Why this ride
336 km from Dumitrița to Dumitrița, about 7 h 10 of riding. It goes by way of Șintereag - Dealul Oului, Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1, Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 and Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului and Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 336 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 10
- 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. Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului
Bistrița is the town where Jonathan Harker spends his last comfortable night before heading into the mountains in Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the village of Orheiu Bistriței lies just eight kilometres to the south-east, in the hills above the valley of the Bistrița river. In Roman times, this was the site of an auxiliary fort on the north-eastern frontier of Dacia, and the remains lie beneath the village itself, which the locals know as the vatra satului, the village hearth. Excavations have revealed the outline of the fort, and finds are displayed in the county museum in Bistrița.
Read the complete Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului is where the day begins. Next is Șintereag - Dealul Oului.
2. Șintereag - Dealul Oului
Egg Hill, Dealul Oului, is a gentle rise near the village of Șintereag in Bistrița-Năsăud, and the Romans used it as a watch post on the north-eastern frontier of Dacia. Like the other sites in this area, it is part of the frontier listed by UNESCO in 2024, and like many of them, it is more a place to imagine than to see: a low hill, a few traces in the ground, a wide view over the valley of the Șieu and the hills toward Bistrița. Șintereag, a village of a few thousand, lies close by, with Șieu-Odorhei and Cociu as neighbours.
Read the complete Șintereag - Dealul Oului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Șintereag - Dealul Oului comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1.
3. Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1
The northern edge of Roman Dacia was a long line of watchtowers, small forts and earthworks drawn across the hills of what is now northern Transylvania, and Dealul Podului, the bridge hill, near Dumbrăveni, was one of the points along it. Watchtowers here kept an eye on the valleys that led north from the province, toward the lands of the free Dacians and other peoples beyond the frontier, and their remains, now mostly low earthworks in the fields and forest, are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listing for Dacia, added by UNESCO in 2024.
Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1. Next is Glod - Toaca Glodului 1.
4. Glod - Toaca Glodului 1
Between Dej and Jibou the Someș river squeezes through a narrow, winding valley, with the railway, the road and the river taking turns to cross each other. On the hills above, near the village of Glod and the larger villages of Rus and Ileanda, the Romans kept a watch on the north-western edge of Dacia, and Toaca Glodului is one of their watchtower positions, among the components of UNESCO's Dacian frontier listing. Toaca is the name of the wooden board struck in Romanian monasteries to call the monks to prayer, and the hill may owe its name to its shape or to some long-forgotten story.
Read the complete Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Glod - Toaca Glodului 1, about halfway. Next is Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului.
5. Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului
The countryside around Vârful Runcului is the landscape that two of Romania's best-loved writers came from, and it shows in their work. Liviu Rebreanu, born in the Năsăud area in 1885, set his novel Ion, about a peasant's hunger for land, in villages very like these, and the poet George Coșbuc grew up not far away in the valleys north of Năsăud. The hill itself, a rounded summit above the Someș valley, carries traces of the Roman watch system that once guarded the northern frontier of Dacia, part of the World Heritage listing since 2024, but its real charm is the view of the farmland Rebreanu wrote about.
Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 1.
6. back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 comes up about 219 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1.
7. back through Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 265 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1. Next is back through Șintereag - Dealul Oului.
8. back through Șintereag - Dealul Oului
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Șintereag - Dealul Oului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Șintereag - Dealul Oului, late in the day. Next is Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului.
9. Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului 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 336 km.
Leg by leg
Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului to Șintereag - Dealul Oului
Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului → Șintereag - Dealul Oului is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Șintereag - Dealul Oului to Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1
Șintereag - Dealul Oului → Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1 is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1 to Glod - Toaca Glodului 1
Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1 → Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 to Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului
Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 → Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului to back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 1
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului → back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 to back through Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1
back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 1 → back through Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1 is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1 to back through Șintereag - Dealul Oului
back through Dumbrăveni - Dealul Podului 1 → back through Șintereag - Dealul Oului is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Șintereag - Dealul Oului to Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului
back through Șintereag - Dealul Oului → Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.