Elian's 14th birthday, WhatsApp, fruit tree supports, cache maintenance, the high pressure dome arrives in BP, reading the water meter, planning my farewell GCWALK, a drink in the pub with Roy and lunch in the Snail

Last Wednesday, when I posted I never mentioned that it was Elian's birthday that day. He is 14 years old now and is growing up fast. He is happy at school and his reports are always brilliant. What then occurred to me, that for one reason or another, none of us thought of a present for him. Even more, as Elian's and Stephen's birthdays are only 8 days apart, I have never thought of Stephen's present either. I sent Stephen a Messenger message to suggest that he has a discussion with Elian about what he would like, let me know and then we'll arrange it. While discussing this, he happened to mention that both boys use SMS and WhatsApp, rather than FB, e-mail or Messenger. So, the upshot is now that I have got my WhatsApp sorted, now I can communicate with all three of them, (Stephen included) and hope that something will expire soon.

Roy with one of the support poles

On Thursday, we tried to get up really early, so we could do some urgent gardening. The high pressure dome over Western Europe has moved and was now over us. The lowest high points are around 35 degree Celsius and recently the highest went up to nearly 42. It is unbearable to be outside between 8 am and 8 pm every day. So, we got up nice and early, Roy did a bit of DIY on the pavilion table, which was warping in all directions, so now the edge of it is screwed to the next bit and we hope it'll stop opening up. The other job we both had, was to get out as many sticks that we could and find the weakest points on our fruit trees to support them from below. We really do not want to lose several branches that are drying up in the drought, and in some cases will be heavy with fruit too. These two almost always cause quite a few branches to break, like they did last year.

The well where my geocache is

Having sorted most tasks in the village, we departed for town early on Saturday. I managed to find a geocache en route to BP and I had a really nice adventure around it. It was one of my own caches, which needed a bit of maintenance, so I went to do that, as well as get the chance to log it. After I did that, I have only one more of my own caches that has not been logged yet, but I am sure there will be some reason why I have to go there sometime and I can log it then. Roy stayed under a nice shady tree and I walked about 400 yards to the cache. It was rather surrounded by fallen trees, so it was a bit exciting climbing over those. The hide was OK, albeit a bit less than straight, but I didn't bring any wire, so I tightened it up the best I could. I replaced the missing alternative password and took some photos both ways.

The countryside near my geocache

As we arrived in BP the temperature was already in the mid-30's, so we fell through the front door and put on the aircon. Correction: wanted to put on the aircon, but couldn't find the remote. This ended up with a large scale project of tidying up the total chaos near my bed on the gallery, which I wasn't planning, but I am now quite happy that I had to do. I did find the remote under a lot of junk, so we could cool down. The AC in BP is a great deal better than in Bér, so that cooled us down very quickly.

The air conditioning unit in BP

The first job I had was to photograph the water meter and send it to the waterboard. This is such a good system, no need to wait in for anyone to read it, just log on to their website, enter the number and attach the photo. That's it, and I only have to do this 6 times a year. This reading was actually the yearly balancing one, and they are still quite happy letting us do it ourselves. Some people think it's cheeky, but I prefer anything to hanging around all day waiting for the meter reader.

162 cubic metres of water used since it was new

The rest of the week was spent mostly hiding indoors, as my heart reacts most weirdly to such high heat, so I though better of leaving the flat. Roy was quite brave and went to the pub a few afternoons, but I stayed indoors. I had plenty things to do, so I wasn't bored. I have to write the cache list for our 4-day outing to the East, South East and South of the country in less than 3 weeks now, as well as I had a thought about my farewell GCWALK and did some planning for that as well.

My last GCWALK at planning stage

 

It'll be 9 years in November, since I started organising geocaching walks for the club, most of which were fantastic and very enjoyable. Unfortunately, with my heart, arthritis and other elderly deteriorations, I can no longer cope with being the organiser. I can still climb mountains, but very slowly and carefully, and while I might join some walking groups in future, I can no longer take on the role of organiser. An organiser cannot cut short or turn back, as she has to be with the group from beginning to end. So, I cooked up a plan, which I think will be great. We'll be going back to the same terrain where my first GCWALK was, and which is where I have a cycling multi-cache for the 25th anniversary of geocaching.hu. I love that area and it has the lucky topography, which gives me a chance to cut short in several places. I will advertise it as my farewell tour, so they might forgive me for not going through right  to the end. The base of the hike will be the route of the cycling multi, with some variations to extra caches. This also gives me a chance to have little rests, as these variations will be there and back, and while others are doing them I can rest.  

