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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Količa na Igu and Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
438 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 37
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

A 438 km round trip from Ig - roughly 6 h 37 in the saddle. It goes by way of Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa, Škocjan Caves, Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba and back through Škocjan Caves. It crosses from Slovenia into Italy - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Količa na Igu

    The Ljubljana Marsh is a wide, flat plain of peat and wet meadow south of the city, drained since the eighteenth century by canals, and it hides one of the most interesting stories in European prehistory. Some five thousand years ago people built houses on stilts here, at the edge of lakes that have since vanished, and the remains of their villages lie preserved in the peat. The pile dwellings near Ig are part of the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, shared with five other countries.

    Read the complete Količa na Igu write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Količa na Igu is where the day begins. Next is Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa.

  2. 2. Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa

    Idrija sits at the bottom of a narrow, steep-sided valley in western Slovenia, and for about five hundred years the town made a living from the red mineral cinnabar, the ore of mercury. The mine at Idrija was one of the largest mercury mines in Europe, second only to Almadén in Spain, and the two sites share UNESCO World Heritage status. The Kamšt is the best monument to that history: a huge wooden waterwheel, more than thirteen metres across, built in the late eighteenth century to drive pumps that kept the mine from flooding.

    Read the complete Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa comes up about 68 km into the recorded legs. Next is Škocjan Caves.

  3. 3. Škocjan Caves

    Underneath the sleepy stone villages of the Slovenian Karst, a river called the Reka plunges into the earth and carves one of the largest underground canyons known anywhere. The Škocjan Caves, a UNESCO site since 1986, are the reason the word karst became the scientific name for this kind of limestone landscape everywhere in the world. Inside, a narrow footbridge spans the Reka gorge far above the roaring water, the chamber walls disappear into darkness, and the scale is so huge that your mind struggles to accept it is all underground.

    Read the complete Škocjan Caves write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 149 km into the recorded legs you reach Škocjan Caves. Next is Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba.

  4. 4. Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba

    Aquileia today is a village of fewer than three thousand people in the flat farmland of Friuli, near the head of the Adriatic, but two thousand years ago it was one of the largest and richest cities of the Roman Empire. Founded as a Latin colony in 181 BC to guard the northeastern approaches to Italy, it grew into a great trading port, connected to the sea by a river and a canal, through which amber, wine, oil and glass moved between the Mediterranean and the lands beyond the Alps. Attila sacked it in 452, and many of its people fled to the lagoons, where their descendants helped found Venice and Grado.

    Read the complete Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba, about halfway. Next is back through Škocjan Caves.

  5. 5. back through Škocjan Caves

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Škocjan Caves write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Škocjan Caves sits at 228 km, about halfway. Next is back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa.

  6. 6. back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa comes up about 372 km into the recorded legs. Next is Količa na Igu.

  7. 7. Količa na Igu

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Količa na Igu write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Količa na Igu closes the day.

Leg by leg

Količa na Igu to Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa

Količa na Igu → Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa to Škocjan Caves

Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa → Škocjan Caves is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Škocjan Caves to Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba

Škocjan Caves → Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba to back through Škocjan Caves

Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Ba → back through Škocjan Caves is 71 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

back through Škocjan Caves to back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa

back through Škocjan Caves → back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa is 79 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa to Količa na Igu

back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa → Količa na Igu is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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