Why this ride
A 352 km round trip from Şintereag - roughly 7 h 53 in the saddle. The stops in between: Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului, Brâncovenești - Castel, Eremitu - Dealul Tompa and Inlăceni - Cetate. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Șintereag - Dealul Oului and Inlăceni - Cetate
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 352 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 53
- 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. Șintereag - Dealul Oului
Egg Hill, Dealul Oului, is a gentle rise near the village of Șintereag in Bistrița-Năsăud, and the Romans used it as a watch post on the north-eastern frontier of Dacia. Like the other sites in this area, it is part of the frontier listed by UNESCO in 2024, and like many of them, it is more a place to imagine than to see: a low hill, a few traces in the ground, a wide view over the valley of the Șieu and the hills toward Bistrița. Șintereag, a village of a few thousand, lies close by, with Șieu-Odorhei and Cociu as neighbours.
Read the complete Șintereag - Dealul Oului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Șintereag - Dealul Oului is where the day begins. Next is Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului.
2. Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului
Bistrița is the town where Jonathan Harker spends his last comfortable night before heading into the mountains in Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the village of Orheiu Bistriței lies just eight kilometres to the south-east, in the hills above the valley of the Bistrița river. In Roman times, this was the site of an auxiliary fort on the north-eastern frontier of Dacia, and the remains lie beneath the village itself, which the locals know as the vatra satului, the village hearth. Excavations have revealed the outline of the fort, and finds are displayed in the county museum in Bistrița.
Read the complete Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Brâncovenești - Castel.
3. Brâncovenești - Castel
Upstream from Reghin, where the Mureș leaves the mountains and widens into the Transylvanian hill country, the village of Brâncovenești stands beside a castle with round corner towers and a long, plain facade overlooking the river. Known in Hungarian as Marosvécs, it was rebuilt several times over the centuries, and in the twentieth century it belonged to the Kemény family. Between the two world wars, Baron János Kemény opened its doors to a circle of Hungarian writers from Transylvania, the Helikon group, who met here every summer to read, debate and plan their literary work. Those gatherings made a remote country house one of the liveliest literary addresses in the region for almost two decades.
Read the complete Brâncovenești - Castel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach Brâncovenești - Castel. Next is Eremitu - Dealul Tompa.
4. Eremitu - Dealul Tompa
You are in Szekler country here, in the hills between the Niraj valley and the foot of the Gurghiu and Harghita mountains, a part of Transylvania where most villages have two names and the Hungarian one, Nyárádremete for Eremitu, is the one people use. Dealul Tompa means the blunt hill, and it matches the landscape: rounded, grassy and farmed, with beech woods on the higher ground and a patchwork of hay meadows below.
Read the complete Eremitu - Dealul Tompa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Eremitu - Dealul Tompa, about halfway. Next is Inlăceni - Cetate.
5. Inlăceni - Cetate
Székely Land, in the eastern part of Transylvania, is the home of a Hungarian-speaking community whose ancestors were placed here in the Middle Ages to guard the eastern frontier of the Kingdom of Hungary, and the same job had been done a thousand years earlier by the Romans. Near the village of Inlăceni, in the hills of Harghita county, stand the remains of a Roman fort, one of the eastern bastions of Dacia, facing the Carpathians and the passes beyond. The stone walls, gates and corner towers can still be traced in a meadow on a hilltop, and the setting, with forests all around and the mountains on the horizon, is one of the most beautiful of all the sites on the Dacian frontier listed by UNESCO.
Read the complete Inlăceni - Cetate write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Inlăceni - Cetate sits at 149 km, about halfway. Next is back through Eremitu - Dealul Tompa.
6. back through Eremitu - Dealul Tompa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eremitu - Dealul Tompa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Eremitu - Dealul Tompa comes up about 232 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Brâncovenești - Castel.
7. back through Brâncovenești - Castel
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Brâncovenești - Castel write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 273 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Brâncovenești - Castel. Next is back through Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului.
8. back through Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului, late in the day. Next is Șintereag - Dealul Oului.
9. Șintereag - Dealul Oului
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Șintereag - Dealul Oului 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 352 km.
Leg by leg
Șintereag - Dealul Oului to Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului
Șintereag - Dealul Oului → Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului to Brâncovenești - Castel
Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului → Brâncovenești - Castel is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Brâncovenești - Castel to Eremitu - Dealul Tompa
Brâncovenești - Castel → Eremitu - Dealul Tompa is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eremitu - Dealul Tompa to Inlăceni - Cetate
Eremitu - Dealul Tompa → Inlăceni - Cetate is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Inlăceni - Cetate to back through Eremitu - Dealul Tompa
Inlăceni - Cetate → back through Eremitu - Dealul Tompa is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Eremitu - Dealul Tompa to back through Brâncovenești - Castel
back through Eremitu - Dealul Tompa → back through Brâncovenești - Castel is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Brâncovenești - Castel to back through Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului
back through Brâncovenești - Castel → back through Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului to Șintereag - Dealul Oului
back through Orheiu Bistriței - Vatra Satului → Șintereag - Dealul Oului is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.