Mountain Biking in Slovenia. Rob Houghton

      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 [email protected] 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