Cycling

From Pecelj past Lazar to Pri Tomažetu along the Blueberry Hiking Trail
As you are cycling along the fruit route, you'll start your journey accordingly - at the cherry stem. Pri Peclju (At Stem's) is an inn before Podgrad on the main road Zalog-Podgrad . Its two hundred years old history is connected with fruit sale and cherry stems which the then owner threw among cherries intended for sale after he had used the sweet fruit at the inn. The children noticed that and named him Pecelj (Stem). You can park your car by the road and change it for your bike. Cycle the route clockwise. Thus turn right through an underpass under the railroad and to Podgrad, but not too fast as the underpass is narrow and has a low visibility.
You're probably still wondering why today's route is called fruit cycle tour. The answer offers itself after some tens of metres behind the underpass before Podgrad where an information board reads: 'Welcome to the land of strawberries.' The boards mark the starting points for fruit road between Javor and Janče and Borovničeva pohodna pot (Blueberry Hiking Trail) . When you reach the settlement, turn left at the information board behind Lazar Tourist Farm and up the hill . You'll leave the asphalt road and the tourist farm behind and will continue along the steep macadam road. The ground is sandy at some sections, so be careful not to slip. You'll arrive to Lazar's courtyard where you can take a rest from the first ascent and take a look at the Ljubljana Basin and all the tops including Golovec, Triglav and Ojstrica from the viewing point.
Continue from Lazar's courtyard to the right, past the bench and direction board to Blueberry Hiking Trail into the forest . Follow the signposts for the next three kilometres , and cycle along the forest path , and the ridges between Lazarjev vrh, Grmadnik and Španov vrh where you will descend towards Pri Tomažetu, a homestead before Vnajnarje. The path along the ridges is undulating, but passable. Some shorter sections are quite steep and sandy, so you might need to step off your bike. Nevertheless, you can make use of your walking and observe undergrowth or pick blueberries, while in the autumn, you can pick chestnuts. The benches along the route can be useful if you need to take a break.

To the land of fruit...
From Pri Tomažetu slowly descend along the field path past the homesteads to the main asphalt road between Besnica and Janče. Then turn left at the crossroads and continue up the hill towards Janče . The road through the forest ascends at the turns and is quite narrow, so be careful! When you come out of the forest, a view of the first solitary homesteads in Vnajnarje opens up. The road between the homesteads winds in short flat descents and ascents. Cycle in the direction of Janče all the way to the village of Gabrje pri Jančah and be mindful in Vnajnarje where you have to keep the right side of the main road . You'll come across these names: Marolt, Kostevc, Brdar, Črnivec, Balant. These are the names of the farms included in the offer of the fruit road between Javor and Janče. Most of the farms offer home-grown fruit and some of them must and spirits. Between Brdar and Balant past Črnivec is a kilometre long section of a wide macadam road where it is forbidden to drive between 6 and 7 a.m. and 1 and 2 p.m. on weekdays. In Gabrje, you'll reach the main road between Zgornja Besnica and Janče. At the crossroads, do not turn left and up the hill towards Janče, but right downhill to the village . You can visit Janče on Sundays as Strawberry Sundays are held there in summer and Chestnut Sundays in autumn, both fun and full of delicacies.
Turn sharply left and steeply downhill in Gabrje and descend, after a kilometre and a half long section of narrow and undulating asphalt road above the valley below Gabrje, to the next crossroads, where you turn right to Volavlje . Stop safely three hundred metres further, at the left side of the road under old fruit trees and take a look around. On the left, you'll see a church on the top of Janče and a picturesque hilly landscape and a valley of the Mala Reka Stream with a view of Velika Štanga on the right below the church. Fruit trees grow around the village and settlements - old fruit tree-lined alleys at the entrance of the village are very typical of this area.
Cycle along the ridge for a short time and then steeply descend to Volavlje. At the turn before a dense section of the village, a view of the village on the slope of the hill with cultivated surfaces, hayracks and orchards will open up just after a hayrack. You'll also see the Church of St. Margaret at Prežganje , , in the background. There are also some homesteads in the village.
Steeply descend from Volavlje along the asphalt road and stay on the right side to get to Prežganje. Just before the ascent you'll see a signpost for a waterfall on the left in front of the garden greenhouses. The waterfall emerged from a tufa wall which is with its 17 meters one of the tallest walls in Slovenia . You'll reach the waterfall and the wall along a narrow forest path which winds steeply downhill for about a kilometre. You'll have to walk on sleeper stairs for the last 30 metres.

