Negrilești - Negru Vodă and Church of the Holy Parasceve
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
338 km
Riding-time estimate
8 h 00
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
A 338 km round trip from Negrilești - roughly 8 h 00 in the saddle. The stops in between: Salva - Modruț, Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci, Church of the Holy Parasceve and back through Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Negrilești - Negru Vodă
Negrilești is a small village in Bistrița-Năsăud county, in the hills of northern Transylvania, near the valley of the Someș Mare. The name of the site, Negru Vodă, recalls the legendary founder of Wallachia, a figure from the Romanian chronicles who is said to have crossed the Carpathians in the thirteenth century to found the principality; whether he existed at all is still debated, and many places in Romania bear his name. The site itself is part of the UNESCO listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia, probably a watchtower or a small fortification on a hill, part of the northern frontier of the province. Little is visible, but the hills offer good views over the surrounding countryside.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Negrilești - Negru Vodă is where the day begins. Next is Salva - Modruț.
2. Salva - Modruț
Salva lies where the Someșul Mare valley opens into a broad bowl in Bistrița-Năsăud county, with the Rodna mountains standing to the northeast and a ring of low wooded hills closer in. The town is a railway junction, a lorry stop on the road through the valley, and the kind of place that looks ordinary until you ask about its past.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Salva - Modruț comes up 29 km in. Next is Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci.
3. Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci
The Țibleș massif rises like a dark green wall between Maramureș and the Bistrița country of northern Romania, an old volcanic range topped by the Țibleș peak at around eighteen hundred metres. On its southern flanks, above the village of Groșii Țibleșului, lie the forests of Preluci, part of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe that UNESCO has protected as one sprawling, multi-country site. These are woods left largely to themselves, where old beeches grow huge, fall, rot and feed the next generation without a forester in sight.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
58 km in you reach Groșii Țibleșului - Preluci. Next is Church of the Holy Parasceve.
4. Church of the Holy Parasceve
Maramureș is one of the few corners of Europe where wood is still the language of the sacred, and the church of Saint Parascheva at Poienile Izei is a good place to learn it. It stands on a small rise above the Izei valley, a dark timber church with a steep, double-tiered shingled roof and a slender spire, built in the early seventeenth century and moved to its present spot later. Inside, the walls and ceiling carry painted scenes from the eighteenth century, and the one that always gets quoted is a vivid Last Judgment in which sinners get remarkably specific punishments.