Monor - Dealul Braniște and Villages with Fortified Churches in Transy

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 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 Sărățeni - Casa Sării.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villages with Fortified Churches in Transy.

3. 3. Villages with Fortified Churches in Transy

   South of Sighișoara the hills fold into long, grassy valleys, and almost every one of them hides a village built around a church that was also a castle. This marker sits among them, close to Șaeș and Apold, two of the old Saxon settlements whose German names, Schaas and Trappold, still turn up on church plaques and in the memories of the few families who stayed.

   Read the complete Villages with Fortified Churches in Transy write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 141 km into the recorded legs you reach Villages with Fortified Churches in Transy. Next is back through Sărățeni - Casa Sării.

4. 4. back through Sărățeni - Casa Sării

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Sărățeni - Casa Sării, late in the day. Next is Monor - Dealul Braniște.

5. 5. 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

   Back at Monor - Dealul Braniște. That is the ride.