Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 and Hurez - La Frasin 1

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1

   Mirsid is the kind of village you pass on the way somewhere else, until you notice that it sits at the foot of the greatest Roman frontier in Transylvania. The ridge of the Meses mountains rises behind it in a long, dark line of beech and oak, and the Romans built a series of watchtowers along the crest, looking north across the border into the lands of the free Dacians. The name Dealul Mare, Big Hill, with the number one attached, suggests the first in a sequence of those lookout points, and in a few of them you can still make out the square footprint of a tower in the grass.

   Read the complete Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 is where the day begins. Next is Treznea - Cărbunarea.

2. 2. Treznea - Cărbunarea

   Treznea is a quiet village in the hills southeast of Zalău, the kind of place where the loudest sound is a cockerel or a tractor. Yet its name carries a heavy weight in Romanian memory. In September 1940, shortly after northern Transylvania was transferred to Hungary under the Second Vienna Award, Hungarian troops entering the area killed dozens of villagers here, Romanians and Jews, and burned houses. A memorial in the village commemorates the victims. It is a sombre reminder that the beautiful hills of Transylvania have seen terrible things.

   Read the complete Treznea - Cărbunarea write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Treznea - Cărbunarea comes up 17 km in. Next is Hurez - La Frasin 1.

3. 3. Hurez - La Frasin 1

   This corner of Sălaj sits along the Roman frontier of Dacia, which makes it a more serious place than its gentle hills suggest. West of Zalău the Meseș mountains rise in a long wooded ridge, and through them runs a natural gate, the Meseș Pass, which the Romans fortified as part of their northern defences. The great site of Porolissum, with its fort, civil settlement and amphitheatre, stands on a ridge nearby, and the watchtowers and small works scattered across the hills belong to the same system.

   Read the complete Hurez - La Frasin 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   35 km in you reach Hurez - La Frasin 1. Next is back through Treznea - Cărbunarea.

4. 4. back through Treznea - Cărbunarea

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Treznea - Cărbunarea write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Treznea - Cărbunarea, late in the day. Next is Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1.

5. 5. Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1. That is the ride.