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.
From Poieni it runs 324 km to Poieni; allow about 6 h 45 of riding. The stops in between: Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei, Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii, Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei and Church of the Holy Archangels. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
The hill of Dealul Cocinilor rises above the valley of the Crișul Repede near Ciucea, on the western edge of Cluj county, and it marks another point on the Roman frontier of Dacia, this time in the Meseș mountains, where the limes ran along the hills protecting the province of Dacia Porolissensis. The watchtowers here guarded the approaches from the west and north, and from the hilltop you can still see why: the valley below is a natural corridor, used by traders, armies and travellers for thousands of years.
Read the complete Vânători - Dealul Cocinilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vânători - Dealul Cocinilor is where the day begins. Next is Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei.
The Meseș mountains rise to the west of Zalău like a long green wall, and they formed the natural western boundary of Roman Dacia in this region. Along their crest and on the slopes above the plains, the Romans built a line of watchtowers, and the site above the fields with the evocative name of Șesurile Tâlhăroasei, roughly the robbers' flats, near the villages of Treznea and Aghireș, is one of them. It is part of the Dacian frontier on the World Heritage list. Up in the forest the remains are modest, but the position, high on a slope with a view over the valley, shows how the frontier used every advantage of the terrain.
Read the complete Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii.
Surduc is a village in the Someș valley in Sălaj county, north-western Romania, where the river cuts a narrow path through hills on its way toward Baia Mare. Above the village, on a ridge overlooking the valley of the Hrăii stream, there are traces of a Roman watchtower, part of the frontier of the province of Dacia. The nearby villages of Tihău and Băbeni, and the town of Jibou, are all close by.
Read the complete Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii. Next is Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei.
Strâmtură means a narrowing, and the name fits. Just outside Gâlgău, a small Sălaj village on the Someș, the valley pinches between wooded slopes, and the Roman frontier made use of exactly such pinch points to control movement along the river. The site listed as Valea Strâmturei belongs to that northern Dacian line, and like most of its neighbours it is earthwork and setting rather than standing masonry. You come for the geography and the sense of a border that ran through these quiet hills nearly two thousand years ago.
Read the complete Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei, about halfway. Next is Church of the Holy Archangels.
The wooden church at Rogoz stands in the Lăpuș country, a quieter, lesser-known corner of Maramureș, south of the mountains and away from the main tourist circuits. Built in the seventeenth century and dedicated to the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, it is unusual in shape: the roof is asymmetric and overhangs deeply on one side, and the eaves are supported by carved wooden brackets shaped like horse heads, a detail that seems to come straight out of folk tradition. Inside, the walls are painted with scenes from the Bible, including a vivid Last Judgement. It is one of the eight churches in the UNESCO listing of the Wooden Churches of Maramureș.
Read the complete Church of the Holy Archangels write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of the Holy Archangels sits at 141 km, about halfway. Next is back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei comes up about 200 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 248 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii. Next is back through Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei, late in the day. Next is Vânători - Dealul Cocinilor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vânători - Dealul Cocinilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 324 km.
Vânători - Dealul Cocinilor → Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei → Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii → Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei → Church of the Holy Archangels is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of the Holy Archangels → back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei → back through Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Surduc - Deasupra Văii Hrăii → back through Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zalău - Deasupra Șesurilor Tâlhăroasei → Vânători - Dealul Cocinilor is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.