Orlek - Orleška draga

Access to the starting point:
Sežana is reached via the motorway section between the Gabrk fork (at Divača) and the Fernetiči border crossing. Leave the motorway at the Sežana-East exit and take the Sežana exit (on the way you will pass a semaphore-controlled junction where the road from Nova Gorica joins from the right and the road from Divača joins from the left). In Sežana, at the semaphore crossing, turn left onto Bazoviško cesta (signposted to Lipica), cross the railway line on the overpass, turn right at the first roundabout (direction Lipica) and right again at the next roundabout (direction Orlek). When you reach Orlek, follow the northern edge of the road to the northwestern part of the village, where there is a monument to the National Liberation Front (NOB). There is a small parking area in front of the monument where you can find a parking space.

From Sežana you can also reach the starting point on foot. It is much more pleasant than the road described above to cross the Living Karst Museum, where you can see some more Karst sights along the way. To the east of the town centre, take the Bazoviška road and head south. After crossing the railway line on the overpass, turn right at the first roundabout (direction Lipica) and go straight ahead at the next roundabout (direction ZGRS Sežana and the Living Karst Museum). A little further from the firefighters, the asphalt ends and the well-marked route across the Living Karst Museum begins. First, walk south along the wide macadam path (direction Bazovica), after approx. 2 km, several markings direct you to the right towards Orlek, which is still approx. 2 km walk away. At some forks there are several possible directions towards Orlek, in which case choose the more right-hand option, which is slightly shorter, unless you are interested in a particular point along the other version of the route. When you reach Orlek from the eastern direction, walk through the village centre to the starting point of the NOB monument in the NW part of the village.

Path description:
From the starting point, head west past the ecological island. After approx. 50 metres you will come to a fork. Straight ahead is a driveway leading to a fenced private property, to the left is an asphalted path leading to the state border and onwards to Trebci (Trebiciano), and here we turn right onto a dirt track. There are a few forks on the way, but keep straight on the whole time. After about 200 metres from the fork, cross the railway line on a narrow underpass. Just after the underpass, the path splits again in several directions. Take the rightmost option here. After approx. 200 m, a new fork follows. Here, take the cart track to the slight left (but definitely not perpendicular to the left, straight into the meadow). Cart track leads you between two meadows for only a few 10 m, then turns right in the woods and starts descending into a sinkhole. Cart track descends gently along the northern, western and then southern slopes towards the bottom of the hollow, reaching it at the SE 'corner' and ending there. At the westernmost point of the path, you will notice a boundary stone, which tells you that the western slope of the sinkhole is already in Italian territory.

The description and the pictures describe the situation in November 2022.

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