Mountain Biking in Slovenia: Julian Alps - Gorenjska and Soca Valley, South, Central and North East

MOUNTAIN BIKING IN SLOVENIA

JULIAN ALPS – GORENJSKA AND SOČA VALLEY, SOUTH, CENTRAL AND NORTH-EAST

by Rob Houghton

2 POLICE SQUARE, MILNTHORPE, CUMBRIA LA7 7PY

www.cicerone.co.uk

About the Author

Rob Houghton has been an outdoor instructor, leader and educator for more years than he cares to count and he has led expeditions on five continents.

Rob has also been a cyclist for as long as he can remember. His first bike was a Raleigh Striker, back when they had fake suspension forks on the front. He was taught to ride by his father who, back in the 1960s, built a front suspension, off-road bike from parts he found in a skip and who, therefore, should have had the rightful claim to having invented mountain bikes a decade before the boys in Marin county.

Rob himself only took up mountain biking 10 years ago after a friend first took him around a trail centre in Wales. He was hooked. Since then he has tried to make up for lost time and has ridden in destinations as diverse as Wales and Thailand, Denmark and Singapore. He has ridden extensively in Slovenia and has spent a great many years visiting the country after spending a year working there in his youth. He even got married in Slovenia but was not allowed to do any riding in the run-up to the celebration.

Among his collection of bikes, Rob still has his first mountain bike, a Voodoo Hoodoo (one of the originals), which has lived in more countries than many people have (five at current count). It now lives in Melbourne where its owner also resides with his very understanding wife Jess.

© Rob Houghton 2017

First edition 2017

ISBN-13: 978 1 85284 808 8

Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Mapping © Kartografija d.o.o. Ljubljana, Slovenia

All photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated.

Updates to this Guide

While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/808/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to updates@cicerone.co.uk or by post to Cicerone, 2 Police Square, Milnthorpe LA7 7PY, United Kingdom.

Acknowledgements

I have so many people to thank for their help in writing this book. First and foremost, however, is my wife Jess, without whose encouragement, emotional support and financial aid, this book could never have got off the ground.

Thank you also to all the people who showed me around. Gregor, Nina, Bostjan, Jani and Peter all gave me a local’s view on the best trails. They’ve also given you someone else, other than me, to look at in the photos.

The local business community in Slovenia also jumped to my assistance. Thanks to Apartma Mavrič, Hotel Golte, Terme Krka, Hostel Pod Voglem, Hotel Plesnik, Hotel Lek and Gregor and Nina (again) for offering me free or heavily discounted accommodation.

Finally, thanks also to Lucijan at Proloco who, without knowing me from Adam, lent me a new Scott bike every time I came begging. Over 1750km covered on those borrowed bikes.

Emergencies

Always carry a charged mobile phone with you so that emergency services can be alerted in case of serious injury.

If you do need to report such an injury, first make a note of all relevant details including location (giving the grid reference if possible), the nature of the injury and your mobile phone number. Then call 112 and ask for both police and ambulance.

Be ready to give the location and nature of the incident and the numbers of any phones carried by the party. Do not change your position until you are contacted by the emergency services.

The contact details of local accident and emergency departments are listed in Appendix C.

For more information, see the Emergency situations section in the introduction.

Front cover: Spectacular views topping out on Stol (Route 10)

