Why this ride
A 250 km round trip from Saschiz - roughly 4 h 51 in the saddle. It goes by way of Village of Viscri, Village of Dârjiu, Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului and back through Village of Dârjiu.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Village of Saschiz-Keisd and Ocland - Cetatea Hășmașului
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 250 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 51
- 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 Saschiz-Keisd
The clock tower of the fortified church in Saschiz looks oddly familiar if you have just come from Sighișoara, and that is no accident: it was built in the image of the famous clock tower of the nearby town, a statement of local pride by the Saxon villagers who built it in the late fifteenth century. The church belongs to the World Heritage inscription for villages with fortified churches in Transylvania, a group of German-speaking Saxon communities that fortified their churches against Ottoman and Tatar raids. Above the village, on a wooded hill, are the ruins of a peasant citadel, where the inhabitants took refuge during attacks.
Read the complete Village of Saschiz-Keisd write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Village of Saschiz-Keisd 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 23 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 72 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 105 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 226 km into the recorded legs. Next is Village of Saschiz-Keisd.
7. Village of Saschiz-Keisd
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Village of Saschiz-Keisd write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Village of Saschiz-Keisd closes the day.
Leg by leg
Village of Saschiz-Keisd to Village of Viscri
Village of Saschiz-Keisd → Village of Viscri is 23 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 Saschiz-Keisd
back through Village of Viscri → Village of Saschiz-Keisd is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.