KOLESARSKA JAKOBOVA POT - SLOVENIJA
JACOB'S PATH CYCLING ASSOCIATION SLOVENIA - CAMINO
Society of Friends of St. Jakob in Slovenia was founded in 2000 by Marjeta and Metodij Rigler from Ljubljana, the pilgrims from Kompostel and their friends. They traveled along the most visited Camino Frances route in northern Spain, first by car, then by bicycle, and in 1999, as newly retired people, they also walked it. At the pilgrimage office in Santiago de Compostela, they found out that they were registered as the first Slovenians to walk this European cultural route in recent times. They recorded their impressions of the pilgrimage in the book Blessed are you, poor poor man. It became a guide and an incentive for Slovenian pilgrims to make a pilgrimage to the grave of St. James to Spain.
In 2004, Helena and Franc Štefanič cycled along Camino Frances and established a cycling section within the association. For many years, the diligent members of the association patiently and persistently, but resolutely and with love for their homeland, searched for "trails that used to be" and traced the modern Slovenian Camino. The Štefanič couple mapped out and marked the central Šentjakob and Višar cycling routes as close as possible to the footpath. Brane Bitenc laid out the Prekmursko-Styria walking and cycling route, and then marked the cycling route together with the Štefanič couple.
Due to the growing interest in cycling pilgrimages, in the year of St. James 2021, the cycling section of the Association of Friends of the Way of St. Jakob in Slovenia founded the Independent Cycling Association Jakobova pot Slovenija - Camino with the aim of better marking, maintenance and promotion of Jakob's cycling route.
Following the example of other nations and countries in Europe, the Jacob's Cycling Society aims to revive the tradition of medieval pilgrimages and journeys along the paths of our ancestors to Compostela. In the 21st century, the members of the association are boldly consolidating the paths that our ancestors trodden out of the need for God's help a thousand years ago and are thus actively participating in the reunification of the old continent. With the Slovenian cycle path of Jacob, the association added a stone to the mosaic of modern European Jacob's paths.
By patiently and persistently cycling along the paths of Jacob, we connect Slovenians at home and outside our borders and all those who live in our homeland and think well in their hearts. Many years of research and trail marking are already bearing the fruits of friendship between pilgrims and travelers and locals.