Ciceria: Veli Badin, ciglione di Buzet e Veliki Gradez

Enduro route on the rugged karst between Slovenia and Croatia through the heights of Ciceria.

Starting in Kubed, we ride 2 km of asphalt in a southerly direction to Gracisce where we take a left onto a cart track that begins to climb gradually over karst terrain first and then grassy. Arriving near the small church Sveti Kvirik, a splendid descent on karst single track begins, leading us to the entrance of the path of the famous "Istrian ears" (Veli Badin). We avoid the visit this time by descending to the state road to pick up after a hundred meters the dirt ascent that comes off to the left and goes up to Crnica. Entering among the houses at a certain point, a path branches off uphill that you take partly by pushing and partly by pedaling until you cross the railway through an underpass. You thus arrive on the ledge that juts out toward Buzet on the Kuk plateau.

A magnificent traverse over karst terrain awaits us, ideal terrain for an enduro bike floating over sharp rocks protruding from the ground; cross a paved road and continue slightly uphill on this trail with a stunning viewpoint over Buzet to the right. Crossing the tabbed trail 518 we return left through a verdant, dense fairy forest until we come out on a cart track that we take to the right and then abandon with the trail to the left that goes back to Slum. Having visited the beautiful little Romanesque church, we descend from Slum again by taking the cart track that takes us to the Croatian-Slovenian border. The border recently limited by a new high fence forces us out onto the road. Back in Slovenia we head toward Rakitovec then crossing the Veliki Gradez plateau. More ups and downs with the last climb to Lacna before the descent on single track to Kubed (difficulty S1).