| jerque18. 03. 2024 23:02:19 |
Before "spring hits" and hides many things with foliage, it was necessary to use the time for another "archaeological" expedition. This time to the Hrušica plateau, more precisely to Podkraj along the once important road between Kalce and Col. There, some fortifications of the so-called Alpine Wall (it. Vallo Alpino) have been preserved, which Italy built along the entire land border before the outbreak of WWII. If they were afraid even of the sworn neutral Swiss  , it's no wonder they built it also along the former Rapallo border. Precisely the fortifications at Podkraj have somehow survived to this day and are also marked on OpenStreetMap if the zoom is large enough. The local names will be used here too.
The main road Kalce - Col bypasses the village core of Podkraj (where the church is), where a road branches left (direction from Kalce) towards the core, is the starting point of our path i.e. to the hills north of Podkraj. Next to the road there is a small space with a sign about local paths. Already for about 5 cars PMSM some "tetris" would be needed, if there's accidentally a "ruker", there's parking also at the cemetery west of the village core, which looked empty all the time from the hills, but of course you have to walk a bit further along the road.
Right after the starting point, a cart track branches right uphill (again direction from Kalce) with official paths to Javornik, Sv. Duh and Križna gora. We'll find the bunkers if we stick to the path to Javornik at first. Already before the fork we'll notice in the forest on our right some cylindrical concrete mass, which could well be a shelter, but after the war they probably changed its purpose and added a "wind catcher" with locked entrance doors. I can't imagine using so much concrete and that shape just for an ordinary "shed". Perhaps this is "shelter R1 ID 2-145". Nearby there's also a concrete barrier across the gully with some small square openings. Probably more for anti-infantry defense than a dam at a torrent? Anyway, soon after this the path forks, we go right to Javornik. A bit further there should actually be the mentioned shelter according to the map, but at that spot there's only hard-to-pass natural rock (almost boulders), which might have served as emergency cover in partisan fighting style, but nothing built was noticeable there.
Anyway, we ascend further north and soon again on the right we stumble upon "resistance center 233 ID 2-144". Actually we can easily miss it, because it's "camouflaged" from the path with brushwood and only betrays a "patch" seemingly from smooth rock. Once we locate it, we can circle it and see how it looks through all the brush. It has two entrances (south and east) but without caving knowledge and equipment we don't get far.
When we proceed a bit more north, we come to "resistance center 232 ID 2-143", which is however an above-ground bunker and we really can't miss it, we can also notice the firing slit.
We continue a bit more on the official path north, when the path peeks out of the forest, we'll notice on the left uphill slope the next bunker "resistance center 231 ID 2-142". Now, when true spring hasn't come yet and grass isn't growing, we can afford the "luxury" and scramble up the slope straight across the "meadow" with dry grass, which they obviously didn't mow last year at all. Otherwise there would be two longer ways. Either go back to the fork and reach the bunker via Sv. Duh, or continue further north, according to maps there are "non-mountaineering" paths to Srednja gora and from there reach the path from Sv. Duh. Well, once we reach the mentioned bunker one way or another, we notice it has an entrance to a somewhat branched interior. Well, as I noted elsewhere, watch your head, because Italians back then were obviously among the shorter ones. When we circle the bunker over somewhat steeper terrain, we notice it also has a deep shaft with a "ladder" of U-bolts. I didn't have enough "balls" to descend, not least because I didn't even have a headlamp.
A bit higher there's also a stone bunker that's not on the map at all. Probably this is the second part of "resistance center 231 ID 2-142" and they might have been connected underground too. Because right after the entrance the stairs start descending. But beware, the stairs are well covered with alluvial soil, so they've become quite a smooth slope. And God forbid we slip, because we could land in some "abyss" at the end of the stairs. Well, when we shine it with the flashlight, it's not that deep after all, of course I didn't explore further, because question if one could even climb out. Anyway, at the beginning of these stairs stalactites have grown quite nicely in "only" 9 decades.
Now enough bunkers for a while. Because from here a unmarked but well-trodden path leads to Sv. Duh, which maPZS also knows. The path crosses the quite steep south slope of Srednja gora, definitely too steep to head straight to the top. Not the best for those afraid of heights, but the first part is nice. Only when we cross some ledge at the saddle between Srednja gora and Sv. Duh it becomes somewhat trickier, harder to follow and also starts ascending. Well eventually we reach the little church of sv. Duh, which is obviously being renovated, I couldn't ring the bell on the horsetail belfry above the entrance, there's a logbook at the church, and with all the quantity of benches around I assume it's a quite popular destination.
From Sv. Duh finally back on a marked and somewhat wider path, first to the saddle and then via the northern variant through the forest to Križna gora. Obviously I missed a shorter branch to Škol(j)a in between, there should be a viewpoint. Križna gora lacks a tower, which you climb via two steep ladders. But the tower isn't even that necessary, nice views towards Podkraj and further to parts of Nanos open already from the forged cross a bit below the summit. There's also a logbook at the cross, some benches around, but not as many as at Sv. Duh.
Then descent via the southern marked path. Which at the beginning crosses a very steep slope. Better not to think how it would end in case of a slip. Well, eventually the path "normalizes", right after the fork of the direct path to Sv. Duh there's a few meters "rope", then I'm already back at the starting point.
But the map says there's still some Alpine Wall "stuff" on the other side of the road and it was also noticed upon arrival. So we head along the main road towards Kalce, after approx. 400 meters, opposite a roadside chapel, on the right is the small Majerjev grič, on it "shelter R2 ID 2-147", actually a round, Tobruk-like machine gun nest. In "winter" conditions we can easily reach it straight from the road through the forest, otherwise a ditch leads to the entrance from the west, I didn't check exactly from where.
If we continue from the chapel another approx. 400 m, right after the construction site of some larger building (probably a workshop) at the forest edge on the right we reach "resistance center 234 ID 2-151", which has the entrance at the top barred with a grate, if we manage to circle it in the thicket, we notice it's built on rock with a karst cave at the bottom.
On the return also a stop in Hrušica, which I've had "on the radar" for a long time and judging by house numbers belongs to Podkraj. There are remains of the large Roman fortress Ad Pirum, which guarded the once important road between Emona and Aquileia. The inn Stara pošta was closed and according to the sign will open only on April 30th. It also has a small museum with archaeological finds, but they didn't find many anyway. When I peeked through the window pane into the museum part, it looked like they were renovating the museum room. But instead, there's an archaeological park in the surroundings under the care of the National Museum of Slovenia with preserved foundations of walls, towers and also the medieval church of sv. Jedrt right next to the inn, and numerous multilingual info boards everywhere in the park. The part on the side of the road where the inn is is smaller and somewhat reminds of a town park, on the other side of the road it's already a real mini hiking path along the wall, which requires proper hiking footwear. This part also climbs approx. 40 meters, then turns east and immediately descends back south, until suddenly we find ourselves in front of a private house property. I don't know officially how it is, but at the remains of the transverse wall that separated the northern from the southern part of the fortress, one can return back to the eastern wall and across the road to the inn. In any case, the road must be crossed very carefully, because there's immediately an invisible bend from the direction of Kalce, and the municipality hasn't put up any warning sign yet.
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