Radlje ob Dravi - Sveti Urban (Radelca) (via Župank)
Starting point: Radlje ob Dravi (374 m)
Starting point Lat/Lon: 46.6144°N 15.225°E
Path name: via Župank
Time of walking: 3 h 15 min
Difficulty: easy marked way
Difficulty of skiing: no data
Altitude difference: 546 m
Altitude difference (by path): 650 m
Map: Pohorje - izletniška karta 1:50.000
Access to starting point:
A) We drive to Dravograd, and then we continue driving towards Maribor. When we get to Radlje ob Dravi, from the crossroad between the stores Hofer and Lidl we turn left in the direction of the mountain pass Radelj and center of Radlje ob Dravi. We continue on the road which leads us through the center of the settlement (left Austria over mountain pass Radeljski prelaz), and there we drive to the parish church of St. Mihael, where by the road we notice red signposts. We park on one of the parking lots in Radlje ob Dravi, but carefully, because on some parking lots it is possible to park only to 2 hours.
B) From Maribor through the valley Dravska dolina we drive towards Dravograd, and we leave the main road before the settlement Radlje ob Dravi, where signs for the mentioned settlement point us to the right. Further, we drive past the cemetery, health center and police station, and then on the right near the parish church we notice red signposts. We park on one of the parking lots in Radlje ob Dravi, but carefully, because on some parking lots it is possible to park only to 2 hours.
Path description:
From the starting point, we go on the path in the direction of Župank and Kapunar, where we at first go past learning information board and past the parish church of St. Mihael, and a little further also past Rožni dvor (Rosenhof). The road on which we are ascending soon turns left, only few steps further blazes point us sharply right on a narrower road, and from there we go immediately left on at first fenced marked path. After few minutes of ascent we reach the macadam road, and we follow it to the right, so that we bypass the water storage on the bottom right side.
We continue towards Župank and Kapunar (slightly left unmarked path on Kapunar, which leads west from Perkolica (600 meters), straight steeper marked path), where from a macadam we quickly pass on an asphalt road, and there we are ascending all the way to NOB monument at homestead Župank.
From the monument we return to the chapel, and then we continue on a marked macadam road, from which beautiful views opening up, which reach over Drava to Pohorje and Karawanks, and in good visibility we can nicely see also Kamnik Savinja Alps. A little higher at the right turn from the left joins a little shorter path, which at the water storage went straight in the forest, and we continue on the road, where also signs for Kapunar point us to.
On the road, we quickly get to the farm Ižek, from where a nice view opens up on for now still quite distant Kapunar. When the road a little ahead passes into a lane of a forest, it turns sharply left, and at the smaller crossroad, we go straight. We bypass Farm Pavli on the right side, and few 10 strides ahead we go slightly right on a cart track which brings us into the forest. In the forest, we go from the cart track right on a footpath, and there we in few minutes ascend to a macadam road.
We follow the road to the right, and at the next crossroads we follow the blazes or signs for Kapunar. Next follows a relatively long walk on the macadam road which we follow to the former guardhouse, which is today used by amateur radio operators.
From the guardhouse, where there is an inscription box, we continue in the direction of hunting cross, Sveti Urban and Sveti Pankracij. The path ahead leads us on a cart track which starts gradually descending, and lower we reach the border ridge, which we reach at the hunting cross.
We continue on the path which runs on the Slovenian side of the ridge Radelj, and for some time parallel with our path runs also the Austrian path. Further, the paths for some time go a little away from each other, and at the next wooden religious symbol, they get closer again.
We leave the national border at the crossing, where signs for path Sveti Pankracij point us to the right downwards. Next follows a descent to the nearby farm Buzenik, which we bypass on the left side. Behind the chapel and NOB memorial we step on a macadam road which we follow to the left and then we quickly get to the church of St. Urban.
Radlje ob Dravi - Župank 0:30, Župank - hut of amateur radio operators 1:55, hut of amateur radio operators - Sveti Urban 0:50.
Description and pictures refer to a condition in the year 2018 (December).
Pictures:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58