Salva - Dealul Dumbravă and Sărățeni - Casa Sării

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Salva - Dealul Dumbravă

   The Someșul Mare valley around Năsăud was a frontier long before the Habsburgs made it one again. The Romans built watchtowers on the hills here to guard the northern edge of Dacia, and Salva - Dealul Dumbravă, the hill of the oak grove near the village of Salva, is one of the sites included in the UNESCO listing of the Dacian frontier in 2024. Sixteen centuries later, the Habsburg empire turned the region into a military border district, and the Năsăud border regiment, made up of local Romanian peasants, guarded the Carpathian passes in return for privileges and education.

   Read the complete Salva - Dealul Dumbravă write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Salva - Dealul Dumbravă is where the day begins. Next is Vătava - Cetățele.

2. 2. Vătava - Cetățele

   For about a century and a half, the Roman province of Dacia was a wedge of empire pushed north of the Danube, and its eastern edge ran along the curve of the Carpathians through what is now central Romania. In 2024, UNESCO added the frontiers of the Roman Empire in Dacia to its list, a long chain of forts, watchtowers and earthworks. Vătava, in the upper Mureș valley, is one of the sites, with traces of a Roman fortification on a hill called Cetățele, the little fortresses. Not much is visible to the casual eye: earthworks, a few stones, the outline of a position chosen for its view along the valley.

   Read the complete Vătava - Cetățele write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Vătava - Cetățele comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sărățeni - Casa Sării.

3. 3. Sărățeni - Casa Sării

   Salt has shaped this corner of Transylvania for thousands of years. Beneath the hills of the Sovata and Praid area lies a huge salt dome, and in places it reaches the surface, creating salt cliffs, salty springs and lakes. Sărățeni, a village in the Târnava Mică valley, takes its name from the salt, and Casa Sării, the salt house, is the local name for the spot marked here. The Romans valued this salt as much as Dacian gold, and the eastern frontier of their province ran along these hills, with a fort at Sărățeni among the posts that watched the valleys and, no doubt, the salt routes.

   Read the complete Sărățeni - Casa Sării write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 153 km into the recorded legs you reach Sărățeni - Casa Sării. Next is back through Vătava - Cetățele.

4. 4. back through Vătava - Cetățele

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Vătava - Cetățele write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Vătava - Cetățele, late in the day. Next is Salva - Dealul Dumbravă.

5. 5. Salva - Dealul Dumbravă

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Salva - Dealul Dumbravă write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Salva - Dealul Dumbravă. That is the ride.