The hundred and eighteenth week of the pandemic

The days after I posted last week we came into BP. The intermittent fault on the passenger seat was still intermittent. We are getting used to it, as it stops screaming after about a kilometre. And when we are lucky, it doesn't do it at all. 

Almost up at the top

We drove all the way to the flat, as we were leaving the following morning for a bit of geocaching in the vicinity of my two days' hikes. We first checked out the parking area for Saturday, and changed the location a bit, as the original place I thought of got fenced off. I even managed to find the owner of the conference centre with a hikers' buffet, who confirmed that we can park at the other end of his estate.

Blossoming tree

Following this we drove over to the other side of the main road and found two caches. One of them was in the middle of Szárliget, a lovely little memorial for the local narrow gauge railway that the mining industry used.

Industrial narrow gauge railway memorial and Roy

The other cache was reached by climbing up a small, but quite steep mountain, both ends of the path being on the edge of the village. I wanted to start at one and finished at the other, but eventually we went for the better parking area in the shade for Roy, so I went from and returned to the same place. That cache took some huffing and puffing from me, but the views at the top were gorgeous, so it was all worth it.

Glorious views everywhere

Having finished these two, we motored over to the village of Vérteskozma on the Western edge of the Vértes Mountains. Here I had a 4km walk, 2 there and 2 back, on a lovely level forestry road, where you could bite the silence, except for the occasional bird song. The one and only worrying aspect of this outing, was the quite frequent passage of a 10 ton forestry artic, which was fully laden and travelled like he was Max Verstappen. 

We couldn't do any more as the weather was changing and we still had to go for lunch in the Csákvár Csárda. It was really good country fare, at reasonable prices and friendly service. Roy had his usual gypsy roast, I had pig's liver in breadcrumbs, which was delicious. After this we turned towards the motorway to get home, when the skies opened. We were very happy that it didn't rain at all during the day, but after a few minutes of the severe cloudburst above and all around us, I started getting quite frightened.

Saturday's route: 16km 450m climb

Roy had a beer at lunch, so I was driving, and most of the trip on the motorway we were playing at being the filling in a 2 camion sandwich. Neither vehicle was going too fast, but they were far too close to me, that's for sure. Visibility was also dreadful, due partly to the furore of the elements, but also due to the spray. I couldn't see the front end of the car most of the time. Thankfully, as were approaching BP it let up a bit, but never stopped.

Sunday's route: 18km 475m climb

We, unfortunately had an expensive aftereffect of the trauma on the motorway, by missing a sign that meant that we should not have parked in the disabled bay. We were both quite tired, in a rush not to get too wet and watching the puddles, while the sign was quite high. Later on in the week, on our return, we have just caught the coppers putting a £115 ticket on the windscreen. Such is life, now I know that no matter how hard it's raining and no matter how tired I am, I will have to make sure never to park at that spot.

Saturday's crowd with 2 out of the 3 dogs

 

And finally the weekend arrived and I went off to the Vértes to lead the first day's hike. 20 people turned up, the weather was perfect and we all had a brilliant day in the sunshine, collecting 8 caches. There was an old guy, who had already found all, but the nearest one, which is rather new, so he walked with us to that one and then left us.

The chapel ruins

I found out later, that three more people had left us, not that early, but after the second cache. This lot was not very polite by not saying anything and we only realised when it was obvious that they were not with us. Depending on fitness, such long hikes always scatter a bit, but when we got near the next cache and waited for us, they were nowhere to be seen. This was, I think, very bad manners, but knowing who they were, it didn't surprise us. Later on, after they logged their own caches over the weekend and Monday, I realised why they didn't say anything.

Having a break in the shadow of the lookout tower

 

The best joy for me was twofold: 1. there was a new family, 2 parents and 3 kids, whom I have never before met, and who ended up delightful company. All 5 of them were very kind, friendly, chatty people who were both interesting and interested, which is a fantastic combination. I hope I'll see them in the future, as they are a joy to be with. 2. everybody was kind and looked after me. I had serious doubts about my ability to do 16km with 450m of climb in one go, but managed it. With aches and pains, but managed it.

Vitányvár castle ruins

The caches visited were: an old ruin of a medieval church, a lookout tower, a castle ruin, a set of big rock walls with views, a spring, a sylvan chapel and a really wild and deep ravine. After arriving back at our parking place, some people went on to do some more caching, but I went home to fall into bed by 8pm.

The little chapel at Körtvélyes

On Sunday, the congregation was considerably smaller. Only 8 people turned up, The family from the day before, minus the youngest child, a bloke, also from Saturday and 3 new people. A couple, whom I have known and a guy who seemed to know who I was, but I had no idea who he was. As I found the first cache on Sunday's tour the previous Thursday, I could do my planned short cut, which saved me about 8km and about 110 metres of climb. Much to my surprise and delight, the two kids and the guy from the new couple decided to stay with me, thus shortening their tour by quite a lot too.

Some of the group on a wide forestry track

 

The others were somewhat late turning up, blaming the bad under foot conditions, namely mud and fallen trees. The rest of the hike was yet again a hoot.This time the guy that came with me on the shortened bit decided that he would look after me. He insisted on me resting, eating and drinking quite frequently, realising that I would forget all of that. He was very nice and very kind and I would love to go hiking with him again in the future.

Kati with the big tree

 

On the second day we visited two springs, one site of an old hut, no longer there and a large rock wall, where you really had to watch where you put your feet. I even picked one up en route home, which was a memorial to a mining disaster in a now closed mine. It was only 5 minutes' walk from the road, so I found it quickly.

Me and my new friends

On Monday we went to the Post Office and paid our parking fine. Followed by a visit to Decathlon for a pair of hiking sticks. Sanyi, who was looking after me, had two and he insisted that I try them. I have tried them before, but didn't like them, but this time I think I realised how much they would assist my bad back. So, now I am a proud owner of two red coloured hiking sticks and I will try them out the next time I am up a mountain in a forest.

My lovely new hiking sticks

Now we are getting ready for Stephen, should he turn up tomorrow. Whether he turns up or not depends on EasyJet, but I hope they won't cancel his flight. Next post is probably coming your way next week, if all goes well.