Grgar - Vodice (via Ranjeke)

Access to starting point:
A) We drive to Nova Gorica, then continue driving towards Tolmin and Kobarid. We follow the main road towards Tolmin only to Solkan, where at the traffic-light-controlled intersection we continue right in the direction of Sveta Gora and Grgar. The ascending road further leads us past the Solkan quarry, then a little higher it turns sharply to the right and brings us to the Skalnica inn, behind which we first reach a crossroads, where a steep road towards Sveta Gora branches off to the left, and only a little further to another crossroads, where the road towards Grgar, Čepovan and Banjšice branches off to the left (straight Trnovo and Lokve). After a short descent, we arrive in Grgar, where at the crossroads by the NOB monument we continue straight to the nearby sports ground by the primary school, next to which we park on a large parking lot.
B) From Tolmin or Most na Soči we drive on the main road towards Nova Gorica, then only a little before Nova Gorica, more precisely at the traffic-light-controlled intersection in Solkan we turn left in the direction of Sveta Gora and Grgar. The ascending road further leads us past the Solkan quarry, then a little higher it turns sharply to the right and brings us to the Skalnica inn, behind which we first reach a crossroads, where a steep road towards Sveta Gora branches off to the left, and only a little further to another crossroads, where the road towards Grgar, Čepovan and Banjšice branches off to the left (straight Trnovo and Lokve). After a short descent, we arrive in Grgar, where at the crossroads by the NOB monument we continue straight to the nearby sports ground by the primary school, next to which we park on a large parking lot.
C) From Goriška Brda we drive to Solkan, where at the first crossroads after the new Solkan bridge we continue straight in the direction of Sveta Gora. The ascending road further leads us past the Solkan quarry, then a little higher it turns sharply to the right and brings us to the Skalnica inn, behind which we first reach a crossroads, where a steep road towards Sveta Gora branches off to the left, and only a little further to another crossroads, where the road towards Grgar, Čepovan and Banjšice branches off to the left (straight Trnovo and Lokve). After a short descent, we arrive in Grgar, where at the crossroads by the NOB monument we continue straight to the nearby sports ground by the primary school, next to which we park on a large parking lot.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we return to the NOB monument, from there we continue on the left road (looking from the direction of access to the starting point, if we came from the direction of Nova Gorica), to which a "shortcut" soon joins from the right (from the parking lot we don't need to go to the monument, as a shorter road leads here, which starts a little before the parking lot and continues towards the west). We walk on the sidewalk for a short time, then at the place where the main road turns right we continue straight onto a narrower asphalt road. We walk good 50 meters on the mentioned road, then the signs for Sveta Gora direct us left onto another road, where we first bypass the "last" house, then the road continues across a meadow. We walk on the asphalt to the sign of gas pipeline No. 443, from where we continue on the left road in the direction of Sveta Gora. Just a few steps further, a marked path to Sveta Gora over Križce branches off to the left from the macadam road, but we continue straight in the direction of Sveta Gora "in the middle" (the road we leave continues to the nearby house - it is also possible to continue along the road to the lonely house).
The path ahead leads us across a smaller meadow, then brings us to a wooden footbridge over the Slatnik stream, where it splits again.
We continue slightly right (left over the footbridge to Sveta Gora) on the path that continues along the Slatna stream. A little further, we join a cart track (the cart track that continues from the above-mentioned lonely house), along which we quickly arrive at the wooden mountain signs.
From the junction we continue right in the direction of the path via Ranjeke (left Sveta Gora), which continues on the right side (left bank) of the nearby stream. The Slatna stream, along which we walk, has carved smaller gorges, several rapids and a few pools into its bed. A little higher we cross the stream, then ascend somewhat more steeply to the nearby cart track. When we step onto the cart track, we follow it to the right (poorly marked), and we walk along it to a wider macadam road. When we step onto the road, we begin to ascend it (straight to the natural pool Gospodnjek, right Grgar by road) towards the Preški vrh saddle, which we reach after good 15 minutes of further walking.
On the saddle there is a junction of several paths, we continue right on the worse ascending road in the direction of Vodice, which we leave just a few dozen steps further, as the blazes lead us left onto a marked footpath. The path ahead returns to a low forest, then continues in a moderate ascent. Further on, the path leads past several trenches and a few caverns from the time of the First World War, then temporarily ascends somewhat more steeply. The steepness quickly eases and a relatively gentle path brings us out of the forest onto an overgrown meadow, from which we already see the summit of Vodice, on which stands the mausoleum of General Gonzaga, and which we reach after a few dozen steps of further walking.

On the way: Preški vrh (503m)

Trip can be extended to: Sveta Gora