CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
538 km from Petrila to Petrila, about 12 h 04 of riding. On the way it passes Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor, Capâlna, Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 and Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 35 km this is Romania Transalpina, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
North of the Jiu Valley, the land rises steeply into the Șureanu and Parâng mountains, a wild region of high ridges, deep valleys, spruce forests and alpine meadows. Crac-Găuri lies up in this high country, linked by name to the old routes that crossed the mountains in Roman times, when Dacia was a province and soldiers watched the passes between the Transylvanian basin and the south. Little is visible today, and the remoteness is half the attraction: this is mountain land, where shepherds bring their flocks to high pastures in summer and the forest stretches for miles.
Read the complete Voineasa - Crac-Găuri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Voineasa - Crac-Găuri is where the day begins. Next is Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor.
Petroșani is the capital of the Jiu valley, a long trench between the Retezat, Vâlcan, Parâng and Șureanu mountains in south-western Romania, and for most of the twentieth century it was the heart of the country's hard-coal industry. The hills around the town, including Dealul Botanilor, look down on a landscape of mining towns, pit heads and miners' housing, with the high mountains rising all around.
Read the complete Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor comes up 43 km in. Next is Capâlna.
The Dacians liked their fortresses high, hidden and hard to reach, which is why the Roman legions of Trajan took two bloody wars at the start of the second century to conquer them. Căpâlna stands on a steep wooded hill above the Sebeș valley, a Dacian citadel with stone walls built in the distinctive murus dacicus technique, blocks of cut stone tied together with timber beams, and a tower that served as the last refuge. It is one of the six Dacian fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains listed by UNESCO in 1999, along with the capital Sarmizegetusa Regia, and it is one of the easier ones to reach, with a path climbing through the forest from the valley road.
Read the complete Capâlna write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
85 km in you reach Capâlna. 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, about halfway. Next is Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic.
In the Apuseni mountains of western Romania, gold has shaped the land and its people for two thousand years. The Romans came for it after conquering Dacia, organising the mining from a centre at Ampelum, today the town of Zlatna, whose name comes from the Slavic word for gold. Trâmpoiele, on the high ground near Almașu Mare, is one of the many small sites connected to that Roman presence, where mining, settlement and watch posts dotted the hills. A little further north, the mining landscape of Roșia Montană, with its Roman galleries cut deep into the rock, was listed by UNESCO in 2021 and gives the clearest idea of how the ancient gold was won.
Read the complete Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic sits at 170 km, about halfway. Next is back through Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 comes up 213 km in. Next is back through Capâlna.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Capâlna write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
255 km in you reach back through Capâlna. Next is back through Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor, late in the day. Next is Voineasa - Crac-Găuri.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Voineasa - Crac-Găuri write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 538 km.
Voineasa - Crac-Găuri → Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor → Capâlna is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Capâlna → Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 → Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Trâmpoiele - Grohașu Mic → back through Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Alba Iulia - Apulum / Domus 1 → back through Capâlna is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Capâlna → back through Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Petroșani - Dealul Botanilor → Voineasa - Crac-Găuri is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.