Laško (pokopališče Laško) - Govško brdo (past shepherd's chapel)

Access to starting point:
We drive to Laško, where we park at the parking lot by the Laško cemetery.

Route description:
From the parking lot by the cemetery we continue along the road that lies between the flower shop and the railway, a little further we also pass the technical inspections and the Laško utility company. After a few minutes we reach a junction where we notice the first hiking direction signs.
We head onto the path towards Šmihel, Govško brdo and in the direction of the signs for the Srečno path and the Rečiška circular path. At first we still ascend past a few houses, then we climb in serpentines through a few minutes of forest. Higher up the road levels out, we leave the forest and quickly reach a junction where another path joins from the left, leading past the church of St. Christopher.
Here we continue straight, a little further we reach two consecutive junctions.
From the first junction, where a road branches off to the right to a few houses, we continue straight, from the second, where a path branches off to the right to the church of St. Michael on Šmihel, we also continue straight. In the continuation we descend for a short time through the forest, then we leave the forest and in a gentle ascent reach the settlement of Kuretno, where we see the church of St. Catherine of Alexandria in front of us. Here at a small junction we continue slightly to the right, then we are already near the church, which lies somewhat to the left of the path.
We bypass the church on the right side and continue along the asphalt road with the path. In the continuation we walk through the forest for some time, at the chapel the asphalt ends, and from the fork we continue straight in the direction towards Govce. There follows a somewhat longer walk along a gravel road, where we pass individual older houses, and the path continues in a few shorter ascents and descents. After a larger meadow we ascend somewhat more steeply and at the edge of the settlement Trnov Hrib we transition onto an asphalt road. Here we keep to the right branches or the marked path, the gravel road we continue on leads us into the forest, where we pass a small pond. When we leave the forest we also pass a beehouse and reach a fork by the mining museum.
In front of the museum we go right onto the path in the direction of Govško brdo (straight the Zavrate saddle), where after a short ascent we join the path from the Rečica valley. Here we go left and continue along a wider cart track, along which we quickly reach the Lovski dom na Govcah, which we notice to the right of the path.
At the hunting lodge the path forks, and we head onto the path in the direction of the shepherd's chapel (slightly left the usual path from Govce to Govško brdo). When a little further the path enters the forest we notice a marking on a tree, and in the continuation there are mainly no more markings. Higher up the path forks, and we continue left in the direction of the shepherd's chapel, which we reach in a minute of further walking after crossing a short steeper slope.
We bypass the chapel on the left side, from a small fork a few dozen steps further we go right (left downwards we join the previously mentioned usual path to Govško brdo). There follows a short steep ascent and we return to the path that bypassed the shepherd's chapel on the right side, and we follow it left upwards. In the continuation the path turns somewhat to the left and then mostly ascends transversely to the left, higher up at a small saddle we reach the eastern ridge of Govško brdo, where markings reappear.
We follow the ridge path to the left (right the path that leads over the eastern pre-summit towards the Rečica valley), along it we still ascend more steeply for some time, when the ridge levels out we join the usual well-trodden path.
Here we continue straight (sharply left Govce) and in a few minutes of moderate ascent along the wooded ridge we reach Govško brdo.
Laško - Kuretno 0:40, Kuretno - Govce 1:05, Govce - pastirska kapelica 0:15, pastirska kapelica - Govško brdo 0:35.
The description and pictures refer to the state in April 2023.

Along the route: Sveta Katarina (Kuretno) (419m), Trnov Hrib (501m), Hunting lodge Govce (565m), Shepherd's Chapel (640m)

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