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.
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 Zalău it runs 314 km to Zalău; allow about 6 h 24 of riding. The stops in between: Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei, Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii and back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Zalau is the sort of city that many riders cross without noticing, and that is a pity, because the capital of Salaj County is a lively, youthful place with a long past. Its population of over sixty thousand makes it the largest town in this part of north-western Romania, set in the valley of the Zalau river at the foot of the Meses hills, and it has a mixed Romanian and Hungarian heritage that shows in street names, churches and food. The Hungarians called it Zilah, and the poet Endre Ady, one of the great voices of Hungarian literature, went to school here in the 1880s.
Read the complete Zalău - Dealul Dojii 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zalău - Dealul Dojii 1 is where the day begins. 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 comes up 64 km in. Next is Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii.
The Țibleș mountains rise like a dark wall between the Lăpuș country and the valleys of Maramureș, a volcanic range of dense spruce and beech forest topping out at nearly two thousand metres. On their slopes, near the source known as Izvorul Șurii above the village of Groșii Țibleșului, the forest feels almost untouched: springs bubbling out of mossy banks, fallen trunks covered in fungi, and a silence broken only by woodpeckers and the wind. This is bear country, and wolves and lynx roam these woods too. The area lies on the edge of the Maramureș region, famous for its wooden churches, carved gates and deeply traditional village life.
Read the complete Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
127 km in you reach Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii. 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, late in the day. Next is Zalău - Dealul Dojii 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zalău - Dealul Dojii 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Zalău - Dealul Dojii 1. That is the ride.
Zalău - Dealul Dojii 1 → Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei → Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Groșii Țibleșului - Izvorul Șurii → back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gâlgău - Valea Strâmturei → Zalău - Dealul Dojii 1 is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.