For my final day of walking on this trip I was on the path by 6:00 a.m. after admiring the orange sun rising above the plain behind some trees in the distance.
The first section was along an overgrown embankment beside a drainage channel. It was a haven for wild flowers, thistles, grasses and insects. A botanical wonderland but slow walking. The huge field of sunflowers I passed, their yellow faces all pointing south, was a particularly memorable sight.
Eventually, I reached a road at the edge of Pocsaj and turned back south on another embankment, with recently cut grass, going to Kismarja. On route I passed a cyclist, a stork and in the middle distance a flock of sheep with their shepherd and a herd of cows. In Kismarja there was the chance to buy a can of "Hell", a croissant filled with chocolate and cherry, and a banana for a late breakfast. Then it was down the Kektura to Nagykereki.
A few kilometres down the path, waymarked with the usual blue lines on a white background, I ran into problems. A man appeared behind me, shouting something, I presumed to his dog. Then he came up and grabbed my arm and refused to let go, dragging me back towards Kismarja. I protested but he did not understand English and I did not understand Hungarian. He was then joined by a second man talking on his phone. It was made clear that I had to follow them back towards Kismarja, but I indicated I was going the other way. I caught the word "Romania", which made me think they were in some way concerned with refugees crossing the border (rather than robbing me) so I showed my itinerary and pointed to the word " Nagykereki", the village in Hungary that was the next destination on the Kektura, pointing out a blue and white waymark on a nearby tree, but without effect. I then showed them my British Passport, however this was no help either. They did not offer any ID to me. At this point a car appeared and the men flagged it down. I was instructed to get into the car and the driver returned me to Kismarja, asking where I wanted to be dropped as we approached the village.
I headed off walking back to Nagykereki. I have walked the E4 Long Distance European Path, of which the Alfoldi Kektura is part, since Spain and was not going to be stopped at this point, but for my own safety, this time I walked along the main road. After a few kilometres some police stopped me, checked my passport and what I was doing, checked I had enough water and sent me on my way. I tried to determine what the problem was with the guys earlier, indicating they had grabbed my arm, but language difficulties limited our conversation. I gathered that the proximity of the Romanian border (the current border of the Schengen zone) was an issue, but not much more.
While I have no problem with police checking on people, being manhandled by (I presume) civilians while peacefully walking a national and international footpath was disturbing and I found my hand shaking as I wrote down my address for the police.
From there I walked to Nagykereki railway station along the road without further incident and caught the next train, which bumped its way along to Debrecen as British trains used to before continuous welded rail was introduced. The guard on the train spent a while tapping away on his handheld computer and successfully produced a ticket to Budapest, complete with seat reservation on the next Intercity train from Debrecen (I was impressed). I had only a few minutes to change trains at Debrecen, the guard encouraging me to run (not possible with a 15 kg rucksack) but I made the connection and am now safely in the Buda Mercure hotel, washed and well fed, with a view of Buda castle from my room.
The first section was along an overgrown embankment beside a drainage channel. It was a haven for wild flowers, thistles, grasses and insects. A botanical wonderland but slow walking. The huge field of sunflowers I passed, their yellow faces all pointing south, was a particularly memorable sight.
Eventually, I reached a road at the edge of Pocsaj and turned back south on another embankment, with recently cut grass, going to Kismarja. On route I passed a cyclist, a stork and in the middle distance a flock of sheep with their shepherd and a herd of cows. In Kismarja there was the chance to buy a can of "Hell", a croissant filled with chocolate and cherry, and a banana for a late breakfast. Then it was down the Kektura to Nagykereki.
A few kilometres down the path, waymarked with the usual blue lines on a white background, I ran into problems. A man appeared behind me, shouting something, I presumed to his dog. Then he came up and grabbed my arm and refused to let go, dragging me back towards Kismarja. I protested but he did not understand English and I did not understand Hungarian. He was then joined by a second man talking on his phone. It was made clear that I had to follow them back towards Kismarja, but I indicated I was going the other way. I caught the word "Romania", which made me think they were in some way concerned with refugees crossing the border (rather than robbing me) so I showed my itinerary and pointed to the word " Nagykereki", the village in Hungary that was the next destination on the Kektura, pointing out a blue and white waymark on a nearby tree, but without effect. I then showed them my British Passport, however this was no help either. They did not offer any ID to me. At this point a car appeared and the men flagged it down. I was instructed to get into the car and the driver returned me to Kismarja, asking where I wanted to be dropped as we approached the village.
I headed off walking back to Nagykereki. I have walked the E4 Long Distance European Path, of which the Alfoldi Kektura is part, since Spain and was not going to be stopped at this point, but for my own safety, this time I walked along the main road. After a few kilometres some police stopped me, checked my passport and what I was doing, checked I had enough water and sent me on my way. I tried to determine what the problem was with the guys earlier, indicating they had grabbed my arm, but language difficulties limited our conversation. I gathered that the proximity of the Romanian border (the current border of the Schengen zone) was an issue, but not much more.
While I have no problem with police checking on people, being manhandled by (I presume) civilians while peacefully walking a national and international footpath was disturbing and I found my hand shaking as I wrote down my address for the police.
From there I walked to Nagykereki railway station along the road without further incident and caught the next train, which bumped its way along to Debrecen as British trains used to before continuous welded rail was introduced. The guard on the train spent a while tapping away on his handheld computer and successfully produced a ticket to Budapest, complete with seat reservation on the next Intercity train from Debrecen (I was impressed). I had only a few minutes to change trains at Debrecen, the guard encouraging me to run (not possible with a 15 kg rucksack) but I made the connection and am now safely in the Buda Mercure hotel, washed and well fed, with a view of Buda castle from my room.
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| Sun rising over Great Plain |
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| Nagykereki railway station, end of the line and of my walk this time |
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