Vast panoramas and the gleaming Adriatic: a cycle ride in west Slovenia

This route, ending in the gorgeous port town of Piran, combines fabulous cuisine, a rich culture and rural beauty, but also a chequered history

We bump into Leon on a forested hillside overlooking the Slovenian town of Kobarid. It is the start of our bike ride and we are fiddling with saddle positions and checking tyre pressures when he shows up. “Leave the bikes there,” he says. “There’s something you should see.”

A footpath leads up through the pines into a maze of old fortifications: trenches, tunnels, gun emplacements and lookout points. “This was the first world war frontline between the Italians and Austro-Hungarians,” Leon says to me and Jan, my cycle guide. It turns out that Leon is part of an organisation that cares for the history of that war and has developed a long-distance footpath, the Walk of Peace, which links historical sites.