Roy's new pub on the Körút

After being indoors for 48 hours, I decided that I might take a risk and accompany Roy to the pub yesterday afternoon. It was great, except for one silly mistake, which I will try to avoid in future, should I go out again in this heat. I went, within 10 seconds from 22 degrees indoors to 38 degrees outside.  That was a grave mistake, I felt a weight on my chest, which was rather worrying. The trolley bus was not due for about 10 minutes, so we walked 400-500 yards to the pub. I was in a bad way arriving there, but a glass of beer, followed by a glass of water cheered me up, so on the way home, which we always have to walk, as the trolley bus goes in another street, I was perfectly OK. We tried a couple of new beers: one was an ordinary Pilsner lager, the other another IPA, but from the Western coast of the US. Roy tried both, I only tried one. We agreed that they were both OK, but we will still stick to our beloved Rasputin, from the Eastern coast of the US, which is the best.

My discussion group with the boys got cancelled yesterday by Márkó, so we'll have it once he returned from his holidays. Considering that the boys have waited for me for two months in March and April, I can't complain. I have been a good girl and I read the article and listened to the podcast again, but as I enjoyed both of them all over again, that's no reason for complaint either. As I had some time freed up, I got into trying to sort our urgent need for a bike rack for the back of the car. I found a model online, which was a reasonable price, but nobody was answering the phone. Ours after I gave up, a very nice bloke rang me up, asking what I was after. I told him, he said there was one left in the stock room, so hopefully tomorrow we will go and pick it up. Yippeeee!!!! I might just start getting those 16 anniversary biking multi-caches after all.

No. 74 trolley bus, that stops in front of our block

Today we were very brave and risked a little jaunt out into the desert-like weather in BP. When we left home it was about 36 or 37 deg C, when we came home it was definitely 38 deg C. First we went to one of our favourite places, called Snail, which is a care/bar/restaurant, not too far from us and right next to a large Market Hall. The main attraction of that market hall is that they are the only people who almost always have a particular type of durum pasta we like. It is tagliatelle sold in little nests. So, we left just in time to catch the trolley bus outside our block. It wasn't guessing, it was with using a brilliant public financed bit of software that tell you exactly where all the buses are on a particular line. I noticed that the 74 was at the corner of the City Park, so we probably had 5 or 6 minutes to catch it. The air conditioning was great and it was also quite pleasant on the no. 6 tram which we caught after the bus.

No. 6 tram on the Körút

The first considerable walking was done between getting off the tram and getting inside the cafe. That was about 200 yards and we found the shady side of the square. Our assumption that the Snail does not have air conditioning was proved correct. Still, we stayed, as both of us was actually coping with the high heat surprisingly well. Roy had sheep's cheese with a lovely African salad, while I had chicken liver in breadcrumbs with rice and peas. The drinks were a pint for Roy and a large glass of lemonade for me. After lunch we went to the market, bought everything we wanted and picked up some talcum powder in a pharmacy en route to the tram stop. After getting home we both fell into the shower and now Roy is having a nap and I am finishing this blog.

Roy in the Snail

Next post, hopefully, on Wednesday next week, when we should still be in BP. 

 

 

 

 

 

More cherry picking and jam making, planning our next trip, O2 driving me crazy (again) and chasing disappeared friends

We are still in Bér and life is mostly concentrated round country type activities. Amazingly, not only the Germersdorfer cherry tree is producing a good crop, but the Morello cherries also came to life. When we bought the house with the big garden, we inherited half a dozen old Morello trees, which have been known to give us a fair crop on and off over the last 20 years. However, the last 6 or 7 years have been bare. And then, when I was doing my regular tractor mowing in the back garden, I noticed that there are a lot of ripe Morellos too. The best was, of course, the one we planted, but the oldies were quite good too.

