungary, and near the village of Vețel, just west of Deva, the Romans built one of the most important forts in their province of Dacia. Micia guarded the river and the road along the valley, the main route between Transylvania and the Pannonian plain, and around the fort grew a large civil settlement with baths, temples and an amphitheatre. Excavations have revealed much of it, though part of the site lies under a power station built in the twentieth century.
Read the complete Vețel - Micia / Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 183 km into the recorded legs you reach Vețel - Micia / Grădiște. Next is back through Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea, late in the day. Next is Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici. That is the ride.
Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici → Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea → Vețel - Micia / Grădiște is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Vețel - Micia / Grădiște → back through Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Pianu de Jos - Muncelu-Lăutaorea → Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici is 91 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.