Rogna - La Bontauă and Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Rogna - La Bontauă

   Rogna is a scatter of farms in the hills of northern Sălaj, close to the Someș valley and the border with Maramureș, and La Bontauă is the name the locals give to a piece of high ground where a Roman frontier site has been recorded. The northern edge of Roman Dacia ran through these hills, and the Romans placed watchtowers and small forts on high points to keep an eye on the river valleys and the free Dacians to the north. Today there is little to see apart from the shape of the land, but the view over the rolling hills makes it easy to imagine a sentry looking out across the valley.

   Read the complete Rogna - La Bontauă write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Rogna - La Bontauă is where the day begins. Next is Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei.

2. 2. Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei

   Strâmtură means a narrowing, and the name fits. Just outside Gâlgău, a small Sălaj village on the Someș, the valley pinches between wooded slopes, and the Roman frontier made use of exactly such pinch points to control movement along the river. The site listed as Valea Strâmturei belongs to that northern Dacian line, and like most of its neighbours it is earthwork and setting rather than standing masonry. You come for the geography and the sense of a border that ran through these quiet hills nearly two thousand years ago.

   Read the complete Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -.

3. 3. Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -

   On a terrace above the river Someș, near the village of Cășeiu, a few kilometres from Dej in northern Transylvania, the Romans built a fort they called Samum. It guarded the northern edge of their province of Dacia, which they conquered in the early second century after two hard wars against the Dacian king Decebalus. The fort controlled the valley and the routes into the province, and today its outline can still be traced in the fields, with low walls and earthworks where archaeologists have uncovered gates, towers and barracks. In 2024 the Dacian frontier was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.

   Read the complete Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -. Next is back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei.

4. 4. back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei, late in the day. Next is Rogna - La Bontauă.

5. 5. Rogna - La Bontauă

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Rogna - La Bontauă write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Rogna - La Bontauă. That is the ride.