The Lučka Bela Valley

A solitary and uninhabited glacial valley that reaches deep into the heart of the Savinja Alps and conceals numerous points of interest.

The valley is shaped on two elevation levels, which the Bela stream connects via a short and wild gorge called Lonci.

If from Luče we follow the Lučnica river, which flows in from the south, after about 7 kilometres we catch sight of the entrance to the Bela valley. A forest road runs through the valley. Right at the entrance to the valley are the Dovnik springs, which are extremely powerful during downpours or snowmelt.

The road follows the Bela stream and soon after the Dovnik springs, high up on the slope to the right, we see the mouth of the Globošek canyon and a little further on the mighty smooth wall of Sekalojca, in which the peregrine falcon nests.

Because for a long time this was the only known nesting site of the peregrine in Slovenia, and because the remaining preserved beech forests also hold habitats of owls and woodpeckers, the Lučka Bela valley is a protected ornithological reserve.

Until 1960 the valley was overgrown with primeval forest, in which previously only individual conifers had been felled. Now only a little of the original forest remains. It is worth making a little effort and stepping up to the mighty trees that reign over the crowns of the younger forest.

Roughly in the middle of the valley there was a partisan hospital, but now only the levelled terrain in the slope is still visible. Towards the end of the lower level we reach the Blessed Spring (Žegnani studenec) and Lonci. The road then climbs to the higher level in a few hairpin bends. Soon after, close below the road, we notice a group of mighty trees. A bend follows, where the road turns back along the slope, while a path runs along the stream. The valley becomes ever narrower, and the path leads us through the last still-preserved part of the original forest. At Šibje the mountain path begins to climb towards Lake Vodotočno.

Source: https://visitluce.si/obisci/dolina-lucke-bele/?portfolioCats=41%2C46