Osp - Socerb Castle (via Kastelec)

Access to starting point:
We leave the Ljubljana-Koper highway at the Črni Kal exit, then drive for a short time towards Črni Kal; beside the pillars of the Črni Kal viaduct, we turn left in the direction of the settlement Osp. The road then leads us through the settlement Gabrovica pri Črnem Kalu; after the mentioned settlement, after approximately 1 km, we arrive at the village Osp, where in the middle of the settlement the described path begins. A suitable place for parking is about 500 m before the settlement.

Route description:
From the spot where we have parked, we walk to the center of the village, where by the NOB monument we notice the first blazes.
We continue right (left downwards Tinjan and tourist farm and camp pri Vovku) and we start to ascend among houses, at crossroads we follow the blazes. From the marked path soon a path to the climbing area branches off to the right, we continue to the nearby parish church of St. Peter, which we bypass on the right side.
The village ends here, the road changes into a cart track, on which we quickly arrive at a marked junction.
From the junction we continue right towards Kastelec (straight Socerb), the path further mostly ascends transversely to the right. Higher a beautiful view opens towards Tinjan and Osapska stena wall, then the path turns left and passes onto a plateau. At first beautiful views still open up, reaching all the way to Milje Bay and surrounding places, then the path passes onto the flat terrain of Spodnji kras, where in the back we already see the settlement Kastelec. The path further leads us also over pastures, when we reach the macadam road, at junctions we follow the blazes.
A little further ahead, on the edge of the settlement Kastelec we reach an asphalt road, which we follow to the left, after a few steps we leave it and continue right on the marked path, on which we quickly arrive at the church of the Holy Cross in Kastelec. We bypass the church on the right side, then behind the nearby children's playground the road becomes macadam. When the road forks we continue slightly right, at the next junction by the kal, slightly left. We continue the ascent on a rather poor road, which, when it levels off, brings us to a wider macadam road, where there is also a marked junction.
From the junction we go left (right Varda, Črnokalski grad, Hrastovlje, Podpeč and Praproče), after 100 meters we arrive at the next junction.
We continue straight (right Slavnik and Prešnica) on the still gently sloping road, which at crossroads we follow in the direction of Socerb. After a few minutes we reach an asphalt road leading towards the top, we go slightly right from the road, then past the Holy Cave (Sveta jama) we return to the road, along it we then continue all the way to Socerb Castle, which is located on a panoramic elevation.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2018 (April).

Along the route: Kastelec (330m), Sveta jama (375m)

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