The sixtynineth week of the pandemic

Apologies for the delay, but this had been a rather busy, sometimes even hectic week and I totally forgot. Today is Sunday, so this post is 4 days late, but at least today I have practically nothing else to do, so I  can do it at my leisure.

Roy doing tree pruning

In the last 10 days I had trips to BP again, mostly for medical appointments, there was a Grand Prix, the second one in Austria, our Dutch neighbours and friends have arrived, we organised a meeting with Pali for them, who is probably going to be their caretaker from September onwards, Stephen had celebrated his 48th birthday, I prepared 2 new geocaches, had written their web pages and placed them, saw my hygienist, published my 2 new geocaches and had a gorgeous big hike with Anna. As you can see, I was no slouch in the last 10 days, and here come the details.

Max Verstappen heading for victory in 2021

I decided not to watch the Grand Prix, as I am so depressed about what is happening to poor Lewis. Something is not quite right with both the car and him. Does it have something to do with his Covid from last year? Does it simply mean that he is not used to a car that can't be fixed? Or simply there is no way anyone can stay as superbly brilliant, as he had been since he was a teenager, forever? Once or twice in the past I couldn't make a GP and he suddenly started doing well. So, I tried that this time, but no go - he started 4th, and finished 4th, while Verstappen won and is now 32 points ahead of him overall. (sniff, sniff!!) 

Nice vista in the back garden

Heino and Manet from the Netherlands have arrived on Sunday. They also had her daughter with them, but I haven't met her. The other two have been delightful, as I suspected they would be. I tried to help them with getting them a new caretaker and sorting their problems with their utility bills. We all had a meeting on Wednesday, when they agreed salaries, requirements and it looks as if Pali is happy. Apparently, since then he appeared with two demijons of his own wine as a present, so things are OK with them.

Close-up of the pavilion

 

While Manet went off into Budapest with her daughter, Heino came over to use our internet and we sorted the utility bills. He is already paying the gas bill via bank transfer and I am in the process of sorting the water and electricity bills to arrive by e-mail, rather than post, so he should be able to pay it online directly from home. 

Our present from Heino and Manet

 

They were really lovely and brought us a really Dutch present of a cheeseboard, 2 big chunks of cheese, some Melba toast, some herbs, a big piece of sausage and 2 little jars of what looks like chutney. We haven't yet tried them, as we are currently drowning in cheese. Typical Murphy, that we have extra cheese when we have the fridge and freezer laden with the stuff.

Welsh mature Cheddar from Lidl

This happened due to a new item somebody posted on one of my expat groups on Facebook. Apparently, Lidl is having a special week of having 1kg packages of Cheddar for £5 and while in BP I went and bought 4 kilos. 3 are in the freezer and Roy is getting through the first kilo fast. On top of those, now we have two fair size chunks of Dutch cheese, plus my Grana Padano, which I also bought en route home from BP, along with two packs of feta, as nobody stocks it around here. We will definitely look like cheese soon.

Stephen training on the seafront

On the 2nd July Stephen became 48 years old. It makes me feel very old writing that. Thankfully, he doesn't look it, he still lives at a 100 miles an hour and is happy with it. Work is picking up with the opening up in the UK, although I have my worries about that. He has not mentioned his headaches lately, so perhaps they are getting better, but he is good with stuff like that and I am keeping my fingers crossed that all symptoms of his concussion should be gone soon.

The lovely smiley face of my dentist

I also saw my hygienist in BP on Monday. She was very kind about my teeth, but I know they were in a dreadful state. Her bill was £60, which is a reflection of how much she had to work on them. I went 4 months late, a full 10 months since the last visit, so they were rather bad, whatever she said. The receptionist also told me a bit of extremely bad news. Our dentist, Vivien, is leaving at the end of the summer, as she is going to Italy, presumably to work there. I made an appointment for both of us in August, as we need a dentist urgently, but also to say good-bye. Why is it, that every time I find someone I really like and can trust, they disappear? (sniff, sniff!!)

Muggins on the big rock

The final, and I must admit the best, topic is about my new geocaches and the hike to place them. The last time I put out a new cache of my own was in March. That has proved very popular, nearly a 100 people have found it since then and most of the comments are positive. I was thinking of putting out another two, as I have had some ideas from hiking magazines and my "Wonderful Cserhát" group on FB. One was to some interesting large rocks, which have a legend to go with them, the other one to some weird geological extrusions, not far from the first one. Both are in Nógrád, so not too far from us. 

