Why this ride
A 197 km round trip from Cizer - roughly 4 h 27 in the saddle. On the way it passes Trezenea - Gura Teghișului, Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor, Treznea - Cărbunarea and Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sângeorgiu de Meseș and Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 197 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 27
- 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. Sângeorgiu de Meseș
The village of Sangeorgiu de Meses lies on the southern flank of the Meses mountains, in the old Hungarian-Romanian borderland of Salaj, and its name carries the saint of horsemen, George, and the mountain that gives the area its character. It is a place that rides begin and end, which suits it well: a quiet village with a church, a shop, a couple of bars, and an easy exit onto roads that climb in several directions. A few kilometres away is Cizer, and a little further, the small settlements of Starciu and Mal, each with its own cluster of orchards and farm tracks.
Read the complete Sângeorgiu de Meseș write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sângeorgiu de Meseș is where the day begins. Next is Trezenea - Gura Teghișului.
2. Trezenea - Gura Teghișului
The Meseș mountains are a low, forested ridge in northwestern Transylvania, and for the Romans they formed a natural wall at the edge of the province of Dacia. Along the ridge, they built a chain of forts, watchtowers and earthworks, and the big fort of Porolissum, near Zalău, was the key to it all, guarding a pass through the mountains used by traders and travellers. In 2024, much of this frontier was listed by UNESCO as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire – Dacia, and the site between Treznea and Gura Teghișului is one of its components. On the ground, there is little more than a line of ditches, banks and the foundations of towers, hidden in the forest.
Read the complete Trezenea - Gura Teghișului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Trezenea - Gura Teghișului comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor.
3. Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor
Roman Dacia's north-western frontier ran along the crest of the Meseș mountains, and the hill country around Mirșid, east of Zalău, is laced with its traces: watchtowers, earthworks and small forts placed so that each could see the next. In 2024 these remains became part of the World Heritage listing for the Frontiers of the Roman Empire in Dacia. The name of the spot, La Strâmtură by the wolves' brook, gives a fair idea of its character: a narrow place in the hills, wooded and quiet, where the eye has to work to pick out a low mound or a ditch in the grass.
Read the complete Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor. Next is Treznea - Cărbunarea.
4. Treznea - Cărbunarea
Treznea is a quiet village in the hills southeast of Zalău, the kind of place where the loudest sound is a cockerel or a tractor. Yet its name carries a heavy weight in Romanian memory. In September 1940, shortly after northern Transylvania was transferred to Hungary under the Second Vienna Award, Hungarian troops entering the area killed dozens of villagers here, Romanians and Jews, and burned houses. A memorial in the village commemorates the victims. It is a sombre reminder that the beautiful hills of Transylvania have seen terrible things.
Read the complete Treznea - Cărbunarea write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Treznea - Cărbunarea, about halfway. Next is Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1.
5. Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1
Mirsid is the kind of village you pass on the way somewhere else, until you notice that it sits at the foot of the greatest Roman frontier in Transylvania. The ridge of the Meses mountains rises behind it in a long, dark line of beech and oak, and the Romans built a series of watchtowers along the crest, looking north across the border into the lands of the free Dacians. The name Dealul Mare, Big Hill, with the number one attached, suggests the first in a sequence of those lookout points, and in a few of them you can still make out the square footprint of a tower in the grass.
Read the complete Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 sits at 69 km, about halfway. Next is back through Treznea - Cărbunarea.
6. back through Treznea - Cărbunarea
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Treznea - Cărbunarea write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Treznea - Cărbunarea comes up about 122 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor.
7. back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 143 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor. Next is back through Trezenea - Gura Teghișului.
8. back through Trezenea - Gura Teghișului
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Trezenea - Gura Teghișului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Trezenea - Gura Teghișului, late in the day. Next is Sângeorgiu de Meseș.
9. Sângeorgiu de Meseș
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sângeorgiu de Meseș 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 197 km.
Leg by leg
Sângeorgiu de Meseș to Trezenea - Gura Teghișului
Sângeorgiu de Meseș → Trezenea - Gura Teghișului is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Trezenea - Gura Teghișului to Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor
Trezenea - Gura Teghișului → Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor to Treznea - Cărbunarea
Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor → Treznea - Cărbunarea is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Treznea - Cărbunarea to Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1
Treznea - Cărbunarea → Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 to back through Treznea - Cărbunarea
Mirșid - Dealul Mare 1 → back through Treznea - Cărbunarea is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Treznea - Cărbunarea to back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor
back through Treznea - Cărbunarea → back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor to back through Trezenea - Gura Teghișului
back through Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor → back through Trezenea - Gura Teghișului is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Trezenea - Gura Teghișului to Sângeorgiu de Meseș
back through Trezenea - Gura Teghișului → Sângeorgiu de Meseș is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.