Just a few little jars of cherry jam

So, in the last week, we picked them 3 times and made jam with them twice. We picked all those branches that we could reach, then I climbed as far up as I dared on the ladder. The rest of it, where I couldn't reach was left to the birds. Jam making this year had been a bit of hit and miss affair. As usual, we never have enough and of the right type of the pectin that you need for the jam to set. Several batches were spot on, some others were a bit soft and the last one had too much of the stuff in it. Still, cherries are a delight, and I'm sure we'll love those little bottles full of lovely jam in the winter.  

A few of our targets

I have planned another geocaching trip, this time as a birthday present to myself. We should be going East and a little bit into Romania as well. We'll have two nights in a hotel in Debrecen and one night in Gyula. The main targets are the ancient old tree caches as well as a few of the cycling multies. Plus, of course, some other caches and I hope we'll be able to take my bike, provided we manage to buy and fit the bike rack for the back of the car. 

First version of the route in November

I am also having an idea about the next, and last, GCWALK. My first GCWALK was in November 2017, so the 9th anniversary is coming up this year. It would be nice to actually do another year for the full 10 years, but my physical state is no longer suitable for leading long hikes. So, I think I will go back to the Medves Plateau, where it started and do a farewell GCWALK, which will mark my retirement from organising. That doesn't mean that I can't join, just part, or all of, another one organised by someone else, but will not do one of my own after that. We'll see how that goes.

István Mák, my new friend

I have an adopted cache in the Mátra and apparently the first part has disappeared. I should have gone ages ago to replace it, but didn't feel like it. And then, just recently I gained a really nice new friend, István Mák, and he went and replaced it for me. I am so pleased, he is such a nice chap and I must organise some mutual caching with him soon.

Last Friday I had some hassle with O2 again. That website of theirs is a nightmare. Every month is getting harder and harder to log on and this time I got stuck. All security efforts warn people not to click on links in e-mails. So what they invent for logging on, yes, you've got it, sending an e-mail with a link in it to click on. I was petrified clicking on it, so I was stuck. Thankfully, there was an option to get on some other way, and eventually I had to use the recovery code to get in. After that I didn't log out, hoping that I wouldn't have to go through this again. That didn't work, because after 24 hours it chucked me out. Eventually, I gathered enough courage to actually click on that link and it worked. It is now fine, and as summer is coming up when I am busy and often forget stuff, I put on a fair sum, so I do not have to pay until the autumn, hopefully.

The punchline, however, is still to come. After having received the usual confirmation SMS that the money I paid arrived and stating the balance I now have, two days later I also received an SMS telling me that my plan has now finished and I should pay £10 if I don't want to lose my minutes and internet. How on Earth does a firm this chaotic carry on being successful, I will never know.

An excellent history and philosophy book

Last Friday I also had a session with the boys on Alan's Bolshevism book. We are in the middle of the years of reaction in the first decade of the 20th century. It was a bit depressing, but it is still very interesting, and especially when I read stuff I either have forgotten, or never knew in the first place. Next time we will be discussing an article from marxist.com, and the connected podcast that I noticed and suggested. That should be interesting.

Alex at the World Cup

On Sunday, finally Alex rang and we had a short chat, while he was driving to the place where he was running a kayaking course. I haven't had a chance to chat with him for about 3 weeks. With June, we have been away too, as well his kayaking season having started, we never manage to match our free weekends. He told me that the visit by Stephen and Xander was a great success. They had lots of fun and Xander was OK too. They only stayed for 4 days, but that was long enough to upset their routine, considering that both of them work from home. Still, this does not happen often, so they enjoyed it  too.

Finally, I prepared a list of people whom I have not heard from for month and in one case for more than a year. I thought I should contact them to see if they were OK and I am glad to say that so far the vast majority had returned my enquiries with good news. They are OK, just have no time for correspondence. I still have 4 people to write to, but I am hopeful about them too. 

He looks fine here xx

And finally, finally, I have a worrying problem with Roy at the moment. His skin in places seems to chafe too easily and recently he showed me one of them, which frightened me. Hopefully it is nothing to worry about, but I hope I will be able to talk him into going and seeing a doctor with it. At his age these things can escalate into serious stuff, so keep your fingers crossed that he is OK soon.

