The bike path in the village of ten people, surrounded by wolves and bears. The spectacular route in the brains of the mountains gives shivers to the tourists

The strangest bike path in Romania was built in Vadu Dobrii, a village of ten inhabitants, hidden in the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, without paved roads, which often remains isolated in winter. The track descends into the heart of the forest, where wolves and bears live.

The bike path in Vadu Dobrii. Photo: Daniel Guță. TRUTH

Fewer than ten people live permanently in the village of Vadu Dobrii in the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, one of the most isolated localities in Romania.

The settlement, located at over 1,100 meters above sea level, was established in the 19th century to exploit the centuries-old forests of the Forest Land and later developed around the iron mines opened here. For a long time, apart from the mountain paths, the connection between Vadu Dobrii and Hunedoara was made by a funicular, whose installations stretched over a distance of over 40 kilometers.

The funicular built at the end of the 19th century was used to transport mangal (charcoal) from Vadu Dobrii to the Ghelari iron mine and then continued to Hunedoara, loaded with mangal and ore.

A network of forest roads was then established to connect Vadu Dobrii with the surrounding villages, located 5–10 kilometers from the locality, and with Hunedoara. From the 1950s, a military anti-aircraft unit was established on the outskirts of the village, and in the 1970s and 1980s, iron mines and logging provided jobs for the few locals left in Vadu Dobrii. The mine closed in the 1980s, the funicular also disappeared, and the military facility was disbanded in the mid-2000s.

The village in the mountains, without roads, but with a bike path

The local roads then became less traveled and degraded over time and under the weight of forestry machinery. During the winter, mud, steep slopes, blizzard snow and frost made the route to Vadu Dobrii an adventure with an unpredictable ending. However, the winters have become milder, and some sections of the dirt roads to the village near Munelu Peak (1,140 meters) have been repaired, becoming accessible to cars. However, the settlement depopulated, even if, for several years, several families from other areas of Romania have settled here.

Although no paved road has yet climbed the steep slopes to Vadu Dobrii, the few inhabitants of the mountain village now have a modern bike path.

The track was recently built, on the outskirts of the town, with funds accessed by the Town Hall of the Bunila commune, through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). It descends from Vadu Dobrii, makes a loop going up into the forest, through the meadow full of small meanders from the sources of the Dobra river, and continues towards the Dobra valley. From the end of the track, travelers descend on a forest road of more than 30 kilometers to the next village, Roșcani, where the asphalt starts again.

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The bike path from Vadu Dobrii Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (29) JPG

“I heard about this track for the first time today. I've never even seen it before. Some tourists drove through the village and asked me about it. I live at the other end of the village, so I didn't get to go see it”reported an elderly person, recently moved to Vadu Dobrii.

Other locals say that the bike path is welcome to attract tourists, but for them it would have been more important if the roads to the nearby villages (Meria, Lunca Cernii de Sus, Poiana Răchitelii, Runcu Mare, Bunila, Cernișoara Florese) had been maintained in good condition, even if they are not asphalted.

“We came from the village of Batrâna to Vadu Dobrii, to see this track. On the way here, on Valea Runcului, we had to stay in the forest, after we got stuck. We thank God that we managed to escape from those muds, I don't even know how we managed to pass them”. says a forester who came with his friends to Vadu Dobrii.

Wilderness bike path, “slope” in winter

According to Bunila City Hall, the construction of the bicycle path in the village of Vadu Dobrii was financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), through a component whose objective is the development of cycling infrastructure in Romania.

“The implementation of the project requires the creation of a route for cyclists, which will ensure the connection between the village of Vadu Dobrii and the recreation point set up by UAT Bunila. In this way, road traffic with cars and CO2 equivalent emissions in Bunila commune can be significantly reduced. Electric scooters will also be able to travel on the track”. it is shown in the project.

Recently built, the bike path could hardly be used in winter, one of the reasons being the difficult access during this period in the village. In addition, some villagers say, tourists could have unexpected encounters with the wild.

“I didn't see bears, only their tracks, instead the shepherds told me that the wolves still roam the flocks”says a local.

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The bike path from Vadu Dobrii Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (25) JPG

However, some locals are of the opinion that the track could become a toboggan run in winter, remembering the plans from the 2000s, which aimed to transform the village into a small mountain resort.

In the Poiana Ruscă mountains, another bicycle path was built between the villages of Cerbăl and Ulm, where several dozen people live permanently.

Also in the Forest Land, a similar investment is expected in Bunila commune, also as isolated as Vadu Dobrii, with approximately 80 inhabitants.