Žetale - Source of Sotla

Access to starting point:
We leave the Podravska motorway at the Zakl exit and then follow the signs for Žetale. When we arrive in Žetale, we turn left at the municipal building and park on the well-maintained asphalt parking lot. We can also park at the parking lot by the primary school.

Path description:
From the spot where we have parked, we first walk to the signposts and information boards, which are located on the opposite side of the main road from the primary school, and from there we head onto a grassy cart track in the direction of the source of Sotla and the forest teaching trail K debeli bukvi. The cart track first leads below the church of St. Michael and below the cemetery, then a less distinct path turns right to the stream Rogatnica, which we cross over a wooden bridge. After the bridge, the path turns left and ascends into the forest, where the path becomes easier to follow. There follows an ascent through the forest, where we follow signs in the shape of yellow mushrooms (yellow mushrooms are signs of the forest teaching trail) and signs for the source of Sotla, and the path leads us past a few information boards of the mentioned trail.
When higher at the 6th point of the teaching trail we reach the forest road, the path to the source of Sotla branches off to the left from the mentioned trail.
The forest teaching trail continues along the road to the right, but we follow the road to the left. There follows some crossing to the left and from the left another path from Žetale joins us, which is marked with yellow directional signs and leads towards MMP Gruškovje and Sv. Avguštin. We continue the crossing for a short time, then the road forks. We continue slightly right along the upper road, which after a few minutes of ascent turns sharply to the right. Higher we go right again (sharply left take-off site for paragliders Macelj), then along the worse road we continue the crossing to the right. We walk along the road to the spot where the signs for the source of Sotla direct us left onto a trail that steeply ascends above the road. Since the otherwise arranged turn-off from the road is already worn out and unmaintained, especially when wet there is a greater danger of slipping. Continuing, we ascend diagonally through the forest for a few minutes along the still quite steep slope, then we cross a cart track. Also the spot where we leave the cart track is steeper, and further we follow the signs for the source of Sotla. There follows a shorter steep ascent along the unmaintained path and we reach the ridge of Macelj, which we reach at a smaller saddle west of Maceljska gora, where a wooden bench stands.
We continue along the state border with neighbouring Croatia, which until near the saddle led along the ridge of Macelj, but at the saddle the state border turns south and leads towards the source of Sotla.
From the saddle we descend to the nearby cart track along the state border, when we reach the cart track we follow it to the right and descend along it to the junction with the marked path that leads from the direction of Donačka gora and the hunting hut Lipovec. Here we go sharply left and in a minute of further walking we arrive at the source of Sotla.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in January 2023.