Weather forecast wasn't promising, still Nada and me decided to take our chances. We drove to Livek, where we saddled our mountain bikes. Nice gravel road led us towards Mrzli vrh and afterwards we crossed the border and entered Italy. The road became narrower and from time to time we needed to push our bikes and soon we arrived to Dom na Matajure mountain hut, unfortunately closed. Not far above us was our peak, Matajur, 1642 m. Due to windy and a bit rainy weather, the view from the top wasn't perfect, so we just took some photos and after a short break we started descending on the Matadown Trail, a long 12 km natural trail from the edge of Mount Matajur to the valley bottom, with 1450 meters of descent. The trail itself was quite demanding and without people. In the last section we took the shortcut to the village Klenje / Clenia, from where we ascended back to rainy Livek. We drove back to the campsite, where our friends Ana, Baki and Mrki were already waiting for us with some anti-cough liquids.
First part of riding still consisted of some asphalt road.
Freshly cut.
Quick stop along the road.
End of the asphalt road.
The road towards Mt. Matajur and the defensive trenches above and beneath the road were constructed by the Italian army during World War I (1916 - 1917).
During the 12th Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto, Jevšček was the location of the breakthrough to Mount Matajur. Mount Matajur was designated a key geographical goal of the German Alpine corps striking from Tolmin under the leadership of Hermann Freiherr von Stein. On the night of October 25, 1917, Erwin Rommel encamped at Jevšček and studied his map for his advance on Mount Matajur. For his accomplishments during the battle and the conquest of Mount Matajur, Rommel later received the Prussian award Pour le Mérite.
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