Cheile Nerei trail Sasca Montana - Lacul Ochiul Beiului - Cascada Beusnita - Cascada Vaioaga - La Tunele - Sasca Montana (ADE 170)

Length of the route – 39.5 km. Offroad / gravel road – 23 km; asphalt / concrete slabs – 16.5 km

*** description, map & photos by FB page 'Green trails MTB outdoor-fun'

Duration: 6h in my case, sustained pace but with frequent breaks admiring landscapes, photos, lunch break

The first 12 km are not offroad, opportunity to set your pace for the forest road in the gorges. From the village of Socolari, you enter the gravel forest road that gently ascends the hills, and shortly after entering the forest, the descent to Lake Ochiul Beiului begins. It is a forest road that I found very suitable for biking, quite wide, with a well-formed texture of stone / earth, I enjoyed pedaling there.

The trail through the forest is a pleasure – accompanied by the sound of water flowing through the cool green scenery. The small and charming lake Ochiul Beiului, and after crossing it on two small wooden bridges, it can be a bit tricky to quickly find the continuation of the trail towards the Beusnita waterfall; just after the second bridge, I steeply climbed about 5 meters on the rock, and at that point, on the left side of the stream that descends from the waterfall, I took to the left of the blue sign 'Valea Beusnita' and chose the trail that climbs rather steeply, let's say about 60 meters of pushbike (not very bike-friendly even on the return), after which the road continues smoothly to the water, which I did not cross but kept to the left and in a few dozen meters I reached Beusnita waterfall. From here back to Lake Ochiul Beiului and continuing on the gravel forest road towards the fish farm and Vaioaga waterfall.

At the Tunnel, there is a very nice section of about 2 km (between the first tunnel and the pole with signals, where the forest road to Sasca Romana begins) going along a path that walks you along the edge of the cliffs accompanying the Nera river, after which the road continues on the forest road. In those 2 km the trail leads you mostly high along the edge of the cliff (this portion is not bikeable, but carefully I managed to carry my bike with me), with a short incursion, somewhat bikeable, down to the edge of the river.

However, on this uploaded map version, I only did about 300 meters of the 2 km section of La Tunele, turning back and trying to see what options in the forest compete with the rocky section (red band) from La Tunele. I wouldn’t say that in my case the alternate route I found was easier because the approximately 2 km through the forest (yellow cross, followed by red dot) that I did after the asphalted section on DJ 571K were for the most part not bikeable, or well, not with my hardtail - a path of dirt but, in my opinion, not suitable for a bike, but here I spotted in a small glade - a beautiful deer. After these 2 km I had seen as an alternative for the tricky trail in La Tunele, I met the forest road marked with red band that came from La Tunele and went towards Sasca Romana - a pleasure to ride on it. I crossed the Nera river on the narrow, suspended bridge with a wooden board floor - an original feeling to cross it - and thus I reached the end of a ride that I thoroughly enjoyed, very relaxing, beautiful scenery, fresh air.

The ride was made in May 2020. Bike type: MTB XC hardtail (not an E-bike). Trail marking: red cross from the village of Socolari to the intersection with the forest road connecting Lake Ochiul Beiului to La Tunele; yellow band from that intersection to Lake Ochiul Beiului; further on, red cross to Beusnita waterfall and back to the lake; yellow band on the forest road between Lake Ochiul Beiului and La Tunele. From here I continued about 2.3 km on the asphalted DJ 571K road, where I turned left into the woods on tourist paths - the first with yellow cross marking, after which I continued with red point marking to the intersection with the forest road with red band marking - which I followed all the way to Sasca Romana; from Sasca Romana I left the offroad trails, reaching DC 54 in Sasca Montana.

Car access. I chose the route Bucharest – Pitesti – Craiova – Orșova. After the village of Plugova, I exited DN 6 and continued on DN 57B until Oravita. From Oravita to Sasca Montana, the quality of the road decreases, you start to weave between potholes; I continued on DN 57 shortly after the village of Racasdia, after which I turned left entering DJ 571 until the village of Sasca Montana.

Have fun :)