The Julian Alps are a mountain range that stretches in the Southern Alps along the border between Italy and Slovenia to the Adriatic Sea. Between Kranjska Gora and Trieste, 170 kilometres away by car, a number of trail spots have been established that are definitely worth a road trip lasting several days. If only the old off-road vehicle would be less stubborn...
White smoke
"Excuse me, is that white smoke coming out of your bonnet?" The lady at the Slovenian toll booth points past me with a biro. Even before I turn around, I can already smell a foul odour in my nose. Sara and Paula also seem to have discovered the problem and jump out of the car almost synchronised. So we open the bonnet - it takes a while before we can see anything through the thick vapour: The vent hose of the valve cover has come loose. I pull the hose clamp as tight as I can, so I shake it - and off we go. "Oh God, what have we got ourselves into ...!" moans Sara, turning round to Paula in the back seat. But she laughs: "It's working again!"
We have been working towards this trip for almost a year
The original plan was a Trans Julian Alps route from Kranjska Gora to Trieste. Always along the Italian-Slovenian border, roughly following the famous, turquoise-coloured Soča towards the sea. But after studying lots of maps and asking guides about legal trails, it was clear that although there are plenty of cycle paths along the banks of the river, most of them lead in an east-west direction. From north to south, it is almost impossible to put together a continuous route in this part of the Julian Alps, and mountain biking is even completely prohibited in the Triglav National Park. So we finally came to the realisation that we should change the plan to a road trip and drive from one good bike spot to the next.
We start our road trip in Kranjska Gora
Our first bike day in the Kranjska Gora ski resort starts with what is probably the slowest ski lift in the Alps. The chairlift swings up the 400 metres in altitude so slowly that I even nod off for a moment. It's the lift attendant who wakes me up with a friendly "Živijo" just before I get off. The bike park's new jumpline, on the other hand, greets us much more severely: a massive root field right at the start! It's just as well that the ground is so dry. I wouldn't want to make its acquaintance now in a wet and greasy version.
"Oh, it's also fun when it's wet!" says Paula. As a former professional downhill rider, she already knows this key section from several races. She flies over the roots as light as a feather and Sara follows right behind. But then come the unfamiliar jumps and the two girls slow down a little. At least on the first descent. On the following runs, Paula and Sara let themselves go with tricks such as t-bogs and tabletops. Meanwhile, I meet Jan on the trail. He is one of the trail builders who scooped up this tableline.
"The bike park recently acquired a new, financially strong co-owner from South Tyrol. This opens up a lot of opportunities for us to rebuild ...!"
This jumpline isn't quite finished yet either, Jan continues, pushing a few loose crumbs of clay up a landing mound with his foot, which roll back into their old place as soon as he tries to kick them down. "Just too dry right now," he mumbles. It has hardly rained for six weeks. Even trail builders can't do much about that. That's why the park management has now decided to completely rebuild the line again next spring. It's nice when, according to Jan, it has always been sunny and dry for the past six weeks. In any case, our weather app has a red exclamation mark warning of heavy rainfall over the next few days.
Day 2: Start in Sella Nevea
The next day we load the bikes from the carrier at midday in Sella Nevea. The clouds hang like leaden sacks in the sky, but it's not raining. Nevertheless, we have to hurry, because in this Italian ski and bike region, the gondola crew take their lunch break at 1 pm. And right on time, as we realise at 13:02 in front of the closed doors. "We could have taken the gondola on the Slovenian side of the mountain!" Paula reports from her ongoing phone call with guide Dejan from Bovec. She then puts her mobile phone on loudspeaker so that we can listen in. Dejan tells us about a trail that officially connected Sella Nevea and Bovec for a long time. During the corona lockdown, the local authorities even gave permission to extend this trail. However, as soon as the construction work was completed, the trail was completely banned instead of a grand opening ceremony. "But we're not giving up yet and are working diligently on legalising it!" Dejan adds with a fighting spirit. So it will be interesting to see.
