Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină and Pojejena - Șitarnița
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
229 km
Riding-time estimate
4 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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 229 km round trip from Forotic - roughly 4 h 53 in the saddle. On the way it passes Vărădia - Chilii, Cheile Nerei-Beușnița, Pojejena - Șitarnița and back through Cheile Nerei-Beușnița. It crosses from Romania into Serbia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină
A hundred wells: that is the meaning of Centum Putea, the Latin name of a Roman fort in the hills of the Banat, near the village of Surducu Mare in Caraș-Severin county. It was one of the forts that guarded the road from the Danube to the heart of Roman Dacia after the emperor Trajan conquered the region in the early second century, and it is part of the line of sites listed by UNESCO as the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia. Little survives above ground, just traces of earthworks in the fields, but the name alone conjures a picture of a well-watered camp on the road north.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Surducu Mare - Centum Putea / Rovină is where the day begins. Next is Vărădia - Chilii.
2. Vărădia - Chilii
Vărădia is a village in the Banat, in southwestern Romania, close to the Serbian border, where the hills of the Banat mountains descend towards the Pannonian plain. In Roman times, it was the site of Arcidava, a fort on the road that Trajan's legions built to advance from the Danube into Dacia during the wars of 101 to 106, and later a garrison on the frontier. The site at Chilii, near the village, is part of the UNESCO listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia. The fort's earthworks can be traced on a hill above the Caraș river, and the location, controlling the valley, explains why it was chosen.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vărădia - Chilii comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cheile Nerei-Beușnița.
3. Cheile Nerei-Beușnița
The water at Ochiul Beiului, the Bey's Eye, is such an intense turquoise that it looks dyed, and the legend says it formed from the tears of a Turkish nobleman mourning a lost love. It is one of the jewels of the Cheile Nerei-Beușnița National Park, in the mountains of Banat in south-western Romania, where the Nera river has cut a deep gorge through limestone over about twenty kilometres. The park's ancient beech forests are part of the UNESCO listing of primeval beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe, and the waterfalls, caves and karst springs make it one of the most beautiful corners of the country.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Cheile Nerei-Beușnița. Next is Pojejena - Șitarnița.
4. Pojejena - Șitarnița
The Danube here is wide and slow, and across the water you look straight into Serbia. Pojejena is a village on the Romanian bank in the Danube gorge region known as the Clisura Dunării, and nearby Şitarniţa is the site of a Roman fort, one of the stations that guarded the river frontier. It is part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listing in Romania, inscribed in 2024. The Danube was the backbone of Rome's northern defences for centuries, and forts like this one lined its banks.