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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Turda it runs 402 km to Turda; allow about 7 h 31 of riding. On the way it passes Gilău - La Castel, Bologa - Grădiște, Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2 and Tihău - Dealul Cucului. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
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 Gilău - La Castel.
Gilău is a market village on the Someșul Mic, the first real settlement west of Cluj-Napoca on the road toward the Apuseni mountains, and the place name La Castel says it plainly: there was a fortification here, and there still is one, layered through the centuries. Under the later castle grounds, archaeologists found a Roman auxiliary fort guarding the valley route into Dacia from the west, and the medieval and early modern castle that followed sits on the same strategic ground. Rome, Hungarian nobles and later owners all made the same calculation about this spot.
Read the complete Gilău - La Castel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gilău - La Castel comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bologa - Grădiște.
The village of Bologa lies in the valley of the Crișul Repede, on the main road between Cluj-Napoca and Oradea, where the river cuts through the hills between the Apuseni mountains and the Meseș. On a hill above the village, known locally as Grădiște, the Romans built the fort of Resculum, which guarded one of the main routes into the province of Dacia from the west. The fort was rebuilt several times, from earth and timber to stone, and archaeologists have uncovered its walls, gates and towers. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, Dacia. On another hill above the village stand the ruins of a medieval castle, which controlled the same valley in later centuries. Climbing to either site gives fine views over the valley and the surrounding hills.
Read the complete Bologa - Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 105 km into the recorded legs you reach Bologa - Grădiște. Next is Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2.
The Meseș hills are a long, wooded ridge in northwestern Romania, and for the Romans they were the edge of the world. Beyond them lay the free Dacians and the peoples of the great plain; on this side lay the province of Dacia, conquered by Trajan in the early second century. The valley of the Agrij river, which runs along the southern side of the ridge in Sălaj county, is dotted with archaeological sites, and Osoiul Ciontului is one of many places in the area where traces of ancient settlement have been recorded. There may be little to see at the spot itself, but the landscape around it is rich in history and quiet beauty.
Read the complete Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2, about halfway. Next is Tihău - Dealul Cucului.
Dealul Cucului means cuckoo hill, and the name fits the place: a low, wooded rise above the village of Tihău, close to the town of Jibou in the Someș valley of Sălaj county, where in spring the cuckoo's call echoes across the meadows. The point belongs to the network of archaeological sites along the Roman frontier of Dacia in the northwest of the province, near the confluence of the Almaș and Someș rivers, a strategic spot where valleys meet and roads cross. As with many of these sites, there may be little to see on the surface, but the location makes sense once you look at the map.
Read the complete Tihău - Dealul Cucului write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tihău - Dealul Cucului sits at 173 km, about halfway. Next is back through Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2 comes up about 246 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Bologa - Grădiște.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bologa - Grădiște write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 299 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Bologa - Grădiște. Next is back through Gilău - La Castel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gilău - La Castel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gilău - La Castel, 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 402 km.
Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății → Gilău - La Castel is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gilău - La Castel → Bologa - Grădiște is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bologa - Grădiște → Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2 is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2 → Tihău - Dealul Cucului is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tihău - Dealul Cucului → back through Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2 is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Agrij - Osoiul Ciontului 2 → back through Bologa - Grădiște is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bologa - Grădiște → back through Gilău - La Castel is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gilău - La Castel → Turda - Potaissa / Dealul Cetății is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.