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.
265 km from Băiuţ to Băiuţ, about 5 h 05 of riding. On the way it passes Gâlgău - Casa Popii, Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor and back through Gâlgău - Casa Popii. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Maramureș is a part of Romania where wooden building became an art. The county in the far north, tucked against the Ukrainian border and ringed by forested mountains, has hundreds of timber churches, and eight of them were listed by UNESCO in 1999. The one at Strâmbu, in the Băiuț area, belongs to the Nativity of the Virgin and dates from the eighteenth century, built of oak logs with a steep, double-tiered shingle roof and a tall slender spire. It looks like a church that has learned to float, with a roof that sheds the heavy snow and a tower that reaches for the sky.
Read the complete Strimbu Băiuț write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Strimbu Băiuț is where the day begins. Next is Gâlgău - Casa Popii.
The Someș river winds through northern Transylvania in a broad valley between rolling hills, and near Gâlgău and Poiana Blenchii, it forms a natural corridor between the Transylvanian plateau and the northwest. In Roman times, this valley marked the northern edge of the province of Dacia, and the frontier ran along the hills above it, with watchtowers and small forts. Casa Popii, the priest's house, near Gâlgău, is one of the sites of that frontier listed by UNESCO in 2024: probably a watchtower position on a ridge overlooking the valley. As with many of these sites, there is little to see above ground, but the views over the valley and the hills explain its purpose.
Read the complete Gâlgău - Casa Popii write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gâlgău - Casa Popii comes up about 58 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 132 km into the recorded legs you reach Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor. Next is back through Gâlgău - Casa Popii.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gâlgău - Casa Popii write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gâlgău - Casa Popii, late in the day. Next is Strimbu Băiuț.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Strimbu Băiuț write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Strimbu Băiuț. That is the ride.
Strimbu Băiuț → Gâlgău - Casa Popii is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gâlgău - Casa Popii → Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mirșid - La Strâmtură 2-Pârâul Lupilor → back through Gâlgău - Casa Popii is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gâlgău - Casa Popii → Strimbu Băiuț is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.