CONTENTS

Emergencies

Map key

Route summary table

Overview map

Introduction

Getting there

Getting around

When to go

Accommodation

Food and drink

Language

Money

Equipment

Waymarking

Maps

Emergency situations

Using this guide

Gorenjska

Route 1 The high alpine at Uskovnica

Route 2 In the foothills of Črna Prst

Route 3 Across the Jelovica Plateau

Route 4 To the Crone’s Tooth

Route 5 Grahovše circular

Route 6 Lake Zgornje

Route 7 Peč and the three borders

Route 8 Kranjska Gora circular

The Soča Valley

Route 9 Kobarid and the River Soča

Route 10 Stol epic

Route 11 Kobarid and the River Nadiža

Route 12 Stol and the long descent

Route 13 Planina Razor

Route 14 Most na Soči Široko

Route 15 The war memorial at Trnovo

Route 16 The dark forests of Trnovo

The South

Route 17 The industrial heritage of Črni Vrh

Route 18 Javornik

Route 19 The Wine Region of Kras

Route 20 Komen and its surrounds

Route 21 Postojna classic

Route 22 Lake Cerkno and the caves of Rakov Škocja

Route 23 Lake Cerknica circular

Route 24 Dolenjske Toplice and the Partisans’ forest

Route 25 Dolenjske Toplice and Soteska

Central and North-East

Route 26 Velika Planina

Route 27 Menina Planina

Route 28 Jesenovo and Krvavica

Route 29 The churches of Čreta

Route 30 The nature reserve of Pohorje

Route 31 Maribor and its surroundings

Route 32 The Maribor downhill park

Route 33 The Najevnik Linden Tree

Route 34 The three valleys route

Route 35 Peca

Appendices

Appendix A Slovenian language

Appendix B Accommodation

Appendix C Useful information

ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE

INTRODUCTION

Looking back at the Julian Alps from near the summit of Stol (Route 12)

Shhh! Don’t tell anyone. I’m going to tell you a secret. There’s a country slap in the middle of Europe that’s beautiful, modern and well-developed, cheap to visit and that has some of the best mountain biking in the world. Oh, and it’s beautiful – did I mention that? For some reason, however, most people planning their European holidays – especially those planning a biking trip abroad – mysteriously and unforgivably overlook Slovenia.

Those of you used to the beautifully groomed purpose-built trails of the UK, and maybe an annual trip to Spain or France for your yearly hit of rugged heights, may have certain questions to ask of a guide to Slovenian mountain biking. Not least of these might be, ‘Why Slovenia?’ and a supplementary query might be, ‘Where is it?’. But this tiny country, nestled between Austria, Italy, Hungary and Croatia, has an enormous amount to offer the mountain biker.

At about the size of Wales, Slovenia is not big, yet as anyone who has ever visited either of these countries can attest, size doesn’t always matter and small places can sometimes pack a surprising amount in. Within its compact area, for example, Slovenia can boast of three distinct climatic zones: Alpine (good for riding in), Mediterranean (good for relaxing days off and seafood) and Pannonian (good for wine and also for riding in). In amongst this, frankly, absurd abundance of climates can be found a huge variety of landscapes, from limestone karst to deep forest, from high mountains to meandering rivers. Did I mention that Slovenia was beautiful?

On the Soča riverside trail (Route 10)

The Slovene people take all this nature very seriously. They are an outdoor nation and they punch well above their weight internationally in many sports, but especially in mountaineering, skiing and, of course, cycling. Conservation is also important to this country: around 50% of the land is covered in forest and much of the rest has been preserved to a very high degree. As a consequence, there is a great profusion of plant and wild life. To Britons, whose largest wild mammal is the red deer and whose most dangerous predator is the ferret, it may come as a bit of a shock to be riding a trail pocked with the tracks of wolf, lynx, brown bear or chamois.

Flowers of the ancient woodland near Doljenske Toplice (Route 25)

Slovenia also manages that strange balancing act of being very well developed while simultaneously remaining a cheap place to visit. It seceded from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, triggering the Balkan War. However, Slovenia itself only suffered 10 days of fighting and then emerged, miraculously fully formed, with a parliament, currency and national anthem later that year. It has remained a well-developed and relatively wealthy country ever since, joining the EU in 2004 and adopting the Euro.

Despite this, Slovenia is a cheap place for Britons to visit. There are budget airlines flying directly from the UK to the capital Ljubljana and to other airports in the region. A beer still only costs around €2, a pizza about €6 and a perfectly fine hardtail can be rented for something like €10 a day. Accommodation varies from luxury four- and five-star hotels and resorts to more modest but well-equipped campsites. In all cases, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the prices – especially if your experience of European travel is largely limited to the West.

But what of the riding? Well, of course, it’s fabulous. The main regions all offer something different, catering for the competent beginner to the expert. The routes in this book reflect this diversity, although the majority are aimed at the fit and competent intermediate rider. Gorenjska provides possibly some of the most spectacular scenery in the country; it’s all high mountains and lush valleys and you’ll find that each day’s ride begins with a