A breath of fresh air in the limestone desert of the Kanin Massif
Piiiep - at 2 p.m. sharp, the cable car turnstile starts working again. We have to play a bit of Tetris to stow ourselves and our bikes in the gondola before we find ourselves in the limestone desert of the Kanin massif a few minutes later. Even at the middle station, the wind is so fresh that Sara spontaneously rummages in her rucksack for her windbreaker. However, she leaves it behind abruptly when the lift attendant repeats the words "funivia" and "chiusa" several times. The gondola to the summit station is currently closed. This means that we have to manage the last 300 metres up to the border ridge ourselves.
The trails were fought over by soldiers during the war
Which way up? Ah, just up the steep ski slope. A herd of ibex watches us with interest as we heave our bikes up to the 2100 metre high pass. When the plateau at the top is almost within our grasp, we pass the first emplacements and bunkers from the First World War. The Austro-Hungarian and Italian battles up here were just as fierce as in the Dolomites. The trail, which soon winds its way down a proud 1400 metres into the valley in front of us, is also a relic from these dark times of war. The path starts off rough, but runs along the edge of the slope and is easy to ride. We roll over stone steps and get to grips with the loose scree by applying the brakes carefully. The fact that the gradient of the old military trail remains moderate suits us perfectly. At a fairly high speed, we are soon rattling over stone bridges and through wide bends. "Keep your distance!" shouts Paula as her tyres push a few limestone boulders into the slope in an unexpectedly tight bend. Flowing passages alternate with technical sections until the trail spits us out again at the ski slope above the gondola lift. "Pretty challenging compared to the bike park yesterday!" says Sara, visibly exhausted but happy.
Our car also suffers from the rough roads
When we roll back to the cable car, only our car is left in the car park. A Harley gang is using the free space for a break. And now, of all times, parking is surprisingly difficult. "I reckon it's the servo pump!" says one of the Harley riders and makes no move to push his bike out of the way. So I open the bonnet again: I can actually make out a broken screw on the pump. It must have happened this morning on the winding road. I'm handed umpteen Leatherman tools with engraved names, but unfortunately none of the guys have a set of taps with them. Okay, we'll just carry on without power steering. As if my forearms hadn't already suffered enough on the trail.
The roof tent proves to be a constant partner, especially in the rain.
As I pull into our pitch on the camper meadow near Robidišče in the evening, Sara takes another look at the weather app: the exclamation mark now warns more specifically of eleven millimetres of precipitation per square metre. We find out exactly what this means when we have just unfolded the roof tent and rolled out our sleeping bags. It only takes a few minutes for a large lake to form under our car. Paula is happy: "You don't want to be lying on the ground in the tent right now."
The trails in the Robidišče Trail Centre
"In these conditions, it's best to start with the easiest trail!" advises Tomaz, the operator of the Robidišče Trail Centre.
But Paula says she's really not here to ride flow trails. She unerringly chooses the most difficult of the six lines for us: the Napoleon. We crank uphill for 20 minutes, then we're standing in front of the start, in the middle of the still dripping wet deciduous forest. It doesn't look so wild. But after two easy bends, we realise what rain can do to a trail like this after six weeks of drought: an unpredictable mud slide. As soon as we open the brakes, we are carried out of the bends. Stopping in stone passages? Only possible by hugging a beech tree. We are glad when the Napoleon Line releases us again at a small car park.
A second attempt on the less demanding Fit Helga ends in a painful fall - we stop. "It just doesn't work. We have to come back when it's dry," Paula admits with obvious reluctance. Unfortunately, this also applies to our planned fourth stop on Monte Matajur: the very idea of having to slide down its ten-kilometre trail in torrential rain is no fun.
Finally a relaxing break in Trieste
Camping Trieste: We get a good night's sleep. The daily programme of biking, packing, cooking, drying, washing up and changing locations is more exhausting than we thought. The altitude metres of the last few days are also clearly noticeable in our legs. So today we cruise through the city. "Looks a bit like Vienna," remarks Paula. The city does indeed have an exciting mix of different architectural styles, having changed nationality several times. A little Ringstrasse, Wilhelminian style and the morbid charm of an Italian harbour town. After an ice cream on the promenade, the sun peeps through the clouds again.
