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 471 km round trip from Rucăr - roughly 10 h 29 in the saddle. The stops in between: Codrul secular Șinca, Cincșor - Cetate, Village of Viscri and Sânpaul - Cetate. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,300 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Rucăr sits right where the Dâmbovița comes out of the mountains, a long village of wooden gates and tin roofs strung along the valley floor at the southern foot of the Rucăr–Bran corridor. Behind it the land climbs fast: Piatra Craiului's limestone ridge to the north-west, the rounded bulk of Leaota and the Bucegi to the east, and between them the saddle that has carried traffic between Wallachia and Transylvania for as long as anyone has bothered to write things down.
Read the complete Rucăr - Scărișoara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rucăr - Scărișoara is where the day begins. Next is Codrul secular Șinca.
Codru is an old Romanian word for a deep forest, and the Codrul Secular Șinca, the ancient forest of Șinca, is exactly that: a stand of old-growth beech and fir on the northern slopes of the Făgăraș mountains in Brașov county, where trees have grown, died and fallen for centuries without being cut. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the ancient and primeval beech forests of Europe, a chain of protected forests across many countries that together tell the story of how beech spread across the continent after the last ice age. Walking among trees that are hundreds of years old, with fallen trunks covered in moss and fungi and the canopy closing high above, is a humbling experience.
Read the complete Codrul secular Șinca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Codrul secular Șinca comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cincșor - Cetate.
Between Sibiu and Făgăraș, the Olt flows through a broad valley, with the long wall of the Făgăraș mountains rising to the south, the highest in Romania, culminating in Moldoveanu at 2,544 metres. On the north bank, near the Saxon village of Cincșor, known in German as Kleinschenk, the Romans built a fort to guard the river crossing and the road along the valley. The site, known locally as Cetate, the fortress, lies in fields near the village, with only faint traces visible.
Read the complete Cincșor - Cetate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 142 km into the recorded legs you reach Cincșor - Cetate. Next is Village of Viscri.
Viscri is the village people picture when they think of Transylvania's Saxon heritage, and it more or less lives up to it. A single long street of pastel houses, blue, ochre and white, stands gable end to the road, with geese in the ditch, horse carts at dusk and, at the top of the slope, a fortified church wrapped in thick white walls. It is part of the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania listed by UNESCO, and it is one of the best preserved.
Read the complete Village of Viscri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Village of Viscri, about halfway. Next is Sânpaul - Cetate.
Sânpaul, Homoródszentpál to its Hungarian-speaking inhabitants, is a village in the Homorod valley in Harghita county, in the heart of the Székely Land of eastern Transylvania. Near the village, the Romans built a fort on the eastern edge of their province of Dacia, guarding routes through the hills from the Carpathians. The remains, now earthworks in the fields, are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia, listed by UNESCO in 2024. Nearby Ocland has a medieval fortification on a hill known as Hășmaș castle.
Read the complete Sânpaul - Cetate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sânpaul - Cetate sits at 156 km, about halfway. Next is back through Village of Viscri.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Viscri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Village of Viscri comes up about 276 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cincșor - Cetate.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cincșor - Cetate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 327 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cincșor - Cetate. Next is back through Codrul secular Șinca.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Codrul secular Șinca write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Codrul secular Șinca, late in the day. Next is Rucăr - Scărișoara.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rucăr - Scărișoara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 471 km.
Rucăr - Scărișoara → Codrul secular Șinca is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Codrul secular Șinca → Cincșor - Cetate is 83 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cincșor - Cetate → Village of Viscri is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Village of Viscri → Sânpaul - Cetate is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sânpaul - Cetate → back through Village of Viscri is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Village of Viscri → back through Cincșor - Cetate is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cincșor - Cetate → back through Codrul secular Șinca is 84 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Codrul secular Șinca → Rucăr - Scărișoara is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.