CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
307 km from Zalău to Zalău, about 6 h 12 of riding. The stops in between: Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei, Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii and back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The Romans did not build their frontier in Dacia as a single wall. They built it as a chain of forts, watchtowers and signal posts along the crest of the Meseș mountains in what is now north-western Romania, and Moigrad is where the chain had its main fortress. The ancient town was called Porolissum, and it controlled the Meseș Gate, a natural pass through the ridge, where merchants paid customs and soldiers watched for raiders from the north. Walk the site today and you find an amphitheatre, a forum, a temple, stretches of the fort wall and long grassy slopes, all overlooking the green valley below.
Read the complete Moigrad - La Poiana de Sus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Moigrad - La Poiana de Sus is where the day begins. Next is Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei.
Strâmtură means a narrowing, and the name fits. Just outside Gâlgău, a small Sălaj village on the Someș, the valley pinches between wooded slopes, and the Roman frontier made use of exactly such pinch points to control movement along the river. The site listed as Valea Strâmturei belongs to that northern Dacian line, and like most of its neighbours it is earthwork and setting rather than standing masonry. You come for the geography and the sense of a border that ran through these quiet hills nearly two thousand years ago.
Read the complete Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei comes up 63 km in. Next is Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii.
The Țibleș mountains rise like a dark wall between the Lăpuș country and the valleys of Maramureș, a volcanic range of dense spruce and beech forest topping out at nearly two thousand metres. On their slopes, near the source known as Izvorul Șurii above the village of Groșii Țibleșului, the forest feels almost untouched: springs bubbling out of mossy banks, fallen trunks covered in fungi, and a silence broken only by woodpeckers and the wind. This is bear country, and wolves and lynx roam these woods too. The area lies on the edge of the Maramureș region, famous for its wooden churches, carved gates and deeply traditional village life.
Read the complete Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
126 km in you reach Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii. Next is back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei, late in the day. Next is Moigrad - La Poiana de Sus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Moigrad - La Poiana de Sus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Moigrad - La Poiana de Sus. That is the ride.
Moigrad - La Poiana de Sus → Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei → Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii → back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei → Moigrad - La Poiana de Sus is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.