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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Količa na Igu and Idrija - Smelting Plant

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
369 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 49
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 369 km round trip from Ig - roughly 5 h 49 in the saddle. The stops in between: Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa, Roman Walls in Mirje, Idrija - Smelting Plant and back through Roman Walls in Mirje. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.

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 Roman Walls in Mirje.

  3. 3. Roman Walls in Mirje

    In the middle of Ljubljana, on Mirje street, a long stretch of reconstructed wall recalls the Roman town of Emona. The Romans founded Emona in the early first century AD, on a grid of streets beside the Ljubljanica river, as a frontier outpost and trading town on the road between Italy and the Danube. It had walls, gates, forums, baths and a population of several thousand. Later, the town was sacked by Huns and other invaders, and its stones were reused for centuries, so that very little survived above ground.

    Read the complete Roman Walls in Mirje write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Roman Walls in Mirje. Next is Idrija - Smelting Plant.

  4. 4. Idrija - Smelting Plant

    In 1490, so the story goes, a tub-maker soaking a wooden vessel in a spring found shiny drops of liquid metal at the bottom. It was mercury, and the mine that grew from that discovery at Idrija, in the hills of western Slovenia, became the second largest mercury mine in the world, operating for five centuries. Together with Almadén in Spain, it was inscribed by UNESCO in 2012. The smelting plant, where the ore was roasted to release the mercury vapour, was the heart of the operation, and its buildings and furnaces now tell the story of the industry and its toll on the workers.

    Read the complete Idrija - Smelting Plant write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    Idrija - Smelting Plant, about halfway. Next is back through Roman Walls in Mirje.

  5. 5. back through Roman Walls in Mirje

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Roman Walls in Mirje write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

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

    Planning note

    back through Roman Walls in Mirje sits at 202 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 302 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 Roman Walls in Mirje

Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa → Roman Walls in Mirje is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Roman Walls in Mirje to Idrija - Smelting Plant

Roman Walls in Mirje → Idrija - Smelting Plant is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Idrija - Smelting Plant to back through Roman Walls in Mirje

Idrija - Smelting Plant → back through Roman Walls in Mirje is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Roman Walls in Mirje to back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa

back through Roman Walls in Mirje → back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa is 59 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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