Crikvenica - Drenin

Access to the starting point:
You arrive in Crikvenica from the Adriatic Motorway. Parking in town is quite difficult, especially in the tourist season. I recommend leaving your car somewhere around the NK Crikvenica stadium, which is located just under the large viaduct over the town.

Path description:
The route starts at the mouth of the Dubračina River, where there is also a pedestrian bridge. Continue along the river to the next bridge, where you will cross the road and continue along the riverside on a one-way road. There are no signs here yet, but tourist signs will help you. At the next bridge (the one with the blue fence), we will cross to the other side of the Dubračine and continue along the river for a few metres. The path then leads to the parking lot of the Plodine shop, where you will turn onto Kotorska cesta and continue eastwards. Soon you will come under a large viaduct that passes over the town. Here we will see another tourist sign and finally the first marking. (Here is also the parking lot of NK Crikvenica, where we can start our route).
From the first marker, walk along Kotorska Street for another minute or so, then you will come to a crossroads where your path turns right uphill.
The path now climbs quite steeply between the last houses in Crikvenica, and then quickly arrives at cart track. After a few minutes, cart track is laid down, and we arrive at a crossroads where the path from Kotor joins from the left, and we go right.
The path narrows quickly and runs along a stone wall. We quickly reach the next crossroads, where we continue straight ahead. The path then descends gently and we reach a point where we get our first view of Gornji Vinodol and the towns of Grižane, Belgrade and Tribalj.
From the lookout point onwards, our route turns sharp right to the south-west and starts to climb more and more. The forest is replaced by bushes, which are becoming scarcer. The path ahead leads to the wider cart track, along which stands an older unfinished and abandoned house. Cart track soon turns into an asphalt road, where the view of Vinodol and the island of Krk to the west opens up again.
Continue on the asphalt slightly downhill through the hamlet of Zoričići (the highest hamlet of Crikvenica), where the second variant of the ascent to Drenin joins. Go downhill, on the asphalt, until the bend where you leave the asphalt and go uphill. We leave the lawns and we are in a beautiful mixed forest. Unfortunately, we are only in the forest for a minute or so, because then we come to what the locals call the 'burnt shum' (the forest burnt down in a fire that raged here a few years ago). The path ahead leads us to the next stone enclosure, which we climb along for a while and then cross. There is a short descent which seems illogical, but fortunately ends quickly. After the descent, there is a very steep final climb to the very top of Drenin, where the slippery and rocky ground causes problems. Just before the summit there is a turn-off for a nearby viewpoint, and the remains of a former fortress are visible at the top. There is also a metal registration box with a registration book at the top.

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