Perfect for our last excursion: there is said to be a huge enduro scene on the outskirts of Trieste. We park the car between the oil tanks of the industrial zone and follow a road up into the forest until the trees open up a view of the bay of Muggia. We pass Slovenian border signs and soon turn off onto a trail called Toboga. The ups and downs continue in the flickering light of the deciduous forest. A short break in the tarmac and into the Pivo rollercoaster connection, which throws us gently around the trees with drops and jumps. After the rocky experiences of the last few days, even Paula is now enjoying this flow experience. And it could have been a worthy end to our trip. But unfortunately, we still have a fourth in our group. "Oh, that doesn't look good ...!" Paula comments on the large puddle that has formed under our touring vehicle in the car park. This time it's the radiator. Of course, we could call the ADAC, but we agree on a journey home with many, many stops.
MTB area Slovenia
The Julian Alps are a mountain range that stretches in the Southern Alps along the Italian-Slovenian border to the Adriatic Sea. Highest peak: the Triglav (2864 m). There have already been attempts to cross the Julian Alps southwards by bike along the famous Soča. However, many paths that are even marked on maps in a north-south direction have fallen into disrepair or lead through areas where biking is prohibited. And offences in Slovenia are punished with severe fines. Nevertheless, the sport of biking does not stop at Slovenia. A number of trail spots have been established along the border between Kranjska Gora and Trieste, 170 kilometres away by car, which are definitely worth a road trip lasting several days. Here are our stops:
Kranjska Gora
Many were already afraid, Slovenia's bike park near the Austrian border could close its doors for good. However, a financially strong investor from South Tyrol ensured that the five downhill runs were allowed to open again in July 2022. Including a newly shaped jumpline. However, due to the dryness of the ground, the major renovation work has now been postponed until spring 2023.
Kanin massif / Sella Nevea
The Kanin border ridge, up to 2587 metres high, is used as a ski and bike area on both the Italian and Slovenian sides. There is cable car access in Sella Nevea on the Italian side and in Bovec (with a small bike park) on the Slovenian side. During the first Corona spring, permission was granted to build a connecting trail for bikers between the two sides of the mountain. The trail is finished and signposted, but cannot (yet) be ridden due to unclear official reasons. The local scene is still endeavouring to get it approved. The remaining trail descents on both sides are natural, high alpine and challenging. The trail down to Sella Nevea was officially advertised by the operator as a mountain bike route for a while. The "anything that is not forbidden may be ridden" rule, which applies in Trentino, for example, does not officially exist in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. According to bike guide Dejan from Bovec, however, it is tolerated as the trail is hardly ever used.
Info: Kanin cable car in Bovec and Kanin-Grenzkamm, Sella Nevea
Robidišče Trail Centre
Official trail centre in a beech forest with six descents of varying degrees of difficulty and shuttle service for larger groups, plus various tour options in the surrounding area. Info is available here.
Monte Matajur
The 1642 metre high mountain also lies on the border between Italy and Slovenia. Italian soldiers entrenched themselves here during the First World War, but were overrun by the enemy during the famous 12th Battle of the Isonzo. It's not easy for bikers here either: the twelve kilometre long Matadown downhill trail descends over 1450 metres from the summit via the southern flank to San Pietro al Natisone. Some of the key sections are up to S3 level of difficulty. One of the top descents in the Alps, but not recommended in wet conditions. That's why we skipped the Matajur. The GPS tracks for the tour are available here at BIKE Magazine.
Trieste
In recent years, a large enduro scene has developed in the up to 1000 metre high mountains around the Italian port city, which is constantly expanding its trail network. The cross-border trails are not official, but the Toboga Trail is now shuttled by several guiding providers. You can find tips for tours around Trieste in the appropriate BIKE area guide. General information about the Tourism Info.
MTB tour information Slovenia
Guide Dejan from DK-Sport in Bovec offers tours including shuttle in the Julian Alps. A good guide is recommended, as the rideable trails here are difficult to find.
MTB SloveniaAlso absolute pros when it comes to the rideability of authorised Slovenian trails (also in the form of GPS data)
