Lunca - La Bolovani and Sărățeni - Casa Sării

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Lunca - La Bolovani

   La Bolovani means at the boulders, which tells you most of what a local would have said about this spot on the hills near the village of Lunca, between Monor and Șieuț on the eastern edge of the Transylvanian basin. Archaeologists know it as one of the sites along the Roman frontier of Dacia, a small watch post on a ridge commanding views east towards the Călimani and Gurghiu mountains, beyond which lay lands Rome never controlled. In 2024 it joined the World Heritage listing of the Dacian limes, though in the field you will find a quiet hill, sheep and very few signs.

   Read the complete Lunca - La Bolovani write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lunca - La Bolovani is where the day begins. Next is Brâncovenești - Castel.

2. 2. Brâncovenești - Castel

   Upstream from Reghin, where the Mureș leaves the mountains and widens into the Transylvanian hill country, the village of Brâncovenești stands beside a castle with round corner towers and a long, plain facade overlooking the river. Known in Hungarian as Marosvécs, it was rebuilt several times over the centuries, and in the twentieth century it belonged to the Kemény family. Between the two world wars, Baron János Kemény opened its doors to a circle of Hungarian writers from Transylvania, the Helikon group, who met here every summer to read, debate and plan their literary work. Those gatherings made a remote country house one of the liveliest literary addresses in the region for almost two decades.

   Read the complete Brâncovenești - Castel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Brâncovenești - Castel comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică.

3. 3. 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

   about 67 km into the recorded legs you reach Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică. Next is Sărățeni - Casa Sării.

4. 4. Sărățeni - Casa Sării

   Salt has shaped this corner of Transylvania for thousands of years. Beneath the hills of the Sovata and Praid area lies a huge salt dome, and in places it reaches the surface, creating salt cliffs, salty springs and lakes. Sărățeni, a village in the Târnava Mică valley, takes its name from the salt, and Casa Sării, the salt house, is the local name for the spot marked here. The Romans valued this salt as much as Dacian gold, and the eastern frontier of their province ran along these hills, with a fort at Sărățeni among the posts that watched the valleys and, no doubt, the salt routes.

   Read the complete Sărățeni - Casa Sării write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sărățeni - Casa Sării, about halfway. Next is back through Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică.

5. 5. back through 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

   back through Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Brâncovenești - Castel.

6. 6. back through Brâncovenești - Castel

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Brâncovenești - Castel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Brâncovenești - Castel comes up about 221 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lunca - La Bolovani.

7. 7. Lunca - La Bolovani

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Lunca - La Bolovani write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lunca - La Bolovani closes the day.