Čatež - Bajturn (Zaplaški hrib) (on ridge)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana - Novo mesto highway, take the Trebnje east exit, then continue driving towards the settlement Velika Loka. After the settlement Zidani Most we arrive at the settlement Štefan pri Trebnjem, where we turn sharply left towards Zaplaz. After a few kilometers of partly winding road we arrive at Čatež, where the road to Zaplaz branches off to the left, and we on the main road descend a little further and park on the large parking lot between Kulturni dom Čatež and the fire station.
B) From Trebnje or Mokronog we drive to Mirna, from there towards Litija. We drive towards Litija to the sharp right turn, from there continue left towards Cirnik and Selske gore. After Cirnik the road gradually starts to descend. When we descend to the river Mirna we first cross the bridge, then at the intersection continue left. After the intersection the road slowly starts ascending, then brings us to the settlement Čatež, where we park on a large parking lot near Kulturni dom Čatež.
C) We drive to Šmartno pri Litiji, from there continue driving towards Gabrovka. After the settlement Moravče pri Gabrovki, after the transformer we turn slightly right towards the gas station. We then drive along the valley of the river Mirna. When, after the turn-off for Gornje Ravne, the road turns right, it leaves the river Mirna and starts ascending towards Čatež. When we arrive in Čatež we park on the larger parking lot between the fire station and Kulturni dom Čatež.

Path description:
From the parking lot, near which there is also the end of the Levstikova pot from Litija to Čatež, we first ascend to the parish church of St. Michael in Čatež, from there behind the church we continue right and at Gostilna Tončkov dom return to the main road, which we reach at the marked intersection. We continue the ascent along the main road, which leads past the bus station and the tourist map, then after about 100 meters continue right onto the steep road towards Zaplaz. The road quickly flattens and turns left, bringing us to the edge of the forest, where there is a marked junction.
The right path leads towards Zagrič and also to Bajturn and Zaplaz, we continue along the asphalt road for another dozen steps, then the sign for the pilgrims' path directs us onto a grassy path, along which with nice views we ascend to the church on Zaplaz in a few minutes.
From the church we walk to the other side, where we step onto the larger parking lot.
From the parking lot on Zaplaz we continue towards the west, where at the end of the parking lot we arrive at the marked junction.
We continue straight ahead (right: chapel with healing water and Bajturn via the northern slope), so we bypass the nearby homestead on the right side. Behind the house the cart track immediately brings us to a nice viewpoint, from which a nice view opens towards Dolenjska and the surrounding hills. Further, the cart track enters the forest and moderately ascends along the ridge, along the path we notice a large number of information boards. Slightly after the stone for weather prediction, at the smaller junction we continue slightly left (if we continue slightly right, we join the path via the northern slope), the gentle path, which temporarily even slightly descends, leads us past the glades and hunting hide. At the junction after the hide we go slightly right and temporarily ascend more steeply. When the path returns to the ridge it turns left and flattens. From here only a few minutes of gentle ascent follow, and the forest path brings us to the overgrown summit.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2016 (March).

On the way: Zaplaz (543m)