Читать книгу Mountain Biking in Slovenia. Julian Alps - Gorenjska and Soca Valley, South, Central and North East онлайн

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At about the size of Wales, Slovenia is not big, yet as anyone who has ever visited either of these countries can attest, size doesn’t always matter and small places can sometimes pack a surprising amount in. Within its compact area, for example, Slovenia can boast of three distinct climatic zones: Alpine (good for riding in), Mediterranean (good for relaxing days off and seafood) and Pannonian (good for wine and also for riding in). In amongst this, frankly, absurd abundance of climates can be found a huge variety of landscapes, from limestone karst to deep forest, from high mountains to meandering rivers. Did I mention that Slovenia was beautiful?

On the Soča riverside trail (Route 10)

The Slovene people take all this nature very seriously. They are an outdoor nation and they punch well above their weight internationally in many sports, but especially in mountaineering, skiing and, of course, cycling. Conservation is also important to this country: around 50% of the land is covered in forest and much of the rest has been preserved to a very high degree. As a consequence, there is a great profusion of plant and wild life. To Britons, whose largest wild mammal is the red deer and whose most dangerous predator is the ferret, it may come as a bit of a shock to be riding a trail pocked with the tracks of wolf, lynx, brown bear or chamois.