Roy is a bit better, US procedurals, next spring's cruise and a good day's caching in Nógrád and Slovakia

First and foremost, here's the report on Roy: he is still coughing, although a lot less than last week, and when he does, it sounds like a ton of metal grinding against some more metal. On the other hand, he is quite chirpy and eats OK, so I am still awaiting the moment when I can raise the idea of a chest X-ray and/or seeing a doctor. Life in Bér is quite predictable, the weather is not so predictable, but for second half of October it's not too bad.

My US procedurals have started again, after a hiatus of nearly 5 months, and I am feeling fairly ambivalent towards them. Some I love, some I like and, unfortunately, a few I am beginning to get fed up with. Of the three NCIS series, I like the newest best. That is NCIS Sydney. Basically, it has a lot to do with my general fondness for Aussies. The characters are good, the acting is also pretty good, the stories are much the same as any other program of that kind, but what makes the real difference is the sparks between the two leads and the humour. There are some new ones, most of which I am not interested in, except perhaps Sheriff Country, which is happening in the same town as Fire Country, and has a brilliant female lead. Let us hope that all of them keep their high quality and I don't get fed up with too many of them.

MSC Lirica, we might go on

Further news on the cruising front. The nice woman at the travel agency answered fairly quickly and agreed with me that there are no departures until April on the route I want. So, I wrote to Meaghan laying out the situation and to cut a long story short, she agreed to have a discussion with Alex and Callum on moving the date to Easter, which is the first weekend of April. That would mean that they can fly direct to Venice, which is important to them, but they will have to take Callum out of school for a few days. Let us hope they OK the plan, as I am worried that the ship is filling up, especially that it is not that big and the date includes Easter. 

The Festival/Competition banner

The main event of last week was the 49th Festival/Competition of Geocaching in Nógrád. It is the first time that it was held this close to home, which is good and bad at the same time. Good, because you can save on petrol and you can go home to sleep, rather than having to book a hotel or B&B. Bad, because the chance to do a lot of geocaching is minimal, as so close to home I have already found almost all available caches.

The football pitch at the event centre

Well, I thought that there was no way of not going to the event, that is just down the road, so I went in the hope that 1. there will be lots of moving caches at and near the event centre, and 2. I might come across some friends there, who want to go caching looking for those moving caches, as well as perhaps one or two ordinary ones, that I haven't yet got. I am happy to report that both hopes have been realised and I had a brilliant day.

My lovely T-shirt

I was in a good place in my head on Saturday morning, as I didn't hurry, planned well, and even remembered to look at the latest updated geo-map, just in case a moving cache has been placed even before I got there. And there was one, so I went there first and arrived at the event centre with one point already gained.The first thing I did, was to pick up my free T-shirt, which I won by finding every cache in the "Going to the Top" group of 20 event caches, deadline of which was at the end of September. I was so keen to find those, that I did find the last one in late May. The T-shirt is very nice, the design quite stylish and the colour is one of my favourites: navy.

Peter, who took us to various caches

Then I went to look around if I can find any friends and the first person I came across warned me that there is a moving cache about a 100 yards away, by the stream at the border of the football pitch in front of me. I quickly went and got it, so that was two points for the day. In the meantime I also logged the event cache, that made it three. As time went, more and more people turned up, including even some that have already done the competition course, and were hoping to go off and find other caches. Others, like me, were not competing, but also hoped to do some caching on the side. Mariann, a fellow cacher, and possessor of all the gossip re: geocaching, told us that there are two more moving caches on the other side of the Slovakian border, one about 2 km away, the other 11 km away.

Chateau in Slovakia, now a High School

After some toing and froing, we could convince Peter, a mutual friend, to drive us to the Slovakian ones, and off we went. The first one was just up the road at a small lake, which was in fact a reservoir. That was found quite easily. (the fourth point of the day)  Then we travelled to Fülek, also known as Filakovo in Slovak, which was placed at an old chateau, currently a High School. That required some fight through some nasty, thorny vegetation, but we found that as well. (the fifth point of the day). As an extra, we walked up to the castle, which is a magnificent large old building, on top of a volcanic outcrop right above the town. Most of us already found that cache in the past, but Peter hasn't yet, so he went to read the password from the window of the entrance.

