Stage K-B 3

Ukanc–Bohinjska Bistrica

Easy

The section of the Walk of Peace in Bohinj goes along the so-called Military Supply Base for the Krn Battlefield theme trail. This stage connects the points of interest that represent an important part in the story of Bohinj as the rear area of the Isonzo Front.
From Ukanc, follow the local tarmac road through a dispersed village of holiday homes all the way to the crossroad at the campsite below the lower station of the Vogel cable car. From here you head right, down the main road towards Savica to the World War I military cemetery Ukanc. In the cemetery, which is surrounded by woods, there are 282 graves marked with wooden crosses. There are some graves of unknown soldiers, war prisoners and one civilian victim. In some graves two soldiers are buried. In the middle of the cemetery stands a wooden chapel and a stone monument. From here, the Walk of Peace continues on a walking path along the south shore of Bohinj Lake. The path roughly follows the route of a former narrow-gauge railway that was used to supply the soldiers on the front. The narrow-gauge railway was essential to satisfy the needs of the Isonzo Front. It ran from Bohinjska Bistrica to Ukanc. At first the cargo was drawn by horses but, as the military needs increased, the railway track had to be electrified. For this purpose, a power plant was built on the Savica river and the track was electrified in 1917. From Ukanc to the front, a network of cable ways and roads which supplied the soldiers with equipment at all times, was built mostly by Russian war captives. In Ribčev Laz, in the immediate vicinity of Bohinj Lake, you walk through the park, past the model of Mt. Triglav, and through the most touristy part of the village. Continue your journey on the Walk of Peace trail that merges with the 7^th stage of the Juliana Trail. The trail takes you through the village of Ribčev Laz and then through a forest, past holiday homes above the village of Polje, over the grassy outskirts of the village of Dobrava, all the way to Bohinjska Bistrica. Bohinjska Bistrica is in a way the centre of World War I heritage in Bohinj.
In the Tomaž Godec Museum you can visit the permanent exhibition Bohinj and its people 1914–1918 that gives you an insight into the events that happened in these places during World War I. The exhibition features 500 original museum objects from the Isonzo Front, with the emphasis on the Bohinj supply base on the furthermost edge of the front and the way of life in Bohinj during the war, which was completely influenced by the front and the war. Moreover, there are a number of buildings that were used as military headquarters, field hospitals and humble residential buildings, known until this day as barracks.
Just above Bohinjska Bistrica lies the military cemetery Rebro with 285 marked graves. Judging by their surnames, most of the buried soldiers were of Hungarian, Polish and Ukrainian Nationality. A stone monument stands in the cemetery. From Rebro, descend down a marked trail, past the barracks to the railway station, where the stage K-B 3 of the Walk of Peace concludes. It was the Bohinj Railway, built only a decade before the start of World War I, which played a key role in supplying the front lines. Enormous quantities of supplies, weapons and equipment were transported to Bohinj. Soldiers, wounded and prisoners of war were coming to the valley from both sides. Bohinj became an enormous logistics centre with warehouses, hospitals, barracks and cemeteries, mostly due to the railway.

Text: Martin Šolar, Kobariški muzej
Photos: (1, 4) Mitja Sodja, Turizem Bohinj; (2, 3) Mojca Odar, Turizem Bohinj; (5) Fundacija Poti miru; (6) Simon Kovačič, Fundacija Poti miru