...and to the land of strawberries.
Cycle through Prežganje just below the observation spot with the Baroque Church of St. Margaret and descend in five sharp turns to the crossroads before Malo Trebeljevo. Turn right there and, after a kilometre of mix macadam and asphalt road which runs across the fields on the eastern side of the settlement and past the old part of the village join the main regional road between Besnica and Litija at the crossroads with a chapel. Turn right at the crossroads to Besnica and for the next 300 metres cycle along quite a busy road. In a sharp right turn cross the regional road and continue to the village of Veliko Trebeljevo . Look carefully in both directions to see fast cars in time.
The area of Trebeljevo is known for its garden strawberry plantations and it thus gained the name Strawberry Land. The farms here offer home-grown fruits, home-made pastry, jams, meat and other products.
Veliko Trebeljevo is an old clustered village with the Church of St. Cross. The view of the village and church is the best from the south where you're also headed. When you reach the new part of the village, turn right from the main road past the houses and up the hill to the macadam road . After 600 m at the crossroads with the signpost for Polica, turn right uphill to the asphalt road to the village of Mali Vrh (not towards Polica) . In the centre of the village, at Kamnikar Homestead, the road in the right turn descends and you can stop and take a rest on a bench at the village water hole − an old village pool that the villagers revived and arranged. From here on are only 300 m of the asphalt road left which you'll leave behind for a while. The macadam road is replaced by the field path which at first slowly and then more and more steeply ascends to the last village houses. A few metres after the information board about Mali Vrh forest and natural science educational path, a marvellous view of the land of fruit, strawberries and steep pastures opens up on the right , .

From Mali Vrh along the Chestnut Hiking Trail
At the last houses in Mali Vrh descend down the forest path to the forest , , and bypass the clearing past another house, then finally ascent to the ridge. The path to Javor is nicely undulating , and almost completely runs along the ridge. It is well-trodden and passable, only here and there rocks appear, so your bike has to have good tyres and hard felloes. The path can have muddy puddles after the rain , but they are easy to bypass. The markings for Kostanjeva pohodna pot (Chestnut Hiking Trail) - direction Sostro, help you orientate, thus follow them all the way to Zagradišče. The path is popular among hikers and chestnut pickers, so consider others too. You can also meet motorcyclists on the way. After four kilometres, the forest path joins the macadam road between Ravno Brdo and Javor, while you continue left downhill to Javor where the landscape opens up as you leave the forest and can already see first houses in Javor on the left .
Just before Javor when the macadam ends and you end up on the asphalt road again, do not turn to the village, but ascend right towards the ridge and bypass the village . Turn back left before the settlement of Zavrharji and below you'll see the Church of St. Anne in Javor which dominates at the prominence . From here on, the path will still be undulating with short gentle or steeper ascents and descents and will wind past numerous hamlets and solitary hills, while you'll slowly and constantly descent towards Sostro. You can stop by at the Centre of the Amateur Radio Operators at Žagarjev vrh and take a lunch break. The road will descend through the forest and in steep turns around Babna gora Hill towards Pečar, while you'll turn left before Pečar to the forest path towards Zagradišče .

Past Zagradišče to Sostro
At the crossroads, stick to your right or rather a better road. When you pass the holiday houses, you're already near Zagradišče which extends along the ridge. A view of the Ljubljana Basin opens up on the right, and on the left, the valley of the Kižlovka Stream which is known for the fossil and mineral deposit. It isn't far from Zagradišče to Češnjica which is the next settlement along this route. The forest or macadam road becomes quite poor narrow asphalt one at the end of Zagradišče. After the descent past Češnjica, continue through the valley to Sadinja vas where you'll turn right towards Sostro at the crossroads with the main road. Pri Kovaču Inn is located at the beginning of the settlement and you can stop there to rest and eat or continue to the Church of St. Leonard where you turn right , cycle along Sostrska Road through the settlement of one-family houses, cross the priority Litijska Road and continue to Zavoglje . Zavoglje is a lovely village with a typical village atmosphere; as you cycle past the chapel, stick to the left and quickly catch a sight of the Church of St. Ulrich, then turn right at the crossroads and proceed to the Ljubljanica River.

...and along the Ljubljanica and Sava rivers back to Pri Peclju
Cycle along the Ljubljanica River only for few tens of metres and as the view opens up, turn right to the field path across the fields and to the macadam road. Across the flood plain, where grey herons often wander about, you're approaching Kašelj Hill. How pleasant and relaxing it is to cycle along this plain after all the difficult ascents. You can also check out why there are so many cars parked right by the side of the road a kilometre ahead. Right next to the road, there's a large pond called the Kašelj Pond . The ducks enjoy its two islands where they can safely nest, while the fishermen naturally enjoy fishing. Not far away (600 m) you come close to the ex-Ljubljanica River, because you cycle past the oxbow meander with an island in the middle which you can reach by the footbridge.
From the island on, the path first continues through the forest. At the end of the forest, there is the Fishermen's Hut (Ribiški dom) on the right and the road goes back to being asphalt. Cycle to the underpass below Ljubljana-Zidani Most railway line a little further on and in a short and steep ascent - the last part of the route - carefully continue to the crossroads with the main road Zalog-Podgrad (Cesta v Kresnice Road). Turn right to Podgrad there. The road runs along the right bank of the Ljubljanica River and is busy with bicyclists, so the motorists are mostly patient.
Only a kilometre and a half until the end of the route. You're probably full of impressions from the cycle tour, while you're anxiously anticipating apple and blueberry strudels at Pri Peclju Inn.