Lokvica - Vrtovka

Access to starting point:
On the highway through the Vipava Valley we drive to the border crossing Vrtojba, then in the larger roundabout, which is located on the Italian side of the border, we continue towards the village Miren (we can also reach the village Miren if we drive on the regional road from Šempeter pri Gorici towards Dornberk. In this case, in the place Volčja Draga, we continue right or left, if we came from Dornberk. From the village Miren we continue driving towards the village Opatje Selo. After a few hairpin turns, signs for Cerje direct us to the left onto a macadam road, which we then follow to the parking lot, that is located only a few minutes below the monument Veliko Cerje.

Path description:
From the parking lot we continue on the macadam road closed to traffic, on which we ascend to the monument Veliko Cerje in 5 minutes of walking.
From the monument we continue right on an initially wide path in the direction of Fajtega hrib. The path ahead first slightly descends, then gently ascends over gentle and initially also quite scenic slopes. The path then passes into a mostly pine forest, where it continues with some shorter ascents and descents. After a while we cross a forest road, then continue the ascent on a narrower and in several parts thorn-surrounded mountain path. Higher the forest thins out and a moderately steep path brings us to Fajti hrib, on which there is a smaller information board in memory of the 1st World War.
From Fajtega hrib we descend through a young pine thicket (here we still have nice views) to the saddle between the already mentioned peak and Veliki vrh. At the saddle we cross a wide cart track, then we begin to ascend to the 463 m high Veliki vrh, which we reach after an approximately 20-minute ascent through forest and shrubbery.
From Veliki vrh follows an approximately 100 altitude meters long descent, which ends on the next cart track. We continue on the marked path, which past a decaying bench leads us into dense forest, where it begins to ascend moderately. After an approximately 15-minute ascent we step onto Renški vrh 449 m.
Follows a relatively gentle descent on the path, which quickly brings us to an asphalt road, which we only cross. We continue the ascent in the direction "Trstelj po vrhovih" on a quite overgrown mountain path, which after approximately 20 minutes of ascent brings us to the forested peak of Vrtovka.

On the way: Veliko Cerje (343m), Fajti hrib (433m), Veliki vrh (Črni hribi) (463m), Renški vrh (449m)

Trip can be extended to: Lešenjak ( 25 min) , Stolovec ( 55 min) , Stjenkova koča on Trstelj (1 h 45 min) , Stol (Črni hribi) (1 h 20 min) , Trstelj (1 h 40 min)