Traian - La Culă and Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
122 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 04
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.
From Poiana it runs 122 km to Poiana; allow about 2 h 04 of riding. On the way it passes Băneasa - La Cetate, Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui and back through Băneasa - La Cetate. It crosses from Bulgaria into Romania - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Traian - La Culă
Teleorman county is flat. It is the heart of the Romanian Plain, an open expanse of black soil that runs from the Carpathian foothills to the Danube, and from the saddle of a motorcycle it looks like a sea of sunflowers, wheat and maize under a very large sky. Traian, a small village a short ride from Turnu Magurele, sits in the middle of it. The label La Cula refers to a cula, the fortified tower house typical of the Balkans, and the name suggests a past with more upheaval than the quiet fields would suggest.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Traian - La Culă is where the day begins. Next is Băneasa - La Cetate.
2. Băneasa - La Cetate
Băneasa is Teleorman, and Teleorman is flat. The Wallachian plain here spreads out between the Danube, to the south, and the lower Vedea valley, with big fields, long horizons and the sort of sky that makes motorcyclists look for any rise at all. The label "La Cetate" marks one such rise, where traces of an old fortification are known locally, and the nearby "Traian - La Culă" name hints at the Roman presence that once ran across this part of southern Romania.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Băneasa - La Cetate comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui.
3. Roșiorii de Vede - Valea Urlui
Southern Romania is as flat as a table, and the Teleorman plain, through which the river Vedea flows towards the Danube, is wheat and sunflower country as far as the eye can see. The Romans pushed their frontier across this plain in the second century, building a long earthen rampart known as the Limes Transalutanus, east of the Olt river, with a ditch and a line of forts and towers behind it. Near Roșiorii de Vede, at Valea Urlui, one of these sites is part of the Roman frontier of Dacia listed by UNESCO. The rampart can still be traced in places as a low bank running through the fields, and on the ground you need a good eye, or a guide, to spot it. From the air it is much clearer.