CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
From Câţcău it runs 206 km to Câţcău; allow about 4 h 07 of riding. The stops in between: Negreni - Poiana la Arbore, Tihău - Dealul Cucului, Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei and back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
On the hills between the valley of the Someș and the Meseș mountains, in the north-west of Transylvania, the ground rises in gentle ridges, and this is the highest point in a small stretch of country near the villages of Vad, Gâlgău and Poiana Blenchii. The label is Muncel, meaning little hill, and Comorița, which carries the sense of a small treasure, and both names tell you about the country: low, open, rounded hills, used for generations as pasture and orchard land. A lot of local folklore has treasure buried in hills like this, and many an old shepherd has a tale of a hoard or a lost mine.
Read the complete Muncel - Comorița write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Muncel - Comorița is where the day begins. Next is Negreni - Poiana la Arbore.
Somewhere in the hills of Sălaj county, between the villages of Lozna, Rus and Letca, a meadow called Poiana la Arbore, the clearing by the tree, marks one of the small Roman sites on the north-western frontier of Dacia. The name alone tells you what to expect: a glade, a ridge, perhaps a lone tree, and the faint traces of a watch post that once looked out over the Someş valley. The Frontiers of the Roman Empire listing in 2024 included many such places, and their value lies in the chain they form rather than in any single ruin.
Read the complete Negreni - Poiana la Arbore write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Negreni - Poiana la Arbore comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tihău - Dealul Cucului.
Dealul Cucului means cuckoo hill, and the name fits the place: a low, wooded rise above the village of Tihău, close to the town of Jibou in the Someș valley of Sălaj county, where in spring the cuckoo's call echoes across the meadows. The point belongs to the network of archaeological sites along the Roman frontier of Dacia in the northwest of the province, near the confluence of the Almaș and Someș rivers, a strategic spot where valleys meet and roads cross. As with many of these sites, there may be little to see on the surface, but the location makes sense once you look at the map.
Read the complete Tihău - Dealul Cucului write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Tihău - Dealul Cucului. Next is Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei.
The Meseș mountains rise to the west of Zalău like a long green wall, and they formed the natural western boundary of Roman Dacia in this region. Along their crest and on the slopes above the plains, the Romans built a line of watchtowers, and the site above the fields with the evocative name of Șesurile Tâlhăroasei, roughly the robbers' flats, near the villages of Treznea and Aghireș, is one of them. It is part of the Dacian frontier on the World Heritage list. Up in the forest the remains are modest, but the position, high on a slope with a view over the valley, shows how the frontier used every advantage of the terrain.
Read the complete Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei, about halfway. Next is back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tihău - Dealul Cucului write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului sits at 106 km, about halfway. Next is back through Negreni - Poiana la Arbore.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Negreni - Poiana la Arbore write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Negreni - Poiana la Arbore comes up about 168 km into the recorded legs. Next is Muncel - Comorița.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Muncel - Comorița write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Muncel - Comorița closes the day.
Muncel - Comorița → Negreni - Poiana la Arbore is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Negreni - Poiana la Arbore → Tihău - Dealul Cucului is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tihău - Dealul Cucului → Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei → back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tihău - Dealul Cucului → back through Negreni - Poiana la Arbore is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Negreni - Poiana la Arbore → Muncel - Comorița is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.