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 307 km round trip from Turda - roughly 5 h 43 in the saddle. On the way it passes Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP, Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici, Village of Câlnic and Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 41 km this is Romania Transalpina, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Turda sits on salt. Under the town, the Salina Turda, an old salt mine, has been converted into an extraordinary underground amusement park, with a Ferris wheel, a lake with rowing boats and a mini-golf course more than a hundred metres below the surface, inside vast chambers carved out over centuries. Above ground, on the hill called Dealul Cetății, the Romans built the camp of the Fifth Macedonian Legion, which moved here in the late second century to guard the heart of the province of Dacia. The legionary fortress of Potaissa, with its walls, gates and headquarters building, has been excavated, and it counts as one component of UNESCO's inscription of the Dacian frontier.
Read the complete Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății is where the day begins. Next is Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP.
In the Mureș valley near Ocna Mureș, the village of Războieni-Cetate takes the second half of its name, cetate, fortress, from the Roman fort that once stood here, guarding the road and the river in central Dacia. The fort was a base for a cavalry unit, and its remains, close to the farm buildings of the communist era collective, the CAP, whose stables give the site its odd label, are part of the World Heritage listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia. Little is visible above ground, but the outline of the fort can be traced in the fields.
Read the complete Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici.
There is a hill above Ighiu called Măgulici, and from its slopes you look straight across the Mureș valley toward Alba Iulia, the old Roman Apulum. That view is the whole point. Apulum was the base of the Thirteenth Legion and the largest Roman centre in Dacia, and the hills around it were dotted with watch posts and small sites that kept an eye on the roads in and out. The frontier lists name a site on Dealul Măgulici, and while there is little to see on the ground beyond the lie of the land, standing there makes the Roman geography readable.
Read the complete Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici. Next is Village of Câlnic.
Câlnic, a small village south of Sebeș in Alba county, is home to one of the strangest fortresses among the Saxon sites of Transylvania. Unlike most of its neighbours, it began not as a fortified church but as a noble residence. In the thirteenth century a local count built a stone keep here, surrounded by walls and a moat. Later the villagers bought it, added a chapel and storerooms, and turned it into a peasant refuge, where families could shelter from raids behind the walls. The result, still ringed by water on parts of its perimeter, is part of the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania World Heritage site.
Read the complete Village of Câlnic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Village of Câlnic, about halfway. Next is Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1.
Alba Iulia wears its history in layers, and the bottom layer is Roman. The Legio XIII Gemina, the legion that held the heart of Dacia, was based here for over a century and a half, and around its fortress grew Apulum, one of the largest cities of the province. Excavations inside the modern citadel have revealed parts of the legionary fortress, and a Roman house, a domus, with its foundations, rooms and heating system, has been uncovered nearby, showing how the wealthier inhabitants lived. Together with the rest of the Dacian limes, these remains are now on the World Heritage list.
Read the complete Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 sits at 149 km, about halfway. Next is back through Village of Câlnic.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Câlnic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Village of Câlnic comes up about 178 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 218 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici. Next is back through Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP, late in the day. Next is Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 307 km.
Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății → Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP → Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici → Village of Câlnic is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Village of Câlnic → Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 → back through Village of Câlnic is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Village of Câlnic → back through Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ighiu - Dealul Măgulici → back through Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Războieni - Cetate - Grajduri CAP → Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.