Podlehnik - Sveti Avguštin

Access to starting point:
We leave the Podravska motorway at the Podlehnik exit, and then we follow the signs for Podlehnik. We park at an appropriate place in the centre of Podlehnik.

Path description:
From the centre of Podlehnik we continue towards the south, and from the nearby roundabout we continue left in the direction of Zgornji Leskovec and the path among the vineyards. We continue for a short time on the road towards Zgornji Leskovec, then we go right in the direction of the path among the vineyards. Further on, we bypass the church of the Assumption of Mary on the right side, and at the next crossroads we follow the signs for the path among the vineyards and the blazes.
A little further ahead the road splits into three branches, and we continue on the lower road, which for a short time continues without major changes in altitude, then it starts to ascend. We continue ascending, and at the crossroads we follow the blazes. Higher up the road gradually flattens, and nice views open up on the Haloze.
Next come a few shorter ascents and descents, and along the path the first signs for Sveti Avguštin also appear. When the road becomes macadam it splits into two marked paths.
Straight ahead the local blazes continue, and we continue on the right road, along which the Knafelc blazes continue. A few minutes further when we leave the forest a nice view opens up towards Sveti Avguštin and Ravna gora, which is already on the Croatian side of the national border. The road then leads us along the slopes of Brezova gora (567 m), where we reach a smaller saddle between the mentioned mountain and a smaller peak, where a few houses stand.
Here we go slightly left onto a cart track that crosses the slopes below the hamlet; we also go past the hunting observatory, then the path enters the forest, where we reach the border ridge. Next follows walking on and along the national border between Slovenia and Croatia, where we mostly descend moderately; lower down we reach a hamlet with a few houses.
Here on a smaller saddle there is a wooden chapel, and we continue with the path along an initially macadam road, which on the left Slovenian side bypasses Vučja gora (459 m). A little lower we go right from the road onto a cart track, along which we slightly ascend and return to the national border. The path ahead leads us along a macadam road, where we pass individual houses; a little further we leave the road for a short time and ascend along the power line. When we return to the road at the weekend house we go right, a little higher the road returns to the forest. In the forest we reach a marked junction, where we go straight ahead (left downhill to Trdobojci and Videm); the quite steep road soon turns sharply right, and higher at the farm also sharply left. Two more minutes of walking follow, and past the stamping box we reach the church of St. Avguštin, from which a beautiful view opens up.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in January 2023.