Osilnica - Cerk

Access to starting point:
A) First, we drive to Ribnica, and then we continue driving towards Kočevje. After Dolenja vas we continue right in the direction of Grčarice, Gotenica and Kočevska Reka. In Kočevska Reka we continue right in the direction of Borovca pri Kočevski Reki, mountain pass Strma Reber and Osilnice. In Borovec we once again continue right, and then past hamlet Ravne in a few kilometers we get to mountain pass Strma Reber, which is situated at an altitude of 993 m. After the mountain pass the road starts descending, then via 19 hairpin turns and some additional kilometers of driving it brings us to the settlement Sela, and a little lower to Osilnica, where in the center of the settlement, near the Mercator store we also park.
B) From Kočevje we drive towards the border crossing Petrina, and then at the end of the settlement Štalcerji we continue right towards Kočevska Reka. In Kočevska Reka we continue left in the direction of Borovec pri Kočevski Reki, mountain pass Strma Reber and Osilnice. In Borovec we continue right, and then past hamlet Ravne in a few kilometers we get to mountain pass Strma Reber, which is situated at an altitude of 993 m. After the mountain pass the road starts descending, then via 19 hairpin turns and some additional kilometers of driving it brings us to the settlement Sela, and a little lower to Osilnica, where in the center of the settlement, near the Mercator store we also park.
C) From the border crossing Petrina we continue on the road in the direction of Osilnica. Further, we drive through the settlements Grivac, Gladloka, Kuželj, Srobotnik ob Kolpi, Mirtoviči, Bosljiva Loka, Grintovec pri Osilnici, Ložec and Ribjek to Osilnica, where in the center of the settlement near the Mercator store we park.

Path description:
From the starting point, we continue on the road which leads further towards Petrina and runs by the river Kolpa. When Osilnica ends, the path leads past a few more houses, which belong to Osilnica. Behind the house with house number Osilnica 1, over the bridge we cross a smaller stream and then right behind the bridge we continue left on a marked footpath, where after a few steps we notice the first blazes. We continue on a cart track which is gently to moderately ascending through the forest, and at some crossings we follow it in the direction of the blazes. Higher the forest ends and the path past the hunting observatory brings us to the settlement Križmani, where the path leads among some houses.
Behind the houses, we cross the asphalt road, and then we ascend straight upwards, where the path leads through a smaller orchard. A little further, where the meadow becomes more overgrown, the path turns right and passes into the forest. For a few minutes we ascend through the forest, after that over a partly overgrown meadow we ascend to the main road Osilnica - Kočevska Reka, which we only cross. We continue past the log storage, and then through a short stretch of forest, we reach the local road which leads towards the settlement Bezgovica. When we reach the mentioned village, at the smaller crossroad we continue slightly right, and then with nice views on Sveto Goro and Gorski Kotar we get to the upper part of the village, where among houses we follow the blazes. Behind the last house, we notice hiking signposts, which point us to the slope, on the path which passes into the forest, through which we gradually start to ascend more steeply. After a short ascent from the right also joins the path from the 18th hairpin turn of the road on Strma Reber, and we continue straight on the steeper path, which higher in a traversing ascent brings us to the steep little valley, through which we continue the ascent. Higher the blazes from the eroded little valley lead us left on the path which runs along the edge of the occasionally precipitous ridge. We continue the ascent on the occasionally somewhat more overgrown path, which withdraws somewhat to the right from the precipices, and occasionally some views open up on the surrounding hills. A few minutes higher we reach a wide cart track, which we follow to the left, and we walk along it to the place where it splits into two parts.
We continue on the slightly left cart track (the right cart track bypasses Bezgarska planina and leads towards the mountain pass Strma Reber), which quickly takes us out of the forest to the lower part of Bezgarska planina. When we reach the mountain pasture we walk across the meadow in a minute or two to the larger hunting observatory.
From the hunting observatory, where there is a marked junction, we continue right in the direction of Cerk and Firstov rep (straight Taborska stena, Dragarji...), on the path which descends to a smaller garden in the middle of the mountain pasture. When the path passes into the forest, at the junction of cart tracks we continue straight (here from the right joins the cart track which a little before the mountain pasture branches off straight from the marked path and is about a minute shorter than the marked path). There follows a few minutes of ascent through the forest, after which we reach the main road Osilnica - Kočevska Reka, which we carefully cross.
On the other side of the road we continue in the direction of Cerk and Firstov rep and continue the path on the forest road. The path ahead leads us on the forest road, from which already after a few minutes to the right branches off a marked path.
We continue on the marked path (it is possible to continue also on the unmarked road, since the marked path after some time returns to the mentioned road, and the path along the road is also somewhat shorter), which passes into dense forest. Through the forest we first start to ascend moderately, carefully following the blazes, since otherwise the followable path is relatively poorly trodden. When the path somewhat higher levels out, on the left side we bypass the indistinct summit Luknja (1079 m), to which we can ascend in a few minutes via easier pathless terrain, otherwise we continue on the marked path, which as stated bypasses the summit on the left side. There follow some shorter ascents and descents, after which follows a somewhat longer descent, which ends when we reach the macadam road.
When we reach the road we continue left (right Firstov rep and Loška stena), after which after a minute or two of further walking we arrive at the crossroad by the NOB monument, where from the left joins the road which we left earlier.
We continue right, past the monument and continue the path on the macadam road. Higher, at the smaller crossroad we continue left, after which after a few minutes we arrive at the marked junction, where also joins the marked path from the hunting hut on Ravne.
The signs for Cerk direct us right onto the cart track. We follow the well-marked but occasionally quite overgrown cart track all the way to the smaller clearing below the summit of Cerk. Here we continue slightly left and then follow the somewhat steeper path all the way to the summit of Cerk.
Osilnica - Bezgarska planina 2:10, Bezgarska planina - Cerk 1:55.

On the way: Križmani (455m), Bezgovica (565m), Bezgarska planina (895m)