The seventyfirst week of the pandemic

A week ago Roy had his second jab. It went famously well. Thankfully this time we made sure that he stayed cool and was drinking a lot. He felt a lot more confident, therefore his blood pressure didn't go up. We also did a bit of shopping, for food in SPAR and in a separate fruit and veg shop, which was quite a find. The choice and quality of stuff there was superb. Prices to match, of course, but I never mind paying over the odds if it is worth it. And it was very much so in this case.

Pásztó Outpatient Clinic

I also bought some stationery stuff, like pens and en route home we popped into our favourite hardware shop in Palotás and bought some more fly traps and another fly screen for the other door. Those dangly stirps seem to keep all but the most demented flies out of indoors. Talking of fly screens, Roy suddenly livened up and had a go at making another two screens: one for the lounge where he sleeps nowadays, and one for the kitchen. It really made quite a difference to be able to keep three windows open overnight.

The masterpiece

It was the weekend of the British GP and I was still boycotting the F1 races, in the vain hope that if I don't watch, Lewis will do well. It didn't work the last time, but it did this time. He and Verstappen collided after only half a lap, but while Verstappen had to retire, Lewis survived it. He did get a 10 seconds penalty for causing an accident, but still won it. He is now only about 6 or 7 points behind Verstappen, but with this happening, the rest of the season will be a true grudge match right through, I think.

The watermill at Bér

On Monday morning András Trenyik arrived to maintain and clean the big pottery stove. He said it was quite clean inside, but the tar is still of some concern inside the stove and in the chimney. He said that we have to do something about the tar, as it might cause a chimney fire, which is very dangerous. He advised to get some stuff, that you can spread over hot embers and that would clean up the chimney. Hopefully it is not smelly, or I will be moving out.

The stove after cleaning

On Monday early afternoon our visitors arrived. Feri, Brigi and Mira, the Akita cross, were our very first overnight visitors for nearly two years. We have been inviting them for quite a while, but with one thing and another it hasn't happened until this week. Also, Karesz, my other geocaching friend finally managed to get round to organising our Mátra hike, but I'll report about that later. At the end of the afternoon I took them caching in Bér. We found 2 of the 3 parts of my 3-parter multicache, as well as the one at the mill.

Mira, the Akita cross

As the Mátra is not far from us, Feri, Brigi and Mira came to stay on the Monday and then we went together from here on the Tuesday. The hike was superb and while it was jolly exhausting, we all enjoyed it. 

Mira waiting for Feri...

...to come back from this mountain

It was an enormously long hike, which we had some help with, or we would never have made it. Karcsi, who stayed in the area, got his B&B lady rustle up a forester, with a massive Toyota Hilux pickup to take us up to the ridge, saving us lots of kilometres and height climb. In all honesty, we would never have made it without that help.

Views to the North

The forester, who was the lady’s uncle, was an absolutely lovely bloke. We could hardly parted with him after he dropped us, he was that chatty, friendly and helpful to us. But eventually we got going by about 9am. Karcsi and Feri first climbed a small mountain for some parts of multi-caches, that Brigi, myself and Mira, the dog, didn’t fancy. Good job we did that, as it was a hellishly steep climb and descent.

Feri and Brigi on Jagus

The ridge wasn’t flat, but the ups and downs were bearable. The weather was amazingly cool, as the heatwave had started abating in the previous few days. Also, we had a breeze, being over 500m height. The first caches were still done out of the pickup, where our lovely guide took us en route to the ridge. So we bagged two springs then, but up on the ridge we were mostly finding mountain tops and another two springs as well.

A classical hanger

With breeze and dropped temperatures, we were bearing up amazingly well. The actual geocaches and the locations where they were placed got better and better as we went along. The views were spectacular in places and we saw a good few pretty wild flowers as well. The best location was the last one, where we sat on the very top of some huge great cliffs with a sheer drop of at least a hundred feet. It was breath taking, although the humidity was quite high, so it was hazy.

On the precipice at the end

At the end of the day, when we were off the hills, we also found a moving cache, which we managed to find a place to leave along the route we drove home on. The statistics were as follows: 23km, 400m of climb, 7 caches and some glorious views.

Feri's drone

On Wednesday we first played a bit in the garden with Feri's drone. It was a fantastic little gadget and it took beautiful pictures and video. We had lunch at home and then went on an outing to Buják to do a spot of caching. I have found both of these caches around 10 years before, but currently they were in comopletely different places. I happened to find both, before the two of them, which was surprising, as I am not usuallly that quick. Although these were places I have been to many times before, I enjoyed them all over again, especially as I was with good friends.

 

The calvary

The 2 Buják caches were the stages of the cross and the castle ruins. Especially the latter, they enjoyed tremendously. The ruins are really overgrown, and that gives them an adventurous, spooky character. They loved it there and we were quie late getting home. We said good-bye there, as we came home to Bér and they went back to BP to their home.

The calvary chapel

Today we rested, especially me, as my joints had a jolly good battering over the last two days. I am trying to catch up with messages, e-mails, FB and other related matters. It is how much stuff piles up when you don't deal with them straight away. We only had the visitors for 3 days, but it seemed I have not looked at my computer for 3 weeks.

Two bits of ruined wall at Buják castle

Today my vitamins, supplements, and dried fruits and nuts have arrived by courier. It was quick, as I didn't order them until Monday. Their website was up the creek over the weekend, so I had to wait until Monday, to complain that the system cheated me out of about £7 on the bonus points. They put it right manually and delivered them today.

Brigi in the castle

Now we have the job of trecking down this KONIX stuff that is supposed to clean the inside of the stove and the chimney of tar. I found some on the internet, but the delivery is very expensive. I hink we will find a hardware shop, a DIY shop, a farm shop or a building material shop, they might have it. We will not be heating the stove for at least the next 3 or 4 months, so we have plenty of time.

The way home

Must finish now as I am falling off the chair fast asleep. Next post next week.