The Highwaymen's table rock

I started gathering the photos, data etc, and had written the cache pages. I submitted them for moderation and they have gone through with no bother. As both included a good few kilometres of hiking, I  couldn't really go on my own, so Anna, my new friend, whom I have been keeping in touch with, but have not seen for over 2 months, agreed to come with me. Due to the heatwave I was trying to put it off, but the weather just got hotter and hotter, so we decided to have a go last Thursday.

My hiking friend Anna

We were supposed to start at 7am, to avoid the worst of the heat, but she was about half an hour late as well as I was pretty slow on the trail. Additionally, she lost her map, went back to look for it and still didn't find it. That took another 20 minutes or so, making us later and later. The temperature reached 36 degrees Celsius by the afternoon, so I was suffering. Still, we took plenty of water and we survived it, she with no bother, me with some struggles.

One of the gorgeous views on our hike

The first location was about 2 miles from the car, up a not too steep, but relentlessly uphill location, on the ridge of a mountain. We made one cock-up with the navigation, which was mostly my fault. Where the map had shown a 90 degree turn to the left, there was a clear waymark pointing into an overgrown meadow through an open gate.  So we went. On our way back we realised that the sign was only there, because whoever was told to paint it, couldn't find a tree in the right place. Should we have gone on 20 yards, the path properly turned left there. Brrrrrrrr!!

Another lovely set of views on our hike

The struggle through the meadow, including fighting some jungle at the end, was fun, although it managed to give us some nasty scratches and bites, as well as some more delays. The significance of the area where we were putting the cache, consisted of some amazing large andesite rocks. This is a very volcanic area, but these rocks looked as if an angry giant had lost its temper and had thrown them about with abandon. The most famous one had an absolutely flat top, like somebody had cut it like it. As it looks like a table top, it is called the "Highwaymen's Table".

Sisa Pista, the leader of the highwaymen

The legend goes that in the 19th century, many local highwaymen used to meet there, to dicuss and organise their raids from there. The thick forest offered good cover and they could scatter in all directions, should the military discover their hideout. Whether this is true or not, the place is unique enough to warrant a hike to it. Especially, as right underneath where we placed the cache, Anna discovered a rock wall, which was either natural, or an old quarry abandoned decades ago, that had some unique rocks in it.

Row of wine cellars in the village

Anna has a special interest in geology and her knowledge is far superior to mine in this field. She managed to find some circular rock shapes and actual balls, which erode in a circular manner, like an onion, layer by layer. Fascinating stuff, I thought, although I have no idea what these are called in English. On return to the car, we had our sandwiches, had lots of drink again and moved on.

Circular erosion on a piece of rock

The next cache to be placed was about 6 miles away, so we motored across and started walking on an unmarked path to it, which ran above it on the ridge. Great mistake! There was no way to get down to it from there, although we finally managed it through thorny, thick and very hostile scrub/forest, on an animal track, which steep down, very rocky and gave us both plenty more scratches and bites on our legs and arms.

Sylvan selfie

The significant site where we were heading to is hardly known, not even in the nearby village where we started from. I have a geologist friend, who managed to send me some information about them, which explained it reasonably well. They are rocky extrusions, which are sandstone, but don't look like sandstone. They were formed at the bottom of the Pannon Sea, some 19 to 23 million years ago. Once the sea subsided, some of the sand came under pressure and some biological/geological/chemical processes calcified some of it, that consequently became very hard. Over the millenia, erosion got rid of the softer stuff around them, so now they are visible and look weird indeed.

Weird extrusions in the mountainside

Some look like benches, others like mushrooms, there are few that look like sharks from underneath, one or two look like truncheons, etc., etc. After we emerged from the jungle above them, they were so spectacular that we forgot the agony of getting to them. By then, time was well into the afternoon with well over 30 degrees Celsius, so neither of us had the time, energy and inclination to scamper over them too much. Not to mention, that it would be rather irresponsible anyway, due to causing further erosion and damaging them.

Shark rock

 

So we hid the cache, took a good few photographs and went back to the car another way. They were both published yesterday and my good frind, VP, was the first finder at both of them. He told me of another approach possibility, which I will investigae when the heatwave's gone and I can go back there without heat exhaustion. I was very close to it on our way back to the car, but made it fortunately.

Rocks surrounded by juniper

I hope Anna didn't get too fed up with me having to sit down frequently, especially after we ran out of water. The last 2km was agony, especially that there was a 50m climb in it, so perhaps I will approach it in a different way the next time I am there. Now I have to finish. I hope you are all OK out there and the next post should be, hopefully next Wednesday, or perhaps a day or two later.💓