Zagra - Dealul Lupului and Glod - Toaca Glodului 2
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
203 km
Riding-time estimate
4 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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Nimigea de Sus it runs 203 km to Nimigea de Sus; allow about 4 h 04 of riding. The stops in between: Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului, Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum, Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 and back through Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Zagra - Dealul Lupului
Zagra is the last farming village before the land begins to climb in earnest toward the Rodna mountains, the highest range in the Eastern Carpathians north of the Prislop pass. Pietrosul Rodnei, at about 2,300 metres, is the summit, and the whole massif is protected as a national park and biosphere reserve, with glacial lakes, rocky ridges and alpine meadows that stay snowy into June. From the Dealul Lupului, the Wolf Hill, you look across a patchwork of hayfields toward those peaks, which look closer than they are.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zagra - Dealul Lupului is where the day begins. Next is Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului.
2. Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului
Bram Stoker never came to Transylvania, but he sent Jonathan Harker through Bistrița, and the town still enjoys the connection. Dealul Muncelului, a hill above the village of Negrilești, sits west of Bistrița in the Someș valley, and from here the road east leads through the Saxon town to the Tihuța pass, the Borgo Pass of the novel, where Count Dracula's carriage is supposed to have met his English visitor. It is a fine excuse for a ride, even if the vampire is fiction and the real history more interesting.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -.
3. Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -
On a terrace above the river Someș, near the village of Cășeiu, a few kilometres from Dej in northern Transylvania, the Romans built a fort they called Samum. It guarded the northern edge of their province of Dacia, which they conquered in the early second century after two hard wars against the Dacian king Decebalus. The fort controlled the valley and the routes into the province, and today its outline can still be traced in the fields, with low walls and earthworks where archaeologists have uncovered gates, towers and barracks. In 2024 the Dacian frontier was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 79 km into the recorded legs you reach Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -. Next is Glod - Toaca Glodului 2.
4. Glod - Toaca Glodului 2
East of Jibou the Someș river squeezes through a narrower valley, and around Ileanda the hills close in, wooded and steep, with villages tucked wherever there is room for a few houses and gardens. Glod is a tiny settlement in these hills, and Toaca Glodului is the local name of a height above it; toaca, by the way, is the wooden board struck to call monks to prayer, and hills with that name often have a commanding view. Like many points with this naming pattern in Sălaj, it is listed with the Roman frontier of Dacia, where watchtowers and small forts guarded the approaches to the province. On the ground you should expect little more than traces in a field or woodland, so come for the setting.
Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului → Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - → Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 to back through Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum -
Glod - Toaca Glodului 2 → back through Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - to back through Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului
back through Cășeiu - Cetățele / Samvm Cășeiu -Samum - → back through Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului to Zagra - Dealul Lupului
back through Negrilești - Dealul Muncelului → Zagra - Dealul Lupului is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.