Favourite Walks by Secret Hills Walking

The Soriska Planina and Mount Mozic- The Rapallo border - By Alan Garner

The Soriska Planina lies above the village of Bohinj Bistrica at some 1300 metres high, a ski resort in the winter and a lovely walking area in the summer.
Approaching it via the road that winds its way from the village to Tolmin  – about 20 minutes’ drive with many bends.

You reach the Planina and park. In front of you see the ski slopes and ski equipment and a lovely café/gostilna – useful for later refreshment.

Procced under the ski lift wires and follow them through the meadows heading for a gully in the distance- an uphill slog for 20 minutes or so, take the gully still going uphill, and eventually you reach the ridge line. Wonderful views over the Lower Bohinj range of mountains to the right, with Crna Prst to the fore.

In front of you opens into the valley of towards Podbrdo and Most na Soči, with the rail line emerging from its tunnel from Bohinj Bistrica.

Take the right-hand ridge path gradually climbing upwards with a steep drop on the left to the valley below- not for you who suffer from vertigo, but the path is wide and not precipitous.

After 30 minutes or so, reach a bend. swing right and soon the structure of an old Italian army outpost – part of the fortifications that the Italians built after the treaty of Rapallo divided this part of Europe – which separated the lands between the Italy and the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes – later Yugoslavia.

Here doted around the hills are bunkers- some you can enter – and we pass one soon after leaving the fortifications up to your left.

Take the hill immediately above the fortification and follow the narrow trail headed for Mount Mozic with its dome shaped bunker in the near distance. There are several paths but keep high- also another large bunker- and reach the summit of Mozic at 1604 metres your highest point.

Wonderful 360 degrees views here – they range from Lake Bohinj to the splendour of Mount Triglav, the Lower Bohinj mountain range, and the distant Karavanke mountains.

Rest awhile here. Maybe visit the underground bunker, torches required here.

Then take the broad path to your left which heads down hill and back eventually to the fortification. Here a new roadway has been built – 2019- take this steeply descending bendy road, or look out for the old way down, steeper and rockier but shorter. You reach the grassy meadows – usually with many cows- and take a left to reach the car park and refreshment stop.

The walk takes about 3 hours – and is 8 kilometres – short but sweet, and a completely different feel to it than the more rugged Slovenia hikes.
Plenty of interpretation boards to give you the history of this area.

Height gained 300 metres, 9 kilometres – Allow 3.5 hours of walking and 40 minutes transport to and from Soriska Planina

Bohinjska Bistrica

The Bohinj Valley is also popular for walking, climbing, and mountain biking from spring to autumn. In summer the river and nearby lake are popular for swimming, sailing, kayaking, rafting, and fishing. A free parking area is available close to the Danica Campsite, and on weekends and holidays a free bus service runs every half hour to the lake. There is also a bicycle route that runs through the meadows from the park and ride to Lake Bohinj (approximately 35 minutes). The summer season closes in September with a "Cow Ball" (with decorated cows), which is held near the lake. For winter recreation, there are two ski centres close by, the Vogel Ski Resort and Soriška Planina Ski Resort, which are connected to Bohinjska Bistrica by a ski bus. The bus also connects to the Pokljuka Cross-Country Ski Area. The town is served by the Bohinjska Bistrica railway station, with direct trains several times a day to Jesenice and Nova Gorica. In winter months, the ski bus runs from the railway station to Vogel. A regular public bus service runs to the lake and to Bled and Ljubljana. The nearest airport is Ljubljana; there is no direct connection to the airport by public transport, but a shuttle bus service is available to the Bled bus station, or for an additional fee, to Bohinj. Bohinj can also be accessed by rail and bus from the Italian airports in Venice and Trieste. There is a railway station connecting with Jesenice and Nova Gorica.

Rapallo Border

The Treaty of Rapallo was a treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929), signed to solve the dispute over some territories in the former Austrian Littoral in the upper Adriatic, and in Dalmatia.
The treaty was signed on 12 November 1920[3] in Rapallo, near Genoa, Italy. Tension between Italy and Yugoslavia arose at the end of World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved and Italy claimed the territories assigned to it by the secret Treaty of London of 1915. According to the treaty signed in London on 26 April 1915 by the Kingdom of Italy and Triple Entente, in case of victory at the end of World War I, Italy was to obtain several territorial gains including former Austrian Littoral, northern Dalmatia and notably Zadar (Italian: Zara), Šibenik (Italian: Sebenico), and most of the Dalmatian islands (except Krk and Rab).
These territories had an ethnically mixed population, with Slovenes and Croats composing over the half of the population of the region. The treaty was therefore nullified with the Treaty of Versailles under pressure of President Woodrow Wilson, making void Italian claims on northern Dalmatia. The objective of the Treaty of Rapallo was to find a compromise following the void created by the non-application of the Treaty of London of 1915.