Why this ride
A 310 km round trip from Șaeș - roughly 6 h 04 in the saddle. The stops in between: Village of Viscri, Village of Dârjiu, Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului and back through Village of Dârjiu. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Village of Biertan and Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 310 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 04
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Village of Biertan
Biertan is a small village in the hills of southern Transylvania, and its church looks like a castle that happens to have a nave. In the sixteenth century the Saxon community, German-speaking settlers who had been invited into the region by the Hungarian kings in the twelfth century to farm and defend the frontier, enclosed the church on its hilltop with three rings of walls, towers, covered stairways and storerooms, so that the villagers could withstand a Turkish raid. Inside the walls each family kept a room for its food and valuables, and the bacon hung in the towers. The ensemble, listed by UNESCO in 1993, is one of the best examples of the fortified churches that dot the Saxon lands, and it has the feel of a place built by people with much to protect.
Read the complete Village of Biertan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Village of Biertan is where the day begins. Next is Village of Viscri.
2. Village of Viscri
Viscri is the village people picture when they think of Transylvania's Saxon heritage, and it more or less lives up to it. A single long street of pastel houses, blue, ochre and white, stands gable end to the road, with geese in the ditch, horse carts at dusk and, at the top of the slope, a fortified church wrapped in thick white walls. It is part of the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania listed by UNESCO, and it is one of the best preserved.
Read the complete Village of Viscri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Village of Viscri comes up about 54 km into the recorded legs. Next is Village of Dârjiu.
3. Village of Dârjiu
Dârjiu is a Székely village of around eleven hundred people in Harghita county, and at its heart stands one of the fortified churches that UNESCO lists among the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania. Most of those villages are Saxon and Lutheran; Dârjiu is Hungarian-speaking and Unitarian, which makes it something of an odd one out and all the more interesting. A ring of thick walls and towers encloses the church, built so that villagers could shelter from raiders, and the tradition of storing smoked bacon and grain in the fortress towers lasted here long into modern times.
Read the complete Village of Dârjiu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 103 km into the recorded legs you reach Village of Dârjiu. Next is Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului.
4. Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului
The Homoród valley runs south through the Székely land of Harghita county, a gentle, green valley between wooded hills, with villages of whitewashed churches and carved gates. Ocland is one of them, a small village with a fortified church, and on a hill above it stood a medieval castle, Cetatea Hășmașului, of which only traces remain. The rides that pass here connect it with the fortified churches of Transylvania, the extraordinary defensive churches built by the Saxon and Székely communities in the Middle Ages to protect themselves from Tatar and Ottoman raids.
Read the complete Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului, about halfway. Next is back through Village of Dârjiu.
5. back through Village of Dârjiu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Dârjiu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Village of Dârjiu sits at 119 km, about halfway. Next is back through Village of Viscri.
6. back through Village of Viscri
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Viscri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Village of Viscri comes up about 257 km into the recorded legs. Next is Village of Biertan.
7. Village of Biertan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Biertan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Village of Biertan closes the day.
Leg by leg
Village of Biertan to Village of Viscri
Village of Biertan → Village of Viscri is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Village of Viscri to Village of Dârjiu
Village of Viscri → Village of Dârjiu is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Village of Dârjiu to Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului
Village of Dârjiu → Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului to back through Village of Dârjiu
Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului → back through Village of Dârjiu is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Village of Dârjiu to back through Village of Viscri
back through Village of Dârjiu → back through Village of Viscri is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Village of Viscri to Village of Biertan
back through Village of Viscri → Village of Biertan is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.