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.
A 256 km round trip from Ocna Mureş - roughly 3 h 55 in the saddle. On the way it passes Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății, Gilău - La Castel, Bologa - Grădiște and back through Gilău - La Castel. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
In the Mureș valley near Ocna Mureș, the village of Războieni-Cetate takes the second half of its name, cetate, fortress, from the Roman fort that once stood here, guarding the road and the river in central Dacia. The fort was a base for a cavalry unit, and its remains, close to the farm buildings of the communist era collective, the CAP, whose stables give the site its odd label, are part of the World Heritage listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia. Little is visible above ground, but the outline of the fort can be traced in the fields.
Read the complete Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP is where the day begins. Next is Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății.
Turda sits on salt. Under the town, the Salina Turda, an old salt mine, has been converted into an extraordinary underground amusement park, with a Ferris wheel, a lake with rowing boats and a mini-golf course more than a hundred metres below the surface, inside vast chambers carved out over centuries. Above ground, on the hill called Dealul Cetății, the Romans built the camp of the Fifth Macedonian Legion, which moved here in the late second century to guard the heart of the province of Dacia. The legionary fortress of Potaissa, with its walls, gates and headquarters building, has been excavated, and it counts as one component of UNESCO's inscription of the Dacian frontier.
Read the complete Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gilău - La Castel.
Gilău is a market village on the Someșul Mic, the first real settlement west of Cluj-Napoca on the road toward the Apuseni mountains, and the place name La Castel says it plainly: there was a fortification here, and there still is one, layered through the centuries. Under the later castle grounds, archaeologists found a Roman auxiliary fort guarding the valley route into Dacia from the west, and the medieval and early modern castle that followed sits on the same strategic ground. Rome, Hungarian nobles and later owners all made the same calculation about this spot.
Read the complete Gilău - La Castel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach Gilău - La Castel. Next is Bologa - Grădiște.
The village of Bologa lies in the valley of the Crișul Repede, on the main road between Cluj-Napoca and Oradea, where the river cuts through the hills between the Apuseni mountains and the Meseș. On a hill above the village, known locally as Grădiște, the Romans built the fort of Resculum, which guarded one of the main routes into the province of Dacia from the west. The fort was rebuilt several times, from earth and timber to stone, and archaeologists have uncovered its walls, gates and towers. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia. On another hill above the village stand the ruins of a medieval castle, which controlled the same valley in later centuries. Climbing to either site gives fine views over the valley and the surrounding hills.
Read the complete Bologa - Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bologa - Grădiște, about halfway. Next is back through Gilău - La Castel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gilău - La Castel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gilău - La Castel sits at 173 km, about halfway. Next is back through Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății comes up about 232 km into the recorded legs. Next is Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP closes the day.
Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP → Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății → Gilău - La Castel is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gilău - La Castel → Bologa - Grădiște is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bologa - Grădiște → back through Gilău - La Castel is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gilău - La Castel → back through Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății → Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.