Hey I’m shopping with my bike

The Gorenjska Regional Development Agency – BSC Kranj is a partner in the ReMOBIL project. In cooperation with five development agencies in Slovenia, we are testing regional mobility management, one of the important tasks of which is to encourage people to be active. With this aim in mind, RRA Gorenjska – BSC Kranj, in cooperation with the REKREATUR association, has organised the HEY I’M SHOPPING WITH MY BIKE campaign.

The aim of the campaign, which is part of this year’s European Mobility Week, is to spread awareness of the importance of local food production and the shortest possible delivery routes. To put this into practice, we organised three events where participants cycled to three farms in the Gorenjska region specialising in organic, integrated and nature-friendly production.
The meetings with the selected farmer-providers introduced the participants in a relaxed and useful way to the essence of cycling, which is to leave the car at home as much as possible and go shopping by bicycle. The benefits are many, but the biggest ones are that we do something good for our health, we consume less as we cannot cycle ‘shopping trolleys full’, we support local food producers and of course we shorten delivery routes.

Strupi Beekeeping, Spodnji Brnik
On 4 October 2023, at exactly 10:00 am, 10 participants of the first “bicycle shopping trip” gathered at the Main Square in Kranj. They came from the Naklo Pensioners’ Association (7) and the REKREATUR Association (3).

The event coordinator, Andrej Zalokar from REKREATUR, after greeting the project partner RRA Gorenjska – BSC Kranj, presented the aims and objectives of cycling, which are described in more detail in the introduction of this report.
The first stop was at the KRsKOLESOM bike rental station – KOVAČNICA, where Andrej explained how to rent a bike, return it and, above all, what is the essence of the bike rental system in the first place. “Are any of you users of the rental system?” the answer was predictably negative – none of those present. And he got the same answer from the participants of the other two trips.
The route took the cyclists along the G7 route of the Gorenjska cycling network (Kranj – Cerklje na Gorenjskem – Kamnik) through Šenčur and across Brniško gmajna to Spodnje Brnik, where they were met by beekeeper Franci and his wife Ančka. Franci has been a beekeeper ‘all his life’ and says he is always learning something new about bees. After the welcome speech, the participants immediately started asking him questions about beekeeping, as two of them were amateur beekeepers. The others also listened with interest to the understandable and sometimes humorous explanation about beekeeping and about our ancestors, as they visited the beekeeping museum.

This was followed by a tasting of the dishes prepared by Ančka’s wife, following the recipe of good housewives – you mix the ingredients by feel. As befits a “bicycle shopping trip”, quite a few participants bought honey. Of course, Franci explained to them the goodness of lime, chestnut and forest honey.
The cyclists returned to their starting point along the route of a fairly new cycle link from Brnik to Šenčur and back to Kranj via the famous motorway cycle overpass.

 

Farm Matijovc, Podbrezje
On 6 October 2023, 10 participants of the second “bicycle shopping trip” gathered at the Main Square in Kranj again, at 10:00 am sharp. This time, a bit more spread out in numbers, the participants came from DU Naklo (5) and the REKREATUR association (5). After the usual introductory words, they set off straight away. First, along the G6 route of the Gorenjska cycling network (Kranj – Naklo – Ljubelj) to Spodnje Duplje.
Here was the first stop at the GORENJSKA.BIKE – SP.DUPLJE bike rental station where Andrej explained how to rent a bike, return it and, above all, what the bike rental system is all about. He explained that 8 Gorenjska municipalities participate in the “Gorenjska.bike” bike rental system, which means that when you are a user of the system, you can rent a bike at any other station within those municipalities.

Immediately afterwards, the cyclists were led towards Trnovec and Podbrezje to the Matijovc farm, which is known for its integrated farming and fruit and vegetable production. In 2018, they also entered the “Selected Quality of Slovenia” scheme with their fruit and fruit processing. We were welcomed there by the owner, Jana, who gave us an interesting and detailed explanation of what the farm does and what it produces.
As there were quite a few amateur producers of sauerkraut, apple cider vinegar and apple drying among the participants of the bike ride, they were all given practical and useful advice. Of course, they were served the delicacies they produce – various types of dried fruit and fruit juices. This was followed by a tour of the apartments, as agritourism is also one of the activities and production parts of the farm, from the fruit drying room, the fruit press and the cabbage grating.

As it is the apple season, or rather the traditional winter harvest, the farm was busy all the time, but all the customers came by car, which means that there is still a long way to go before sustainability and a change in shopping habits. The fact is, it’s hard to transport a crate of apples on a bicycle. Nevertheless, the cyclists did not leave empty-handed, as the contents of their breakfast box were too tempting, so they bought it immediately, piecemeal of course.
They continued their journey along the national cycle route D2, which runs from Rateče to Krško, this time returning to Kranj via Naklo.

 

Organic farm Pr’Črnet, Vrje pri Medvodah
The third and last of the “bicycle shopping trips” was organised on 10 October 2023. 34 participants from DU Kranj (23), DU Naklo (3) and the REKREATUR association (8) gathered on the Main Square in Kranj at 10:00 am.

Such a large group required some safety measures, which the organisers, skilled in their work, immediately implemented, even though the vast majority of the routes were on cycle paths, tracks and practically untraveled local roads. Divided into 4 groups, the cyclists set off, keeping an appropriate safety distance between them. This was also a practical way for the organisers to introduce the participants to safe group cycling.
The route led through Sorško polje along the national R7 cycle route to Trata near Škofja Loka. Here, due to road construction works, the organisers took advantage of the hidden but unknown routes through the village of Gosteče. Soon they were in Medvode and cycled across the new cycling bridge over the Sava River to “Černet’s heater”.

They were met by the farm manager Štefan Čebašek, who has been producing organic crops and meat products for so long that there was not a question about safe and healthy food that was not answered in a way that the participants could understand. We learnt a lot about consumer confusion with the legally allowed “processed in Slovenia” label, the problems organic local producers have when they want to sell their products through public tenders to schools and kindergartens.

Finally, Stefan stressed the essential point – our consciousness as consumers has to break with the cheap buying of “nevemoodkjeso” foodstuffs. We will all benefit – the chain of locally produced food will be maintained and we will do a lot for our health. Of course, they also learnt a lot more about livestock farming and finally visited the premises where the mills, dryers and other equipment for the most organic processing are located.
Inside the premises there is also a shop with produce from the Pr’Črnet farm and some other nearby organic producers, which we used for some bike-friendly shopping (salami, corn meal…). To finish, Štefan and his family served organic hotdogs, bread, tea and fruit juice and the cyclists ate it all with pleasure. From Vrje, they cycled to Tacen and along the national cycle route D2, which goes from Rateče to Krško, they turned towards Valburga and returned to Kranj.