Kozolec (Laška vas - Pečovje) - Tolsti vrh above Celjska koča (via chapel at Mary and on CPP)

Access to starting point:
Hayrack "Laška vas - Pečovje" is an ideal starting point for mountaineering tours on the nearby hills. The hayrack was for a long time a characteristic of the gorge of the Bojanski potok stream between Pečovje and Laška vas, through which an asphalted road also runs. A few years ago, the hayrack owned by the farmer miserably decayed, so the Municipality of Štore, due to its recognisability, built a new one with the help of European funds with the purpose of preserving vernacular architecture. Next to the hayrack there is a large parking lot, where we can park our steel horse. We can reach the starting point by car from Celje and Štore, following the signposts for Svetina. When we have already driven past the area of the old part of the ironworks in Štore, we leave the main road towards Svetina and turn right onto the turn-off towards Pečovje. We continue on a narrow asphalt road for approx. 1 km and we are already at the hayrack. We can also get to the starting point on foot, because the path from the railway station Štore to the hayrack is fully marked.

Route description:
The starting point of the path is at the new hayrack. Our path to Tolsti vrh is practically entirely marked and equipped with signposts, but to various peaks and paths of the Celje hills, so we have to follow a detailed description.
At the crossroad at the hayrack, in accordance with the signpost to Svetina via Marija, we head along the asphalt road ahead in the direction of Pečovje. After approx. 200 meters at the second crossroad, we continue sharply to the left and somewhat uphill. The asphalt road soon flattens again at the sports field in the settlement Pečovje. Here is the starting point of Barbarina pot, so for the first half of our trip we follow its signposts. After three terraced houses, we turn left onto the forest road, which passes into a forest path at the last homestead. Soon a path branches off to the left leading through Bojanski graben, while we continue straight uphill through dense forest. Then a path from Celje joins from the right, where we continue left along the forest road past weekend houses and then once again left on a somewhat narrower forest path, partly also a cart track higher up. The path ascends somewhat more steeply again and some cables assist, more as a fence than a handhold. We soon reach a junction. Straight uphill the CPP (Celje mountain trail) signs direct to Srebotnik, but we continue left, first slightly downhill past the chapel with the image of Mary carved into the wall of Srebotnik, then slightly uphill on a wide forest path, partly cart track. We soon reach a new junction, where we continue right onto the hardened forest road slightly uphill and stop following the signposts for Barbarina pot. We follow the forest road a few hundred meters to the next junction on the saddle below the southern access to Srebotnik.
To the left we can ascend a slightly shorter ridge path to Tolsti vrh, to the right to Srebotnik, but we continue on the forest road slightly left downhill along CPP, which in this section connects Srebotnik with Tolsti vrh. We follow the forest road a few hundred meters to the first junction of paths or Hudičev potok, where left uphill the CPP path leads to Tolsti vrh, and right a path branches off on an unmarked trail towards Bavč, Grmada, Celjska koča etc. We continue left uphill on the marked forest path, which slowly turns into a cart track, then into a forest road. We soon arrive at a junction, where we join the asphalt road right in the direction of Tolsti vrh, which we follow for only 100 meters. Then we leave the asphalt road and according to the signposts continue on a shorter cart track through the forest, then on the forest road. Further, at the only homestead in this part, we follow the path uphill through the meadow/pasture area and reach Tolsti vrh from the east. The viewpoint is located another 50 meters ahead towards the west, from where the southern and western Posavje hills are visible.

Along the route: Kapelica pri Mariji pod Srebotnikom (500m), Celjska koča (652m), Srebotnik (700m), Veliki Bojanski vrh (627m), Pečovniška koča na Grmadi (620m)

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