Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului and Sărățeni - Casa Sării

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 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 Monor - Dealul Braniște.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică.

3. 3. Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică

   Up the Gurghiu valley in Mureș County, the villages still wear wood: carved gates, shingled roofs, little wooden churches and stacks of firewood against every wall. Ibănești is one of the best known of them, a long village strung along the valley where traditional dress, music and crafts have hung on more stubbornly than in most of Transylvania. On a hill nearby, Cetățuia Mică, the little citadel, marks a point on the eastern frontier of Roman Dacia, where a chain of small forts and watchtowers looked toward the volcanic Gurghiu mountains and the lands beyond. These eastern posts are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listing for Dacia, added by UNESCO in 2024, though on the ground they are grassy earthworks rather than walls.

   Read the complete Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică 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 Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică. Next is Sărățeni - Casa Sării.

4. 4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică.

5. 5. back through Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Ibănești - Cetățuia Mică sits at 125 km, about halfway. Next is back through Monor - Dealul Braniște.

6. 6. back through 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 through Monor - Dealul Braniște comes up about 234 km into the recorded legs. Next is Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului.

7. 7. 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

   Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului closes the day.