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Janče - by bike along the Borovnica path from Podgrad

alyas21. 04. 2020 17:18:55

Janče – by bike along Sadna Road or on the Borovnica path

In the general lack of good recreation ideas – one suggestion for a cycling ascent to a very well-known Ljubljana hill, but along a less known path, which is quite well marked especially for hikers - with numerous purple signs and markers for Sadna Road or Borovnica path Podgrad – Janče.

The path starts in the Podgrad settlement near Lj-Zalog, at the beginning of the Besnica valley, about 250m from the railway underpass, when opposite the Coston company with concrete products, you head left uphill on the well-marked asphalt road towards the tourist farm Pri Lazarju, soon above the road a huge power line catches the eye, which is the only thing disturbing the views and the nice local nature.

If you're not from Ljubljana or the area, and need to bring the bike here by car, you can park comfortably on the large parking lot in front of the gostilna Pri Peclju, or a bit further behind the former Arbo factory, where the Ostrovrharjeva hiking path also starts.

Short description of the path or cycling ascent difficulty:

To the tourist farm Pri Lazarju is a medium difficult asphalt climb (cca 1.1 km), from there - right before the house, turn sharply right and past wooden tables and benches (during operation there are quite a lot of people here) continue on the forest road, which initially runs fairly flat under the forest ridge, then gradually narrows a bit into a still comfortable forest path, which occasionally on this section even drops a bit. After cca 3 km of riding, you reach two or three spots where it gets quite "steep upright", so without wide and good tires it won't go up, of course without suitable leg power neither. But those few tens of meters can be done on foot if needed, or with battery help if you have such a bike. For "pros" these climbs are definitely a nice and interesting challenge.

When overcoming these climbs in the first quarter of the path, the second part follows very comfortably, until you reach the first houses (house numbers have the name Vnajnarje) and when you descend from them down the road, watch out not further on the village road across meadows, but at the religious sign, (signs and purple markers are there too!), LEFT and down into the forest and along the forest path to another ridge leading towards upper Vnajnarje and Janče. On this initially flat forest path, where we cross some wet spots, the path wraps under another hill, then our direction branches right (marked), again into a quite steep climb that brings us from the forest to a small meadow and cultivated fields and right uphill to the homestead, where we have to ride through their yard between house and barn, but no worry they don't have vicious dogs (friendly black dog has gotten used to visitors). From there on continue moderately uphill on the village road past a few individual weekend houses or houses, until from the forest we arrive at a wider flat and to the asphalt road. Behind us is a little less than 7 km from the start.

From here on - for those tired of forest and field challenges, continuation ahead is possible also on the more main asphalt road (right and ahead, at first houses then left to Gabrje), but our purple Borovnica path goes left uphill under the edge of the orchard and through forest to a larger farm on the edge of the scenic ridge, where we then first descend a bit, then on the opposite hill we already spot the village Gabrje (known for the normal route from Besnica to Janče). Here we first gently descend across field path over meadows to the main road, then follows the last quarter to Gabrje moderately uphill on nice new road and then another 2.5 km ahead on the main asphalt road, also not too hard, to the top of Janče.

In total we do cca 12 km of varied riding on all terrains, altimeter at end showed 826 m, time is of course relative, depending on how curious you are exploring nature, mainly on what you're riding and with what power and frequency you're pedaling it.

Return to start on same path back can be problematic in the lower - initial part, due to steepness and high descent speed and pedestrians on path (especially weekends or holidays), so choose numerous other options leading to Besnica valley - although south side is almost all asphalt now, most gravel options for forest descents from Janče are north side, towards Laze or Jevnica, but those are new topics for new descriptions.