Brzika - Boč (senčna pot)

Access to starting point:
A) We drive to Rogaška Slatina, then continue driving towards Rogatec. In Rogatec, at the roundabout, we turn left in the direction of Ptuj, then drive on the main road to the Brzika pass, where we notice red hiking signposts, next to which we park in an appropriate place.
B) We drive to Majšperk, then follow the signs for Stoperce on Rogatec. After Stoperce, the road starts to ascend more steeply, and we follow it to the Brzika pass, where we notice red hiking signposts, next to which we park in an appropriate place.

Path description:
From the starting point, we continue a few dozen steps along the asphalt road towards Stoperce, then turn left onto a side road with signs for Ložno. This is followed by some ascent through the forest, then the road flattens and leads us through the yard of a homestead. Behind the homestead, we descend along a marked cart track, which lower down enters the forest; at the forest entrance, we leave it and continue slightly left on a footpath, along which we ascend again. A short descent follows, where we cross the high-pressure gas pipeline route, then we ascend more steeply for a few minutes. Higher up, on the left side, we bypass the unnamed 499-meter-high peak on maps, followed by some moderate descent, then ascent to the next unnamed peak. From there too, some descent follows, and lower down we reach a cart track along which we continue to the tourist farm Ložno, where we continue right towards Boč (left to the Church of Our Lady of Loreto at Ložno, 5 minutes).
Some minutes of moderate ascent follow, then the path enters the forest, where along a cart track it crosses the slopes to the left. A little further on, we approach some houses, and along the fence we reach a road, along which we descend in a few minutes to the asphalt road, which we follow to the right. Some walking along the asphalt road follows, where we pass under the high-voltage power line route, then a path from Okrepčevalnica Zelena dolina joins us from the right.
An ascent along the asphalt road follows, from which a nice view of the surrounding hills occasionally opens up, higher up the road flattens and takes us past a chapel to the hamlet of Ravnocerje.
Here we go behind the homestead on the right, right onto the marked cart track along which we ascend to a marked junction, where we join the path from Cerovec pod Bočem.
The path ahead ascends transversely along the cart track and quickly brings us to the ridge west of Ravnocerje. Here the path turns slightly left (sharply right to Ravnocerje peak, 3 minutes) and leads us past water that we see below the path. For a short time we continue along the forested ridge, then the path turns right and transitions to the slope, where at several junctions we follow the blazes. Higher up, we go left from the cart track onto a marked footpath (the cart track a little further joins a forest road), along which we notice a sign reading forest reserve Boč. The path ahead, on the left, sunny side, bypasses the highest point of Plešivec, which is on an indistinct peak, then we gradually begin to descend. Lower down we reach a marked junction, where we join the path from Cerovec pod Bočem, and we continue to the nearby road.
When we reach the road we go left, and left also at the nearby intersection (right Makole). Some descent along the macadam road follows, and when we leave the forest we arrive past a waymarker at an intersection, from which we go straight ahead (left leads the road into the valley towards Rogaška Slatina) and bypass homestead Gavez on the left side, and on the right the nearby Rogaška Slatina hunting lodge.
Behind the lodge we descend to another road and follow it to the right. When the road begins to ascend, a marked path branches off to the right leading towards Formila and Makole, but we continue along the asphalt road that begins to ascend. After a short ascent the road forks, and we continue along the slightly left road that begins to descend (slightly right road leads to a private house). A descent along the macadam road follows, which somewhat lower brings us to an intersection, where we go right downhill towards Boč. We continue descending further, at the next intersection where we join the path from Makole we go left. Just a little further we go right. From the last intersection we walk along the road only briefly, then go left onto a marked path that ascends along a cart track to the place where the forestry hut once stood, and now a new hut is being built (status May 2022).
Here we step back onto the road, which we follow to the left (across the road an unmarked path leads to Boč, or we can join the road leading towards Boč). Further on we walk along the road that crosses the slopes of Boč to the left, along which we first still ascend gently, later descending slightly along it.
A few dozen steps before reaching the asphalt road, we go right from the road onto the marked "shady" path leading towards Boč (if we continue along the road or the parallel hiking path, we reach Dom na Boču in 5 minutes).
The path ahead leads us along the cart track, or parallel to it in some sections, higher up we leave the cart track and continue the ascent along an increasingly steep hiking path. For some time we ascend along the well-trodden marked path, higher up the marked path turns right and gives way to the trail along which most hikers ascend, and we ascend transversely to the right, where after a few minutes we reach the southeastern ridge of Boč, where a poorer unmarked trail joins us from the right that leads along the mentioned ridge (the start of the mentioned path is at the previously mentioned forestry hut).
Here the marked path turns left, and we continue along the forested ridge. A little further, the previously mentioned better-trodden path also joins us from the left, and we continue straight and quickly reach the observation tower on Boč.
Description and pictures refer to the status in May 2022, January 2023, and March 2024.