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 Racoviţa it runs 178 km to Racoviţa; allow about 3 h 49 of riding. The stops in between: Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil, Monastery of Horezu and back through Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Here the Olt does something that rivers are not supposed to do: it cuts straight through the Carpathians. Between Sibiu and Râmnicu Vâlcea the river runs through a gorge that the Romans knew well, and Racovița lies in its southern stretch, where steep wooded slopes close in on both sides. The Romans built forts along it as part of the Limes Alutanus, and the name Praetorium on our list is one of those, a small fort that guarded the road along the water. Not far away, Caput Stenarum, near Boița, held the pass at the northern end of the gorge.
Read the complete Racovița - Praetorium II / Cetate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Racovița - Praetorium II / Cetate is where the day begins. Next is Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil.
The Olt river cuts through the Carpathians in a gorge a few kilometres from Păuşa, one of the few natural gateways between Transylvania and the southern plains, and the Romans knew its value. After Trajan conquered Dacia in AD 106, the frontier of the new province ran along the Olt, a line known as the Limes Alutanus, and a chain of watchtowers and small forts guarded the river, the roads and the passes against raiders from the lands to the east. Turnul lui Teofil, Teofil's Tower, is one of those lookouts, standing on a height over the valley, in a place chosen so that a signal fire or a trumpet call could be passed on from tower to tower.
Read the complete Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Monastery of Horezu.
Constantin Brâncoveanu, prince of Wallachia at the end of the seventeenth century, was a wealthy, cultured ruler who built churches, palaces and monasteries across his principality, and Horezu was his masterpiece. Founded in 1690, the monastery sits in a quiet valley in the foothills of the Căpățânii mountains, surrounded by walls, with a church at the centre of a courtyard lined with arcaded cells. It is the finest example of the Brâncovenesc style, a blend of Byzantine, Renaissance and Baroque, with carved stone, painted interiors and elegant porches, and it was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1993. In 1714, Brâncoveanu and his four sons were executed by the Ottomans in Istanbul; the Romanian Orthodox Church later canonised them as martyrs.
Read the complete Monastery of Horezu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Monastery of Horezu. Next is back through Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil, late in the day. Next is Racovița - Praetorium II / Cetate.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Racovița - Praetorium II / Cetate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Racovița - Praetorium II / Cetate. That is the ride.
Racovița - Praetorium II / Cetate → Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil → Monastery of Horezu is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monastery of Horezu → back through Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Păușa - Turnul lui Teofil → Racovița - Praetorium II / Cetate is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.