Why this ride
From Fărcaşele it runs 216 km to Fărcaşele; allow about 4 h 51 of riding. On the way it passes Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort, Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor, Gresia - La Biserică and Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Reșca - Romula / Cetate and Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 216 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 51
- 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. Reșca - Romula / Cetate
Romula was once among the more important towns in Roman Dacia, and the ground at Reșca, in Olt county, is where it stood. The settlement grew near the river Olt on the road between the Danube frontier and the interior, and it rose to the rank of a colony in the later empire; the later name, Romula Malvensis, ties it to the province of Dacia Malvensis that was formed in the third century. Today you see fields, a few low mounds, and the faint outline of an old fortification, with finds from the site kept in nearby museums rather than at the roadside.
Read the complete Reșca - Romula / Cetate write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Reșca - Romula / Cetate is where the day begins. Next is Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort.
2. Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort
Slăveni is farm country, and the fort here is the sort of ruin you have to meet halfway. "La Cetate" simply means "at the fortress", the name locals gave to a rise in the fields long before anyone excavated it, and what remains of the Roman auxiliary fort is mostly a matter of banks, ditches and the shape of the ground rather than standing walls. If you expect a Hadrian's Wall photograph you will be disappointed; if you like imagining a few hundred soldiers watching a very flat horizon, you will be fine.
Read the complete Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor.
3. Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor
Out on the flat Romanian plain east of the Olt river, the village of Crâmpoia sits among endless fields of wheat, maize and sunflowers, and its name has a place in Roman history. A Roman earthen fort near the village stood on the Limes Transalutanus, the frontier line that the Romans built east of the Olt in the early third century, running from the Danube northward toward the Carpathians, a long earthen rampart with forts and watchtowers. The local name Reduta Tătarilor, the Tatars' redoubt, reflects a common habit in Romania of attributing old earthworks to the Tatars or other invaders, long after the Romans were forgotten. The site is part of the UNESCO-listed frontier of Dacia.
Read the complete Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor. Next is Gresia - La Biserică.
4. Gresia - La Biserică
The Wallachian plain in southern Romania is about as flat as Europe gets: a vast expanse of wheat, maize and sunflower fields stretching to the horizon, broken only by lines of acacia trees, irrigation channels and villages strung along the road. Teleorman county, where Gresia lies, is in the heart of it. Two thousand years ago, this was frontier land. The Romans built a long earthwork rampart with forts and towers running north to south east of the river Olt, known as the Limes Transalutanus, to protect their province of Dacia. Gresia and the sites around it, including Roșiorii de Vede, Crâmpoia and Izbășești, lie along its line. Little survives above ground, and the remains need a trained eye or an archaeologist's map to spot, but the idea of a Roman frontier running through these fields adds depth to a landscape that can seem empty.
Read the complete Gresia - La Biserică write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gresia - La Biserică, about halfway. Next is Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui.
5. Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui
Southern Romania is as flat as a table, and the Teleorman plain, through which the river Vedea flows towards the Danube, is wheat and sunflower country as far as the eye can see. The Romans pushed their frontier across this plain in the second century, building a long earthen rampart known as the Limes Transalutanus, east of the Olt river, with a ditch and a line of forts and towers behind it. Near Roșiorii de Vede, at Valea Urlui, one of these sites is part of the Roman frontier of Dacia listed by UNESCO. The rampart can still be traced in places as a low bank running through the fields, and on the ground you need a good eye, or a guide, to spot it. From the air it is much clearer.
Read the complete Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui sits at 107 km, about halfway. Next is back through Gresia - La Biserică.
6. back through Gresia - La Biserică
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gresia - La Biserică write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Gresia - La Biserică comes up about 125 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor.
7. back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 148 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor. Next is back through Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort.
8. back through Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort, late in the day. Next is Reșca - Romula / Cetate.
9. Reșca - Romula / Cetate
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Reșca - Romula / Cetate 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 216 km.
Leg by leg
Reșca - Romula / Cetate to Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort
Reșca - Romula / Cetate → Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort to Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor
Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort → Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor to Gresia - La Biserică
Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor → Gresia - La Biserică is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gresia - La Biserică to Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui
Gresia - La Biserică → Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui to back through Gresia - La Biserică
Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui → back through Gresia - La Biserică is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gresia - La Biserică to back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor
back through Gresia - La Biserică → back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor to back through Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort
back through Crâmpoia - Reduta Tătarilor → back through Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort to Reșca - Romula / Cetate
back through Slăveni - La Cetate - auxiliary fort → Reșca - Romula / Cetate is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.