Hotavlje - Koča na Ermanovcu (via Slajka)

Access to starting point:
A) From Železniki, Kranj or Medvode we drive to Škofja Loka, and from there we continue driving in the direction of Gorenja vas in Poljanska dolina and Žiri. After Gorenja vas, in the settlement Hotavlje, at the crossroads behind the inn Gostilna Lipan we leave the main road towards Žiri and continue driving right in the direction of the ski area Cerkno and village Leskovica. Immediately after the crossroads, we park in a suitable place by the road.
B) From Horjul or Polhov Gradec we drive to Lučine, from there we descend to Gorenja vas. In Gorenja vas we continue left towards Žiri, then in Hotavlje at the crossroads behind the inn Gostilna Lipan we continue right in the direction of the ski area Cerkno and village Leskovica. Immediately after the crossroads, we park in a suitable place by the road.
C) From Vrhnika, Logatec or Spodnja Idrija we drive to Žiri, and from there we continue driving towards Gorenja vas and Škofja Loka, but we drive on the main road only to the settlement Hotavlje, where we turn left in the direction of the ski area Cerkno and village Leskovica. Immediately after the crossroads, we park in a suitable place by the road.
D) First, we drive to Cerkno, and from there we continue driving over the pass Kladje (Podlanišče) towards Sovodenj. From Sovodenj we continue driving along the stream Hobovščica, then at a somewhat larger crossroads we continue left in the direction of Gorenja vas (right Žiri). On the main road towards Škofja Loka we drive to the settlement Hotavlje, where we turn left in the direction of the ski area Cerkno and village Leskovica. Immediately after the crossroads, we park in a suitable place by the road.

Path description:
From the starting point, where nearby there is a vending machine of the farm pr Šupc, we continue on the road towards the village Leskovica and in the direction of the hiking paths to Blegoš, Ermanovec and Slajko. We walk for a few minutes along the edge of the road, partly also on the sidewalk, then the signs for Ermanovec and Slajko direct us left (straight to Blegoš), where over the bridge we cross Kopačnica, immediately after the bridge at the church of St. Lovrenc we continue right and gradually begin to ascend. Initially we ascend past a few more houses, then the signs direct us sharply left, where for some 10 steps we continue on a cart track, on the hay meadow the cart track turns into a footpath, which turns slightly right and leads us past one more house. Higher up we cross some poorer cart tracks, the markers through a strip of somewhat overgrown path bring us to an asphalt road, which we just cross. On the other side of the road we first ascend more steeply, then continue on a narrower path, which continues along a small valley, where the power line route also runs. From the valley we soon ascend transversely to the right, where we reach the ridge (here another path joins us from the right), here the path turns left. A little further we cross another cart track, when we leave the forest we quickly ascend to an asphalt road, which we follow to the right. The asphalt road then leads us past a bench, where a path branches off to the right towards Vrh Slajke, we follow the road, which turns semicircularly left, to the nearby farm, from which the Dom na Slajki is only a minute's walk away.
From the hut we return to the nearby farm, where we bypass the main buildings on the upper side and continue along the path on the macadam road, which on the nearby meadow turns into a cart track. This is followed by walking through a strip of forest, then we arrive at the grassy slopes of Špik or Vranškov grič (both names appear on maps), which we cross with nice views. When we reach a poorer macadam road we descend along it (right private land), when the road levels out we join a wider macadam road, which we reach above the farm Hom.
We continue in the direction of Ermanovec and then walk for quite some time on the macadam road, which later becomes asphalt. This is followed by some descent with nice views, then from a smaller crossroads we continue slightly right (slightly left we can descend to the church of St. Pavel in Stara Oselica), from the next crossroads we go slightly left (slightly right farm Rotovž).
A gentle ascent follows and the path brings us to the place where the marked path forks.
We continue on the slightly right path, which continues along the road (left summit Ermanovec, it is also possible to reach Dom na Ermanovcu, but the path is somewhat longer) and further ascend transversely. Higher we continue slightly left, at the hamlet of a few houses the road turns sharply right, then brings us with nice views to a marked junction by the chapel and bell.
We continue straight in the direction of Dom na Ermanovcu (sharply left summit Ermanovec, left road that descends to Sovodenj) and continue walking on the level asphalt road, to which a little further a marked path from Sovodenj joins.
From the mentioned junction only some 10 steps of easy walking follow and we arrive at Dom na Ermanovcu.
Hotavlje - Dom na Slajki 1:15, Dom na Slajki - Dom na Ermanovcu 1:30.
The description and photos refer to the condition in January 2020.

On the way: Dom na Slajki mountain hut (789m)

Trip can be extended to: Škofje , Štor , Ermanovec