Why this ride
A 289 km round trip from Ig - roughly 4 h 13 in the saddle. On the way it passes Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa, Škocjan Caves and back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kolišča na Igu and Škocjan Caves
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 289 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 13
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kolišča na Igu
The oldest wheel in the world was found in a peat bog in Slovenia, and the bog is the Ljubljana Marshes. Archaeologists working here in 2002 pulled out a wooden wheel with its axle, dating from around 3100 BC, which is now in the city museum in Ljubljana. The find was made close to the village of Ig, a few kilometres south of the capital, where for centuries people built houses on stilts above the wet ground. The pile dwellings at Ig, called Kolišča in Slovenian, are one of the settlements that UNESCO lists among the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps.
Read the complete Kolišča na Igu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kolišča na Igu is where the day begins. Next is Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa.
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 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Škocjan Caves.
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 146 km into the recorded legs you reach Škocjan Caves. Next is back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Kolišča na Igu.
5. Kolišča na Igu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kolišča na Igu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Kolišča na Igu. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Kolišča na Igu to Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa
Kolišča na Igu → Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa is 65 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 back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa
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 Kolišča na Igu
back through Idrija - Kamšt water pump with the Rake wa → Kolišča na Igu is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.