Tadej aka TDV invited Nada and me to celebrate his birthday. Since he owns a weekend house in Snežnik plateau, our destination was obvious. We started the afternoon with cycling trip from Snežnik castle to Lake Cerknica. When we returned, we had a snack in front of the castle and then we moved to the final destination.
Gathering point was Snežnik Castle, a 13th-century castle located in the southwest part of the Lož Valley.
The Snežnik Castle is a unique museum depicting residential culture of the 19th century and is one of the few castles in Slovenia that can boast of original furnishings. The castle is managed by the National Museum of Slovenia.
Cyclists are getting ready.
The origins of the Snežnik Castle reach back to the times of the Aquileian patriarchs who were its first known owners between the 10th and 11th centuries. It was built on a rock ledge alongside the foothills of the Snežnik forests with the intention of protecting important commerce paths which once connected Kranj with Istria and Kvarner.
We all managed through the first curve without accidents.
Dead end.
Recalculating. Well rerouting.
Nice road through the grassy area.
New guide Miha took us to more exciting surface.
Lake Cerknica is an intermittent lake, present for the most part of the year.
The surface level varies from 546 m to 551 m above sea level.
The lake, which under ordinary conditions has an area of about 26 km2 and a mean depth of 6.1 m, communicates through a number of openings with a series of subterranean reservoirs or caverns, some of which are above the lake level in the surrounding hills. In the summer, when the rainfall is slight, the lake is completely drained into the reservoirs lying below its level, and its bed is speedily covered with rich vegetation.
With the returning heavy rains in autumn, the surrounding higher reservoirs are filled and discharge suddenly through the subterranean passages into the lake, so that the latter very rapidly regains its ordinary volume and may even inundate the surrounding country. The changes in level are, however, very irregular. Sometimes the lake does not disappear for several years, and it can remain dry for over a year, as it did in 1834-35.
Our transport vehicles.
The lake is rich in fish, which disappear and return with the water.
Checking for some detours on the way back.
Zero milestone with hectometric marks is located at the entrance of the castle estate and was set in 1910.
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