Fülek (Filakovo in Slovak) castle

By now Mariann was starving and whingeing a bit, so we went back to the event centre for lunch. I don't like their lunch, so I ate my smoked salmon sandwiches with salad and Morello cherry strudel for afters. After lunch there was some heated discussion of where to go and finally Mariann decided that she doesn't want to walk to a high cache with us, West of the town, and she has to catch her bus, anyway - she said. Finally, I managed to talk her into catching her bus in the main town just South of us, and before that we would drive her to the moving cache that I started with in the morning. She agreed to that and off we went.

Old metalled road to the border

 

After Mariann and her friend got out in Salgótarján, near the bus station, Peter and I went to get that cache to the West that needed a bit of hiking and climbing, but not too much. We actually drove past the suggested parking place and shortened our hike by a mile with that. Peter parked at the edge of the forest and the walk was really lovely. It went through some beautiful forest, slowly changing colour and providing a pleasant experience. We were mostly walking on the old metalled road that led the border guards to the nearest gate into Slovakia in the past. Nowadays, both countries being members of the Schengen agreement, there was no sign of any guards, but plenty signs of the old border buildings and barriers rusting in the forest.

Beautiful big meadow on the Slovak side

The second part of the walk led along the old ridge where the barbed wire was, now replaced by cute little border posts painted white and red on top. One side on it was a capital M for Hungary, on the other side an S for Slovakia. These led us to the cache, which was placed by a massive lookout tower, built of steel, massive and solid, unlike crappy, unstable and decaying Hungarian ones made of soft wood. Unfortunately, most of Hungary's lookout towers are built in order to steal half the money the EU gives you to build them, so they hardly ever last too long. But this is another story altogether.

The lookout tower

 

We climbed to the top of the tower, had a set of gorgeous views in all directions and once we came down we found the cache. (the sixth point of the day) The real fun had only started at that point, when Peter told me that all day so far he had been carrying with him a moving cache and we will have to put it out. The rules allow people who are at the place and time when it is put in another location to also log a point. (the seventh point of the day). We found a really nice tree stump, which was a bit crooked, dug a little depression under it and put it there. We covered it up with dry leaves, a few sticks and bits of bark.

Peter on the top level of the lookout tower

Having done our good work, we walked back to the car. I promised Roy that I will go and do some food shopping on route 21 in Lidl on the way home, so I said good bye to Peter, thanked him for his company, expressing some hope that we might do this again together in the future. He went back to the nearby town where he found two more caches, then he went back to the event centre and caught one more moving cache at quite a distance East of the centre with other people. One can always check how many caches one's friends catch, as the logs online are public. My total for the day was 7 and his was 10, a brilliant day for us both and some in good company.

Losonc (Lucenec) 10 miles away from the tower

On Monday I had a phone call from Alex, letting me know that he got home in one place and is very happy that the Level 3 Paddle Canada course was over. He sounded quite tired and it was quite difficult to get out of him what was wrong. After all he passed and he was surrounded by fellow paddlers who are usually great fun. Eventually, I got it out of him what was wrong. While the instructors and coaches were excellent and so was the course itself, he described the instructors as cold, with no encouragement or reassurance to those that took the course. I understood straight away. Alex himself in a very happy, fun, positive and encouraging instructor to all participants of his courses. He, obviously, missed that approach that he is famous for and is much loved for. I am still amazed what a child he still is when it comes to emotions. This is a big part of his charm and without a doubt the base of his very successful business which no longer requires advertising. His past students do that for him by word of mouth, and his courses are getting more filled up and numerous than ever before. 

Direction signs in Slovak

Now I hope Alex, Meaghan and Callum discuss the cruise soon, so I can book it, after which comes the hassle of buying plane, train and/or bus tickets to get to Venice, buying insurance, etc., etc., etc. Still, I am already looking forward to seeing them again, time flies so fast that it will be here in no time at all. I wonder how much more Callum would have grown in the meantime? With one grandfather, one great grandfather, one father and one uncle being close to, at or over 6 foot tall, I reckon Callum will not be too far behind.

The glorious mountains and forests on the border

Next post next Wednesday, by which time we should be back in town.