| jerque13. 04. 2025 00:00:13 |
First a short prehistory. When in the middle of last week I explored the then brimful Lake Cerknica between Dolenje Jezero (by the way, on weekends the parking there is paid almost at Kranjska Gora rates) and Otok, among other things I also briefly looked for possible natural observation points on the lake that would offer a wider view than the wooden one on the Drvošec path and another "unmarked" one on Otok. Slivnica offered itself as an obvious candidate, but probably the whole Cerknica is up there on weekends (some time ago I convinced myself of that even in more miserable weather), Javorniki were out due to obvious overgrowth, but east of the lake another hill with a church or something similar caught my eye (the atmosphere was not clear enough to see exactly). On the return, I asked the lady in the visitor center what it could be; she immediately replied that I could only have seen Križna gora and presented it so enthusiastically right after that it really had to be gone once.
Weather forecasters predicted nice weather for today, "traffic experts" a collapse on roads to Croatia and more besieged destinations; both ARSO's official Stržen water levels and shots from Slivnica hinted that Lake Cerknica could not have drained substantially yet, so the decision fell for this probably not so besieged "little one".
Despite all forecasts, early in the morning on the Primorska motorway it went smoothly as it had not for a long time (but on the return around Brezovica time really "stopped" towards Primorska); so that the hike would not be too short  , I chose Bločice or the parking lot at the local church of St. Primus and Felician and the smaller cemetery next to it. What to say, we cannot miss the official path because there are markings on practically every tree along it; only the stated times are obviously timed for "retirees". At first, the forest path is fairly flat and undemanding until we reach the gravel road and immediately after the crossroads, where left would go to Križna cave, the marked path straight up the "north face"; but I consciously chose the longer route and went right on the gravel road to Sv. Ana. After all, Great Week is starting and it befits honoring the Savior's grandma and recalling at the Way of the Cross stations all those historical events that we will commemorate next weekend. When "self-service" bell towers stand somewhere alone, I also like to ring in intercession to the saints, but here there are some houses directly next to it, so I cannot imagine they are too enthusiastic about it.
I processed this Way of the Cross in a more religious theme; let's just say that the path started to climb more concretely only here. But still nothing special, and even older believers will be able to fulfill their duty without Christ's sufferings. At the first views a bit below the summit, I first got scared where Lake Cerknica had suddenly drained, which I had still seen from the road around Martinjak. After a short orientation, I finally realized that I was actually looking at Loška dolina, with Lož and "attached" Stari trg in the foreground, and in the background just the karst field with Obrh, which feeds Stržen or Lake Cerknica. The latter is still visible (some individual trees disturb, part near Gorenje Jezero is covered by an intermediate hill) right in front of the church of St. Cross itself; it seems to me that some dry "patches" are already appearing that were not there before. Southward, already from Sv. Ana, another height-protruding "spire" was noticed. Maybe that is Snežnik still fully in line with its name? The church itself is quite interesting from the outside; it's a pity only that on the bell tower (if it still performs that function) they could not somehow "hide" the mobile telephony transmitters next to it. Or how ZVKD allowed that...
Return just on the official path. As soon as it branches off from the path to Križna cave, then... suddenly we find ourselves on a poorly maintained and obviously not often used "path", better said "marked pathless terrain", which is moreover steep and rocky; in short, quite nasty. Whoever does not like it, I recommend my "detour" via Sv. Ana, while I do not know the one via Križna cave.
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
| (+1) |  | |
|
|