Ladine / Ladinach - Mačenski vrh / Matschacher Gupf (path 668)

Access to starting point:
We drive over Ljubelj on the Austrian side and through the village Podljubelj / Unterloibl and Podgora / Unterbergen we get to the first roundabout. We go straight, and at the second roundabout after 200 meters we turn left (third exit). We drive through the village Struga / Strau (stationary radar) 50 km/h and ahead through few hamlets to the settlement Bistrica v Rožu / Feistritz im Rosental. In the settlement, we cross a railway track and we start descending. On the right we bypass a gas station. When the path flattens follows a mild left turn. The settlement ends, and we will on a plain after approximately 300 meters notice a nicely settled crossroad (it has a separated lane for turning left), at which we turn left. A narrow road goes uphill and through the railway underpass. 100 meters later at the crossroad we turn right, and after approx 200 meters we go again left (at that crossroad on the right side there is a tree with signs of the mountain path). We drive 300 meters ahead on a narrow asphalt road. When it passes on the edge of the forest, it turns a little to the left, and we go right on a nice cart track and we look for a parking lot - on the cart track we can gain quite some altitude with a car. But higher it is harder to find appropriate space.

Path description:
As much as orientation tormented us to the starting point, so it is also on the path itself. If we park immediately, we spend about 10 minutes on the road to the first signs. The signpost promises us 3 hours of walking. For quite some time, we walk on a nice macadam path, which starts to rise more steeply and higher up crosses a torrent gully. A little more we kick along the road, and then the blazes direct us to the left, onto a wide footpath. This becomes more and more overgrown, but still relatively easy to follow. We cross a macadam. When we encounter it a second time, the blazes slightly vanish; on the road, we must go 20 strides to the left, whereupon we notice a nicely trodden marked footpath on the right. The footpath approaches a torrent, which we cross. We arrive in a nicer forest with less undergrowth. Here, the footpath is easy to follow for quite some time. From the left, we approach the next steep gully, while on the right, a smaller rocky edge keeps us company. As we move away from the gully, we encounter a bit more undergrowth again. Here, the blazes are poorly visible. There are two footpaths, but it doesn’t matter which we choose, as they soon merge. From here on, we need to be more careful when looking for the blazes. The undergrowth conceals the poorly trodden footpath, while trees obscure the view of the blazes. We zigzag through the forest right and left, cross some forgotten cart track, and search for the right footpath.
When we reach a saddle, the difficulties end. We head straight along the road to the left, even though the blazes invite us to a ridge slightly higher. From the right, beautiful views open up due to fallen trees. At the end of the road, a fairly steep ascent to the very peak begins. There are no navigational difficulties here. Good luck!.

On the way: Mrzla raven / Gipssattel (1453m)