The long weekend

Last Thursday we returned to town, as we had to see our friends Ros and Ian to hand them something to post for us at home. I then packed and got ready for my trip West with my friend Gyuri to do a spot of geocaching.

Gyuri at the first lake

The plan was originally to have a threesome, but our friend Judith had fallen off a chair and has to wear a strict belt with no bending and very limited movement otherwise, so it was just Gyuri and I. He picked me up at the prearranged place and off we went. Needless to say that he had all sorts of plans that I didn't know about, but he is just like that, one has to get used to it.

Golgotha on top of the hill by the chapel

He bought some stuff for the club at home and we had to deliver it to the Chairman, who thankfully lived not a million miles from our route.  Still, we didn't really start caching until about 10:30, which is a seriously late start. The program was to pick caches up as we progress towards our B&B westwards and that is what we did.

The lake at Tata

Places visited included a lake, a hilltop chapel with stages of the cross around it, a mining museum, a lovely old theatre, another 2 lakes, a steep hill in a town where you could have 360 degree panoramic views from, several lookout towers, an old boats' museum, a ruined castle and finally the world famous horse breeding centre in Bábolna. Good and very busy first day.

The next day we were doing a circular trip out, as we were booked into our B&B for two nights. This region where we were has been a very marshy part of the Danube's ecosystem, which unfortunately got very dry after Slovakia dammed and diverted the main riverbed. Later they managed to come to an agreement that enabled the dried out parts to receive some water, but it is no longer as romantic and biologically diverse as it had been before.

Chapel on top of Tata at the Eagle's top

Still, we saw some lovely places, many oxbow lakes, gravel pits, cut off bits of the river where people can fish or boat or just have a good time. There were embankments built up to prevent flooding everywhere and recently they covered quite a few of them with tarmac, so we could drive along them to see more in a day. We met lovely fisherfolk, gorgeous waterbirds, visited a fantastic and enormous set of locks and lock gates. We nearly saw (the water levels were too high and covered it, so we didn't) a concrete boat, which seems quite like a contradiction in terms.

The Radnóti memorial

We also saw the memorial to one of Hungary's greatest 20th century poets, Miklós Radnóti, at the place he was shot and killed by an SS officer in 1944 on a forced march to a concentration camp. That was a very moving experience, especially that he was, and still is, one of my favourite poets of all time.

The lake at the village of Levél

While we were having all this fun, a certain young couple tied the knot, but we saw nothing of it and felt all the better for it. On Sunday we stayed mostly in the same area, but we also popped over the border, which was amazing as it led us along the dammed river, where there was an enormous lake. I have already been on it more than 10 years ago when travelling by hydrofoil to Vienna, but it looked even more impressive from the bank.

Lock gate on the big dam

Finally the last day was spent in Sopron and its environs and that was much fun as well.  Once at home I had all that paperwork to do: log all my finds, upload little stories and photos, enter those that are on the other site (geocaching.com) as well, plus update my password data base. I also had a concert on the Tuesday night, which was really brilliant. Piotr Anderszewski, a Polish/Hungarian pianist was playing Mozart and Poulenc with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. It was superb and his conducting skills were also amazing.  How he could play large pieces on the piano, while conducting as well, I'll never understand.

The chateau at Fertőd, the Hungarian Versailles

And then finally we left town and have just arrived in Bér a few hours ago.  Since then I have done a load of washing and put it outside in the glorious sunshine to dry and now am indoors in the cool sipping a drink and occasionally typing on the computer.

The plans for the next week/10 days include trying to finish my series of spring caches, which still have a long way to go; travel to replace one of my caches that had disappeared; tend to the garden and the herb patch; pick cherries, should they become ripe and possibly even make jam.

The big church at Fertőszéplak

All the best to you all! Next post probably next week or so.