About Us
A small outfit that believes the best way to know a country is to pass through the landscape by bicycle.
It started with one wrong turn
Highlander Gravel Adventures designs custom bicycle tours in Slovenia and Croatia. We believe the best way to know a country is to pass through the landscape by bicycle while enjoying the scenery, the cuisine and the people.
What began as a handful of friends chasing forest roads across the Julian Alps turned into something we couldn’t stop doing. Every wrong turn found a village, a ridge, or a farmhouse table that we’d never have reached in a car — and it became obvious that these routes deserved to be shared properly, with people who’d appreciate them.
So we built the trips we wanted to be invited on. Small groups, real terrain, guides who belong to the place, and evenings that matter as much as the riding.
We look forward to working with you.
Where it starts
Painted by Charles’s grandfather, Alan Tompkins
Charles
Somewhere with a view and a long way still to ride.
Felix
Charles’s son, and the next one up.
Three things we won't compromise on
Local knowledge, always
We don’t import guides. Every person leading a trip grew up in the region, speaks the language, and has a relationship with the people whose doors we knock on.
The riding comes first
Routes are chosen for how they ride, not how they photograph. If a day doesn’t earn its place, it doesn’t make the itinerary.
Small, and staying small
Twelve riders is the ceiling. It’s the number that keeps a trip feeling like a group of friends rather than a logistics exercise.
The riding is half of it
Enjoying the scenery, the cuisine and the people is not a footnote on these trips — it’s the reason the routes go where they go. We route through the villages worth stopping in and eat where the guides eat.
Expect long dinners, local wine, and food that came from somewhere within sight of the table.