Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui and Izbășești - Valea Albă

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Reșca - Romula / Cetate.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Izbășești - Valea Albă.

3. 3. Izbășești - Valea Albă

   Between Pitești and Slatina, in the south of Romania, the land falls away from the Carpathian foothills towards the great Danube plain in a series of long, low ridges cut by streams. It is farming country, with fields of maize and sunflowers, orchards, vineyards and small villages strung along the valleys. Izbășești and the valley called Valea Albă, the White Valley, lie in this landscape near the small town of Stolnici, and the site recorded here is one of the many archaeological traces in the area, though there is probably little to see on the ground.

   Read the complete Izbășești - Valea Albă write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 164 km into the recorded legs you reach Izbășești - Valea Albă. Next is back through Reșca - Romula / Cetate.

4. 4. back through 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

   back through Reșca - Romula / Cetate, late in the day. Next is Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui.

5. 5. Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   Back at Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui. That is the ride.