Since I can't post in my own thread, I'm posting here:
On Culture Day, such a day when all Slovenes should be interested in the nation's culture, we headed to Primorska. To the Comen Karst, which doesn't have particularly high hills, but it's the Karst that has quite a few frightening moments, actually periods, recorded in its history.
Due to moderately strong bora wind forecasted already early afternoon, we set off from Gorenjska early in the morning. In Notranjska we already spotted the first sun rays, so we hurried up. But we rarely come around here, so we first decided to visit Miren Castle, past which a winding asphalt road leads, taking us about 150m higher to Cerje, whose landmark is a memorial, perhaps even a tower, commemorating the victims of the horrors of WWI.
The upper part of the asphalt road leading to Cerje is marked by memorial plaques about massacres, the situation before and after the great war. And if time allowed, we would stop there sometime. But unfortunately no time for that, so we quickly set off from the large parking lot towards the memorial, past which the path to Trstelj leads (at the parking lot the Fajtni hrib sign directs back on the asphalt road, which is of course wrong-you can go to the monument in Cerje or straight ahead on the cart track). Along the ridge of the Black Hills runs the Briceva mountain trail, which we visit this time. The slopes were almost completely bare just a century ago. Today, forest has overgrown most of these areas. Besides black pine, which was afforested here and later spread naturally, we find hornbeam, downy oak and other warmth-loving tree and shrub species. Along the entire path we observe war remains, there are many caverns, bunkers, trenches, defensive ditches, caves. More famous is the Hram cave, into which the trail supposedly leads and connects the trenches. The path among the pines probably also offers nice views of the Julian Alps, even to the highest ones. But we weren't lucky, as the first third of the path was accompanied by cloudy weather, which in these parts even "amplifies" the horrific history of the landscape. A light breeze accompanies us so we don't get cold, we walk faster, heading towards Fajtni hrib. On the 434m high hill there are memorial plaques with historical facts supported by pictorial material. We descend along the ridge to the crest, from where across the road we continue along the defensive ditches to Veliki vrh, 463m. The summit is literally riddled with caverns, caves and ditches. These are deep and connected. Dense grass overgrows their entrances and thus hides much. A short break we dedicate to refreshment, then descent again, which in the lower part runs along dry karst meadows full of sage. The path is exemplary and well marked and signposted, no fear of getting lost. Renški vrh in the ridge is also forested like the others and not very scenic, so we don't stop particularly here. That you rarely meet anyone around here is confirmed by the fact that we met only 2 people. At the saddle between Vrtovka and Renški vrh we come across a direction sign Trstelj. It should be another 2 hours walk there, but it turned out to be too much. On some sections the path gets quite steep, the elevation differences gradually increase. From Vrtovka we descend about 100m lower and join the gravel road towards Lešenjak, Stolovec, Stol and Trstelj. Unfortunately we missed the markings that would direct us left, so we slowly walked along the gravel road. Several times we hear voices, obviously only a handful of people decided to visit this part of the trail. The next summit on our path is Stol, reaching 628m. No logbook like on some other summits, unfortunately. Sunshine accompanies us, it's warm. Short descent, then the last ascent to our goal. That's Trstelj, 643m, its tall telecommunications tower visible from afar. It took us about 3.30h to here, moderate walking of course. The summit, bathed in sun, offers views of the Slovenian hinterland, Trnovski gozd, Sabotin, Škabrijel and Sveta gora, then Golake, Čaven and Kucelj. I'm glad that I know most of the summits, that I've been walking here. But as always, there are places, paths completely unknown to me here too. The bora, slowly getting stronger, and the time, 14h approaching, slowly convince us that we have to return. To here we made 725m elevation gain, in 6.30h so definitely 1100m. On the way back we visited the previously missed Stolovec, 563m. The way back took us less time, it's true we lingered less, stopped, although it was sunny and despite moderate bora it was warm. We knew we would reach the starting point before dark, so we treated ourselves to a stop on the karst meadows in the sun rays. We quickly left the short steep sections of the path behind, as well as the summits. Before 17h we were back at the starting point, meanwhile darker clouds began to pile up over Trnovski gozd, forecasting another weather change with some snow showers.
Although some descriptions say you need about 8h for the trail, with a slightly faster pace you can shorten the hike to 6h. But it's a mountain trail full of history. History of our nation, especially history of the Karst places. Let all the remains visible on the path be a warning that something like that will never happen again. And if you need refreshment, just visit the hut on the eastern side of Trstelj, named after the national hero Anton Šibelj – Stjenka, commander of the 1st Karst company, who resisted the occupier during WWII. We didn't this time, but we will. There will definitely be plenty of opportunities.