Reaching the point where I ended my walk in March, in the suburb of Szepvolgy took a bit of effort. First I had to walk from the Airport Hotel to the local shopping centre. There I caught a commuter bus to the end of the Metro. Several stops on the M3 line and 2 stops on the M2 line followed (busy but fortunately not as bad as London's underground in the rush hour). Then I caught the HEV train followed by the number 65 bus. The latter caused a little difficulty as I tried to get on a waiting 65 bus rather than waiting at the designated stand.
Finally I was walking uphill through trees on the long distance walking trail called the Blue route, or Kektura in Hungarian, which I was to follow across the country. Based on my planning today's hike would be 27 km long with a hefty 1000m of ascent. The Buda hills are not that high but the path takes you up three moderately step ascents, soon followed by three descents. At the top of the first ascent was a "kilato", an observation tower you can climb up to get a view, in this case looking back at Budapest.
Much of the route, well marked by blue and white waymarks, was through woodland (nice for shade when the sun broke through the clouds) often on footpaths rather than the forest or farm tracks typical of much of the Blue route that I walked on my previous trip from Koszeg to Budapest. Compared with my last walk in March when the trees were bare, everything was very green with flowers and even wild strawberries and some cherries to follow my lunch with. Other notable sights included a hare, a memorial to a fallen soldier from 1945, stations of the cross, a chapel and holy spring in the forest, and a few groups of children, brown eyed and bare armed, walking or playing games, supervised by some adults. I recall such group trips to the country from my childhood with the boy scouts, but it is not something I see these days in the UK whether due to safety & insurance fears, lack of willing adults or because British children prefer their X boxes. The final section of the walk was through a Limestone gorge, crossing and recrossing at small brook on wooden bridges. A pleasant way to end.
I spent the night in Pilisszentkereszt in the Kislugas panzio. I went half board for a very reasonable price. The evening meal consisted of stew, something that resembled shredded dumplings, sauerkraut and pickled peppers. Very welcome after a hard day's walk although the dessert had been too long in the microwave and burnt my mouth. The other couple eating said some politeness on arriving and leaving but as I could not understand their Hungarian I just smiled. They must have thought me rude.
Finally I was walking uphill through trees on the long distance walking trail called the Blue route, or Kektura in Hungarian, which I was to follow across the country. Based on my planning today's hike would be 27 km long with a hefty 1000m of ascent. The Buda hills are not that high but the path takes you up three moderately step ascents, soon followed by three descents. At the top of the first ascent was a "kilato", an observation tower you can climb up to get a view, in this case looking back at Budapest.
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| View back to Budapest and the Danube from the Kektura |
Much of the route, well marked by blue and white waymarks, was through woodland (nice for shade when the sun broke through the clouds) often on footpaths rather than the forest or farm tracks typical of much of the Blue route that I walked on my previous trip from Koszeg to Budapest. Compared with my last walk in March when the trees were bare, everything was very green with flowers and even wild strawberries and some cherries to follow my lunch with. Other notable sights included a hare, a memorial to a fallen soldier from 1945, stations of the cross, a chapel and holy spring in the forest, and a few groups of children, brown eyed and bare armed, walking or playing games, supervised by some adults. I recall such group trips to the country from my childhood with the boy scouts, but it is not something I see these days in the UK whether due to safety & insurance fears, lack of willing adults or because British children prefer their X boxes. The final section of the walk was through a Limestone gorge, crossing and recrossing at small brook on wooden bridges. A pleasant way to end.
I spent the night in Pilisszentkereszt in the Kislugas panzio. I went half board for a very reasonable price. The evening meal consisted of stew, something that resembled shredded dumplings, sauerkraut and pickled peppers. Very welcome after a hard day's walk although the dessert had been too long in the microwave and burnt my mouth. The other couple eating said some politeness on arriving and leaving but as I could not understand their Hungarian I just smiled. They must have thought me rude.
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