Hotavlje - Koča na Ermanovcu (by road)

Access to starting point:
A) From Železniki, Kranj or Medvode we drive to Škofja Loka, and from there we continue driving in the direction of Gorenja vas in the valley Poljanska dolina and Žiri. After Gorenja vas, in the settlement Hotavlje, at the crossroad behind inn Gostilna Lipan we leave the main road towards Žiri and we continue driving right in the direction of the ski slope Cerkno and village Leskovica. Immediately after the crossroad, we park on an appropriate place by the road.
B) From Horjul or Polhov Gradec we drive to Lučine, from there we descend into Gorenja vas. In Gorenja vas we continue left towards Žiri, after that in Hotavlje at the crossroad behind inn Gostilna Lipan we continue right in the direction of the ski slope Cerkno and village Leskovica. Immediately after the crossroad, we park on an appropriate place by the road.
C) From Vrhnika, Logatec or Spodnja Idrija we drive to Žiri, and from there we continue driving towards Gorenja vas and Škofja Loka, and we drive on the main road only to the settlement Hotavlje, where we turn left in the direction of the ski slope Cerkno and village Leskovica. Immediately after the crossroad, we park on an appropriate place by the road.
D) First, we drive to Cerkno, and from there we continue driving through saddle Kladje (Podlanišče) towards Sovodenj. From Sovodenj we continue driving by the stream Hobovščica, and then in a little larger crossroad we continue left in the direction of Gorenja vas (right Žiri). On the main road towards Škofja Loka we drive to the settlement Hotavlje, where we turn left in the direction of the ski slope Cerkno and village Leskovica. Immediately after the crossroad, we park on an appropriate place by the road.

Path description:
From the starting point, where nearby there is a vending machine of farm Pr Šupc we continue on the road towards the village Leskovica and in the direction of hiking paths on Blegoš, Ermanovec and Slajka. Few minutes we walk by the edge of the road, partly also on a sidewalk, and then signs for Ermanovec and Slajka point us to the left (straight Blegoš), where over the bridge we cross Kopačnica, and immediately after the bridge at the church of St. Lovrenc we continue right and we gradually start ascending. At first, we are ascending past few more houses, and then a marked footpath branches off to the left, and we continue on the road which leads us also past a trough with water. Higher the settlement ends, the road which offers nice views soon turns sharply left and gradually passes into the forest. Higher, we cross the route of a marked path, and we follow the steep road to a marked crossroad, where a road towards Slajka branches off to the right, and we continue straight in the direction of Stara Oselica. Further, the asphalt for some time ends, and then we continue through a grassy valley, where we get to the farm Hom. At the mentioned farm, the road turns left and then it makes a right hairpin turn and ascends diagonally to a crossroad, where we join the marked path which leads past the mountain hut Dom na Slajki.
We continue in the direction of Ermanovec and then we for quite some time walk on the macadam road which later becomes asphalted. Next follows some descent with nice views, after that from a smaller crossroad we continue slightly right (slightly left we can descend to the church of St. Pavel in Stara Oselica), and from the next crossroad we go slightly left (slightly right farm Rotovž).
Next follows an easy ascent and the path brings us to the spot, where the marked path splits.
We continue on the slightly right path which continues on the road (left peak of Ermanovec, and it is also possible to come to the mountain hut Dom na Ermanovcu, but the path is a little longer) and further we are ascending diagonally. Higher, we continue slightly left, and at the hamlet of few houses the road turns sharply right, and then with nice views brings us to a marked crossing by the chapel and bell.
We continue straight in the direction of the mountain hut Dom na Ermanovcu (sharply left peak of Ermanovec, left road which descends to Sovodenj) and we continue walking on a gently sloping asphalt road which a little ahead joins also a marked path from Sovodenj.
From the mentioned crossing follows only few 10 strides of easy walking and we get to the mountain hut Dom na Ermanovcu.
Description and pictures refer to a condition in January 2020.

Trip can be extended to: Škofje , Štor , Ermanovec