Why this ride
A 333 km round trip from Batoş - roughly 6 h 36 in the saddle. The stops in between: Sărățel - Cetate 1, Salva - Roata lui Todoran, Dumbrăveni and Bârsău Mare - Cetate. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Monor - Dealul Braniște and Bârsău Mare - Cetate
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 333 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 36
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Monor - Dealul Braniște
This is the Transylvanian Plain at its northern edge, a land of soft hills rather than mountains, and Dealul Braniște is one of the rounded rises between the villages of Monor and Batoș in Mureș and Bistrița-Năsăud country. Braniște usually means a protected wood or reserved pasture, and the hill still carries patches of oak among the fields. From the top the view runs out over a rumpled carpet of meadows, orchards and strip fields, with the Călimani mountains a blue line far to the east.
Read the complete Monor - Dealul Braniște write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Monor - Dealul Braniște is where the day begins. Next is Sărățel - Cetate 1.
2. Sărățel - Cetate 1
The name Sărățel means the little salty place, and this corner of Bistrița-Năsăud has salt underground: springs of brine rise here and there in the hills, and for centuries people used them for cooking, curing meat and treating animals. Salt was one of the reasons the Romans wanted Dacia, along with gold, and on a hill near the village they placed a fort, Cetate, meaning the citadel, at the north-eastern corner of their province. Behind it lay the valley of the Șieu and the road towards the interior; in front, the hills where the free Dacians lived. The site is now part of the Roman frontier of Dacia on the World Heritage list, though, like most of these places, it is visible mainly as an outline of banks and ditches.
Read the complete Sărățel - Cetate 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sărățel - Cetate 1 comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Salva - Roata lui Todoran.
3. Salva - Roata lui Todoran
Salva is a railway village. Trains for the Maramureș line split off here from the route along the Someșul Mare, and the place has a slightly busy, crossroads feel for a commune of a little over four thousand people. The site called Roata lui Todoran, Todoran's wheel, sits right by the village in the Năsăud country of Bistrița-Năsăud, a region that marked the northern edge of Roman Dacia and later formed part of a Habsburg border regiment. Few places in Transylvania have been a frontier for quite so long.
Read the complete Salva - Roata lui Todoran write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Salva - Roata lui Todoran. Next is Dumbrăveni.
4. Dumbrăveni
Dumbrăveni sits in the quiet hill country above the Someş Mare, where the river curves west towards Dej and the land folds into low ridges, orchards and small woods of oak and hornbeam. Like several places on these rides, it marks a point on the old northern edge of Roman Dacia, one of the scattered watchtower and earthwork sites listed in 2024 as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Expect a hill and a view rather than masonry, and enjoy the feeling of being somewhere few travellers bother to stop.
Read the complete Dumbrăveni write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dumbrăveni, about halfway. Next is Bârsău Mare - Cetate.
5. Bârsău Mare - Cetate
In the north of Transylvania, the Someș river winds through a valley of green hills, woods and villages with wooden churches and haystacks, and on a hilltop near the village of Bârsău Mare, the faint remains of a Roman fortification overlook the valley. This was part of the northern frontier of Roman Dacia, the province created after Trajan's conquest in the early second century, and it is one of the sites included in the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia, listed by UNESCO in 2024.
Read the complete Bârsău Mare - Cetate write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bârsău Mare - Cetate sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Dumbrăveni.
6. back through Dumbrăveni
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dumbrăveni write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Dumbrăveni comes up about 214 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Salva - Roata lui Todoran.
7. back through Salva - Roata lui Todoran
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Salva - Roata lui Todoran write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 262 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Salva - Roata lui Todoran. Next is back through Sărățel - Cetate 1.
8. back through Sărățel - Cetate 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sărățel - Cetate 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sărățel - Cetate 1, late in the day. Next is Monor - Dealul Braniște.
9. Monor - Dealul Braniște
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monor - Dealul Braniște write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 333 km.
Leg by leg
Monor - Dealul Braniște to Sărățel - Cetate 1
Monor - Dealul Braniște → Sărățel - Cetate 1 is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sărățel - Cetate 1 to Salva - Roata lui Todoran
Sărățel - Cetate 1 → Salva - Roata lui Todoran is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Salva - Roata lui Todoran to Dumbrăveni
Salva - Roata lui Todoran → Dumbrăveni is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dumbrăveni to Bârsău Mare - Cetate
Dumbrăveni → Bârsău Mare - Cetate is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bârsău Mare - Cetate to back through Dumbrăveni
Bârsău Mare - Cetate → back through Dumbrăveni is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dumbrăveni to back through Salva - Roata lui Todoran
back through Dumbrăveni → back through Salva - Roata lui Todoran is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Salva - Roata lui Todoran to back through Sărățel - Cetate 1
back through Salva - Roata lui Todoran → back through Sărățel - Cetate 1 is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sărățel - Cetate 1 to Monor - Dealul Braniște
back through Sărățel - Cetate 1 → Monor - Dealul Braniște is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.