Radeče - Sveta Marija (Ključevica)

Access to starting point:
From the road Zidani Most - Sevnica, after the bridge over the river Sava, we turn right into Radeče (from the direction of Sevnica, we turn left before the bridge) and then park at one of the parking lots in the town center.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we walk to square, where Plečnik's NOB monument stands, then proceed along the path toward Kum, Nebeška gora, and Svinjski rt. The path continues along street Starograjska ulica, which we leave at the parish church of St. Peter, turning left and ascending the stairs for a while. A little further, we reach a narrower asphalt road, which we follow past the last houses, then continue on a cart track that ascends diagonally. The path soon enters the forest, but before reaching it, a view of part of Radeče opens up when looking back. In the forest, the path turns left and ascends diagonally to a ridge, where we notice the ruins of an old castle sharply to the right, but we continue straight and soon leave the forest. We proceed along a well-maintained path through bushes, then reach a road, which we follow briefly to the right before taking a footpath that crosses the road twice more higher up, then stay on the road, following the blazes or signs for Kum at crossroads. Higher up, the road becomes macadam and ascends diagonally to a saddle between Vranski hrib on the left and Svinjski rt on the right.
We continue slightly left (to the right, behind the chapel, Svinjski rt, five minutes) along the macadam road, which first crosses the slopes of Vranski vrh, then gradually moves away from the hill, passing a few houses to reach an asphalt road, which we follow to the right uphill (continuing downhill leads to the gnomes in the settlement Jelovo). When the hamlet ends, the road returns to the forest and splits.
We continue straight toward Kum and Nebeška gora (to the right, an unmarked road leads to the church of St. Katarina, 10 minutes), and shortly after, we cross a high-voltage power line route, where a nice view briefly opens up. A little further, from a small crossroad, we continue slightly to the right; the road higher up makes two more hairpin turns, and we cross the power line route twice more. The road then flattens and leads past individual farms, where we stick to the main road or follow the blazes. For a while, the path offers beautiful views extending to the left bank of the Sava River, where we see Kopitnik and Gore, before the road returns to the forest and begins to visibly descend. After a few minutes of descent, we reach a small valley with a road crossroad, where we keep to the rightmost road, following the blazes. The path leads through the forest again, and when the road turns right, we leave it, continuing left on a footpath that follows an indistinct small valley. The path ahead is often overgrown, but higher up, it ascends to the right from the small valley, quickly reaching a cart track, which we follow to the left. We continue ascending, soon leaving the forest and returning to an asphalt road, which we follow to the right. The road then flattens and splits just before the settlement Čimerno.
We continue slightly to the right, where a marked path from Zagrad or the Sopota valley joins from the left shortly after.
Here, we continue straight and quickly reach the church of the Holy Trinity, located in the settlement Čimerno.
We proceed along the asphalt road, which soon splits.
We continue on the asphalt road toward Kum (slightly left on a cart track to Nebeška gora) and gradually begin descending diagonally along the slopes of Nebeška gora, with Škratova dolina increasingly closer below us to the right. Further on, a short ascent follows, and at the homestead pr Kovačk, a path through Škratova dolina joins from the right.
We continue on the road, from which another path to Nebeška gora soon branches off to the left. When after a further shorter ascent we reach the crossroad of roads, we continue sharply right (straight - the old path which leads below the projecting roof of the nearby homestead) in the direction of Kum. From the crossroad, we few more minutes walk on the road, and then signs for Kum point us to the left on a footpath, on which we continue the ascent. Next follow few crossings, where we follow the blazes, and then we step on a macadam road which we follow to the left. After a short ascent, we on the road get to some sort of plain, where we continue right (left - Kum) in the direction of Sveta Marija and the parish house, which we bypass on the right side. From the parish house follows approximately 5 minutes of ascent on an easy to follow, but unmarked path.
Radeče - old castle 0:10, old castle - Čimerno 2:05, Čimerno - Ključevica 0:55.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in March 2016 and June 2024.

On the way: Stari grad Radeče (Ratschach) (272m), Jelovo (532m), Vrhe (831m), Sveta Trojica (Čimerno) (825m)