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.
734 km from Haneș Mină to Haneș Mină, about 20 h 18 of riding. On the way it passes Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie, Târsa - Platoul Târsa, Vârful lui Pătru and Monastery of Horezu. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 127 km this is Romania Transalpina, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
In the Apuseni mountains of western Romania, gold has shaped the land and its people for two thousand years. The Romans came for it after conquering Dacia, organising the mining from a centre at Ampelum, today the town of Zlatna, whose name comes from the Slavic word for gold. Trâmpoiele, on the high ground near Almașu Mare, is one of the many small sites connected to that Roman presence, where mining, settlement and watch posts dotted the hills. A little further north, the mining landscape of Roșia Montană, with its Roman galleries cut deep into the rock, was listed by UNESCO in 2021 and gives the clearest idea of how the ancient gold was won.
Read the complete Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic is where the day begins. Next is Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie.
Warm water has drawn people to this corner of the Mureș valley for at least two thousand years. Below the hill of Dealul Urie, near the spa town of Geoagiu-Băi, the Romans built Germisara, a fort on the hill at Cigmău and a bath settlement around the hot springs a few kilometres away, and soldiers and settlers from across the empire came to soak their aches in the thermal pools. Excavations in one of the old spring basins brought up a remarkable hoard of votive offerings, including small gold plaques dedicated to the healing gods and the nymphs, thrown into the water by grateful bathers. The ruins of the fort on Dealul Urie are low and grassy, but the setting, above a broad river plain with mountains on both sides, makes the climb worthwhile.
Read the complete Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie comes up about 46 km into the recorded legs. Next is Târsa - Platoul Târsa.
Târsa sits on a high plateau in the Șureanu mountains, in the same ring of hills that sheltered the Dacian kingdom's heart. The platoul, the plateau, is open grassland and forest edge at roughly a thousand metres or higher, the sort of place where shepherds still bring flocks in summer and the wind carries the sound of bells.
Read the complete Târsa - Platoul Târsa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 87 km into the recorded legs you reach Târsa - Platoul Târsa. Next is Vârful lui Pătru.
Roman soldiers rarely chose to live above two thousand metres, but on Vârful lui Pătru, a broad grassy summit of the Șureanu mountains in southern Transylvania, they did. A small fortification on the top, part of the network that watched over the passes after Trajan conquered Dacia, is often described as one of the highest Roman military posts anywhere, and it now belongs to the World Heritage listing of the Dacian frontier. Imagine a winter up here in a wool cloak, with the wind coming straight off the Carpathians, and the posting suddenly sounds like a punishment.
Read the complete Vârful lui Pătru write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vârful lui Pătru, about halfway. Next is Monastery of Horezu.
Constantin Brâncoveanu, prince of Wallachia at the end of the seventeenth century, was a wealthy, cultured ruler who built churches, palaces and monasteries across his principality, and Horezu was his masterpiece. Founded in 1690, the monastery sits in a quiet valley in the foothills of the Căpățânii mountains, surrounded by walls, with a church at the centre of a courtyard lined with arcaded cells. It is the finest example of the Brâncovenesc style, a blend of Byzantine, Renaissance and Baroque, with carved stone, painted interiors and elegant porches, and it was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1993. In 1714, Brâncoveanu and his four sons were executed by the Ottomans in Istanbul; the Romanian Orthodox Church later canonised them as martyrs.
Read the complete Monastery of Horezu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Monastery of Horezu sits at 194 km, about halfway. Next is back through Vârful lui Pătru.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vârful lui Pătru write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Vârful lui Pătru comes up about 493 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Târsa - Platoul Târsa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Târsa - Platoul Târsa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 635 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Târsa - Platoul Târsa. Next is back through Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie, late in the day. Next is Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 734 km.
Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic → Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie → Târsa - Platoul Târsa is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Târsa - Platoul Târsa → Vârful lui Pătru is 152 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vârful lui Pătru → Monastery of Horezu is 127 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Monastery of Horezu → back through Vârful lui Pătru is 127 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Vârful lui Pătru → back through Târsa - Platoul Târsa is 142 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Târsa - Platoul Târsa → back through Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cigmău - Germisara / Cetatea / Dealul Urie → Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.