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.
A 357 km round trip from Zalău - roughly 6 h 57 in the saddle. On the way it passes Tihău - Grădiște, Glod - Toaca Glodului 2, Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului and Salva - Roata lui Todoran. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The northern frontier of Roman Dacia ran through the hills of Sălaj county, near Zalău, and Treznea is one of the places where its watchtowers, ramparts and forts left traces. The Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia, were listed as a World Heritage Site in 2024, covering hundreds of sites across Romania. Nearby, on a ridge above the valley, Porolissum was the largest Roman town and military complex on this frontier, with a reconstructed gate, an amphitheatre and walls, and it is one of the most impressive Roman sites in Romania.
Read the complete Treznea write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Treznea is where the day begins. Next is Tihău - Grădiște.
The Someș river makes its way through the hills of north-western Romania between Cluj and Baia Mare, and near the small town of Jibou, in Sălaj county, it passes through a narrow valley guarded on its slopes by the remains of a Roman fort. The site, known locally as Grădiște, which simply means old fort, lies above the village of Tihău, close to Surduc and Gâlgău Almașului.
Read the complete Tihău - Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tihău - Grădiște comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Glod - Toaca Glodului 2.
East of Jibou the Someș river squeezes through a narrower valley, and around Ileanda the hills close in, wooded and steep, with villages tucked wherever there is room for a few houses and gardens. Glod is a tiny settlement in these hills, and Toaca Glodului is the local name of a height above it; toaca, by the way, is the wooden board struck to call monks to prayer, and hills with that name often have a commanding view. Like many points with this naming pattern in Sălaj, it is listed with the Roman frontier of Dacia, where watchtowers and small forts guarded the approaches to the province. On the ground you should expect little more than traces in a field or woodland, so come for the setting.
Read the complete Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Glod - Toaca Glodului 2. Next is Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului.
The countryside around Vârful Runcului is the landscape that two of Romania's best-loved writers came from, and it shows in their work. Liviu Rebreanu, born in the Năsăud area in 1885, set his novel Ion, about a peasant's hunger for land, in villages very like these, and the poet George Coșbuc grew up not far away in the valleys north of Năsăud. The hill itself, a rounded summit above the Someș valley, carries traces of the Roman watch system that once guarded the northern frontier of Dacia, part of the World Heritage listing since 2024, but its real charm is the view of the farmland Rebreanu wrote about.
Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului, about halfway. Next is Salva - Roata lui Todoran.
Salva is a railway village. Trains for the Maramureș line split off here from the route along the Someșul Mare, and the place has a slightly busy, crossroads feel for a commune of a little over four thousand people. The site called Roata lui Todoran, Todoran's wheel, sits right by the village in the Năsăud country of Bistrița-Năsăud, a region that marked the northern edge of Roman Dacia and later formed part of a Habsburg border regiment. Few places in Transylvania have been a frontier for quite so long.
Read the complete Salva - Roata lui Todoran write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Salva - Roata lui Todoran sits at 140 km, about halfway. Next is back through Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului comes up about 227 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 2.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 276 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 2. Next is back through Tihău - Grădiște.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tihău - Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Tihău - Grădiște, late in the day. Next is Treznea.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Treznea write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 357 km.
Treznea → Tihău - Grădiște is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tihău - Grădiște → Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 → Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului → Salva - Roata lui Todoran is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Salva - Roata lui Todoran → back through Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dumbrăveni - Vârful Runcului → back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 → back through Tihău - Grădiște is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tihău - Grădiște → Treznea is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.