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.
A 350 km round trip from Uriu - roughly 7 h 02 in the saddle. The stops in between: Căpâlna - Hotroapă, Church of the Holy Archangels, Church of the Holy Paraskeva and back through Church of the Holy Archangels. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 46 km this is Romania Maramures Wooden Churches Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Ilișua is a small village near Uriu in the valley of the Someș Mare, and in Roman times it was the site of a fort guarding the northern frontier of Dacia. The fort, known in antiquity as Arcobara, housed a cavalry unit, and archaeologists have uncovered its walls, gates and buildings, along with inscriptions and finds now displayed in museums in the region. Like the other sites of the Roman frontier in Romania, it is part of a nomination for UNESCO world heritage, and like most of them, it is now largely fields and grassy banks, with little to see above ground but a great deal of history beneath.
Read the complete Ilișua - Țibleș write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ilișua - Țibleș is where the day begins. Next is Căpâlna - Hotroapă.
Căpâlna sits in the Someș country northwest of Dej, in a landscape of long, rounded hills that the Transylvanian plateau does so well. Orchards, hayfields and small woods climb the slopes, villages sit where streams meet, and the horizon always seems to hold another soft ridge.
Read the complete Căpâlna - Hotroapă write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Căpâlna - Hotroapă comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of the Holy Archangels.
The wooden church at Rogoz stands in the Lăpuș country, a quieter, lesser-known corner of Maramureș, south of the mountains and away from the main tourist circuits. Built in the seventeenth century and dedicated to the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, it is unusual in shape: the roof is asymmetric and overhangs deeply on one side, and the eaves are supported by carved wooden brackets shaped like horse heads, a detail that seems to come straight out of folk tradition. Inside, the walls are painted with scenes from the Bible, including a vivid Last Judgement. It is one of the eight churches in the UNESCO listing of the Wooden Churches of Maramureș.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Archangels write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 81 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of the Holy Archangels.
Just outside Baia Mare, where the city gives way to the hills, the countryside of northern Romania begins to show the tradition that made this region famous: churches built entirely of wood, with steep shingled roofs and tall, needle-like spires. Many of them are dedicated to the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, and this dedication is common across the region, from small village churches to some of the eight Wooden Churches of Maramureș listed by UNESCO in 1999. Surdești and Plopiș, both within a short ride of Baia Mare, are among the finest of those, with spires that seem far too tall for the buildings beneath them.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Archangels write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Archangels, about halfway. Next is Church of the Holy Paraskeva.
In 1780 a painter named Radu Munteanu covered the inside of the wooden church at Desești with scenes that still shock and delight: a Last Judgment in which sinners are marched off to a hell full of grinning devils, alongside saints, prophets and lively village figures. The church, dedicated to the Holy Paraskeva and built in 1770 from oak logs, rises above the village with a tall, slender tower and a steep double roof of shingles. It is one of the eight wooden churches of Maramureș inscribed by UNESCO in 1999, and its paintings are among the best preserved of them all.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Paraskeva write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Paraskeva sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of the Holy Archangels.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Archangels write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of the Holy Archangels comes up about 224 km into the recorded legs.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Archangels write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 267 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Church of the Holy Archangels. Next is back through Căpâlna - Hotroapă.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Căpâlna - Hotroapă write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Căpâlna - Hotroapă, late in the day. Next is Ilișua - Țibleș.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ilișua - Țibleș write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 350 km.
Ilișua - Țibleș → Căpâlna - Hotroapă is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Căpâlna - Hotroapă → Church of the Holy Archangels is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Archangels → Church of the Holy Archangels is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Archangels → Church of the Holy Paraskeva is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Paraskeva → back through Church of the Holy Archangels is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Holy Archangels → back through Church of the Holy Archangels is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of the Holy Archangels → back through Căpâlna - Hotroapă is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Căpâlna - Hotroapă → Ilișua - Țibleș is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.