Stâna - La Balize and Hurez - La Frasin 2

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Stâna - La Balize

   Zalau is the sort of Romanian city that few foreigners visit, a county capital of some sixty thousand people at the foot of the Mes mountains, with communist-era apartment blocks, a pleasant old centre and a surprisingly rich past. The point called Stana La Balize lies in the hills about five kilometres away, on the edge of the town. Stana means a sheepfold, a summer shepherd's camp, and the word tells you what these slopes were used for: pasture. As part of the group of sites on the Roman frontier of Dacia Porolissensis, it likely marks a watchtower or a related feature on the ridge above Zalau.

   Read the complete Stâna - La Balize write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Stâna - La Balize is where the day begins. Next is Hurez - La Frasin 1.

2. 2. Hurez - La Frasin 1

   This corner of Sălaj sits along the Roman frontier of Dacia, which makes it a more serious place than its gentle hills suggest. West of Zalău the Meseș mountains rise in a long wooded ridge, and through them runs a natural gate, the Meseș Pass, which the Romans fortified as part of their northern defences. The great site of Porolissum, with its fort, civil settlement and amphitheatre, stands on a ridge nearby, and the watchtowers and small works scattered across the hills belong to the same system.

   Read the complete Hurez - La Frasin 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hurez - La Frasin 1 comes up about 54 km into the recorded legs. Next is Românași - Largiana / Cetate.

3. 3. Românași - Largiana / Cetate

   At Românași, in the valley of the Agrij in Sălaj county, the outline of a Roman fort called Largiana can still be traced on a low rise above the village, its rectangle of ramparts and ditches softened by centuries of ploughing. It stood on the road that ran from Porolissum, the great frontier stronghold to the north, down towards Napoca, today's Cluj, and it housed an auxiliary unit guarding the approach to the Meseș mountains. Archaeologists have found inscriptions, coins and pottery here, and the site is part of the Dacian frontier listed by UNESCO in 2024.

   Read the complete Românași - Largiana / Cetate 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 Românași - Largiana / Cetate. Next is Hurez - La Frasin 2.

4. 4. Hurez - La Frasin 2

   Frasin is the Romanian word for ash tree, and a place called La Frasin simply means by the ash. Toponyms like this are the real map of rural Romania. Hurez, a commune in the county of Sălaj, and the hills around it are scattered with names that describe a landscape in a few words: a spring, a clearing, a saddle, a lonely tree that once marked a boundary or a meeting place. You can read the countryside by them.

   Read the complete Hurez - La Frasin 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hurez - La Frasin 2, about halfway. Next is back through Românași - Largiana / Cetate.

5. 5. back through Românași - Largiana / Cetate

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Românași - Largiana / Cetate write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Românași - Largiana / Cetate sits at 99 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hurez - La Frasin 1.

6. 6. back through Hurez - La Frasin 1

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hurez - La Frasin 1 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Hurez - La Frasin 1 comes up about 185 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stâna - La Balize.

7. 7. Stâna - La Balize

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Stâna - La Balize write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Stâna - La Balize closes the day.