Zankel grotto - Mother of God rock - Khünburg ruins

From the ÖBB stop Pressegger See or from the car park through the road subway and straight ahead up the road (yellow sign on the left: "Zuchen Wasserfall, Weg Nr. 16/53"). After approx. 60 metres keep right and continue past the houses, the road continues as a path through the forest, turn right at the yellow sign ("Zuchen, Weg Nr. 16") and continue on the path along the fence of the Schluga lake campsite. After passing through a fence, keep left (yellow sign: "Zuchen, path no. 16"), at the end of the path continue left (yellow sign: "Zuchen, path no. 16") and now follow the white-red-white markings with the no. 16, after approx. 60 m turn left (note: the next white-red-white marking is only approx. 20 m after the turn). Stay on the path until you reach a post with several yellow signs. Turn left here and after approx. 50 metres turn right again. You will now see the markings for the climb. The path climbs steadily and steeply along the slope until you reach a forest road. About 150 metres below this forest road, there is an unmarked turn-off on the left (footprints) to the "Seeblickfelsen" viewpoint with a beautiful view of Lake Presseggersee. At the viewpoint, the rock falls almost 60 metres vertically! Return to the path and after about 5 minutes you will reach a forest road. Turn left here and after approx. 50 metres turn right (yellow signpost) onto the path to the Zankelgrotte, which you follow for approx. 10 minutes until you reach the Zankelgrotte.

From the Zankelgrotte, continue to the left until you reach a small hill, then turn right and shortly afterwards continue in an arc to the left until you reach the path to the Vellacher Egel and Spitzegel (signpost). From here the path descends to the left, crosses a forest road after a short while and after a few bends and hairpin bends comes to a wide forest road. Follow this in a westerly direction past a rock face on the right and with great views on the left of the Carnic Alps with Oisternig, Starhand, Poludnig, Gartnerkofel and Trogkofel to name but a few.

After about 10 minutes, you will see the "Mother of God Rock" on the right, a towering rock tower that looks like a statue of the Mother of God from the valley. Continuing along the forest road, you will soon recognise the keep of the Khünburg ruins. The forest road now descends a little more steeply to a dry stream ditch and immediately afterwards it goes right again outwards on a forest road until it turns left to the ruins of Khünburg Castle.

From the castle, return to the forest road and follow it downhill until after approx. 250 metres, shortly after a barrier, a path turns off to the right. This crosses the forest road and ends a little later at a bend in the road. Here, opposite the junction, is the so-called Brusnbründl. The path continues to the left, after approx. 80 metres it turns right onto a former forest road that has been buried by a mudslide in this area. Crossing the mudslide is easy and the trail continues along the old forest road, first straight ahead, then in an arc to the right until you reach a large gravelled hill. Shortly before this, a path branches off to the left (watch out for the markings), continue downhill on this path, cross a forest road and continue until you reach a fork in the path. Keep left here and continue on the path until it joins a forest road that runs parallel to Bundestrasse 111. Continue along this road to the left and after a short time you will reach the subway, through which you can reach the starting point car park or ÖBB stop.