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

More cherry picking and jam making, paperwork caught up, quirky caching app and a lovely walk to a cache in a meadow

Jam being poured into jars

I am  back quite quickly after my last post, but I'm hoping to catch up after a long delay. Thankfully, even in 4  days there have been a lot of stuff that had happened, so this post will also have some interesting stuff in it. Since we came back to the village, we have had lots of village like activities. Cherry picking, preserving, tractor mowing, having guests in the Bunkhouse and a few other delights. The last lot of cherry we picked got made into 10 little jars of jam, which was, for once, a quick and clean affair. Normally, making cherry jam leaves the kitchen like a crime scene, with lots of bright red stuff everywhere. This time, Roy and I worked in such well organised unison, that hardly any jam was dropped, all went cleanly into bottles, then into the dunst and away in the box. Washing up was minimal and we finished it in about a couple of hours. 

10 jars of beautiful Germersdorfer cherry jam

Since then we picked the rest of the crop as well, excluding the very high ones, which we cannot get to, and which we happily let the birds have. This lot is about 3 kg again, and this afternoon we will make another 10 jars, or thereabouts, of delicious cherry jam. The weather has been very nice lately: mostly sunny, but with a breeze, which is very pleasant to be outside in. The girls in the Bunkhouse loved our roses, which are now getting round to their second set of blooms, and my beloved salmon coloured ones bright out a few glorious blossom by the pavilion. 

C

Cherry pickers are busy 

On Sunday I made a brave purchase, which I hope will work out, but who knows? I have been paying a few pence less than 100 Euros/year for my VPN for many years by now. And then, this year they came up with an offer, which reduced the renewal to barely over 30 Euros, provided you renew for two years and accept a yearly charge of 120 Euros after that. Well, the odds were that the yearly figure would be around that much in two years' time, so I went for it. They also re-credited the sum that was not used out of my current subscription fee, so I think I made a good deal. Life will prove me correct or otherwise in the next two years. 

Roy having a rest, while I go caching

You may recall I was playing catch up with my paperwork and online chores after our trip to the South West, and I am happy to report that 2 days ago I caught up in all respects: e-mails, responses to those that needed them, posting on FB and most importantly, the extension of the geocaching logs from the trip. Only one misery appeared to annoy me last week, but happily I think I sorted that today. Namely, one morning in the SW I realised that I am unable to navigate in my caching app, as the map is wobbling like there was no tomorrow. Apparently this was a great improvement, because it meant that the map is setting itself, like one used to do in orienteering, by then manually. 

One enormous river side meadow under big skies

Well, the idea was great, but the way it worked almost made me seasick. The map was wobbling like it was drunk. Had it followed my movement accurately and reliably and at a reasonable pace and correct manner, I would have loved it. But that permanent wobble drove me mad, so I asked Heni what I could do. She told me how to stop it, and I am very happy now. I also had to work out the cost of petrol on our trip on days 2, 3 and 4, when we had Heni and Szabolcs with us. Roy made note of the mileage, but not all of it was for the time they were with us. I looked at our roots and made a reasonable assumption, based on that and the usage. I finished with 300 km for those three days and everybody was happy with the result. 

Looking East into Slovakia

Another annoying thing that got to me and is still bothering me is the fact that FB seems to be doing upgrades and fundamental changes, which are not explained and you just see them and don't know whether you are the idiot, or this is the new normal. Further complications were involved by the fact that in the middle of last week FB, Instagram and Messenger very nearly totally collapsed. They brought them back pretty sharpish, but I am fairly sure that a lot of the crap that I am struggling against on FB is the aftermath of that. I hope that is the case, because my total disability to upload photos into my FB albums is here to stay I think I will not stay with FB. The silly crap is, that on my smart phone it works, so nowadays I write the text on my laptop and then add the photos on my phone. Last week, it was the same on Blogger too, so perhaps it's not them, but my laptop, no idea. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to upload photos to this post, meaning that it's not my laptop to blame. 

Along my hike, I met a Western Yellow Wagtail

Yesterday, the weather seemed so nice that I decided to go and get a new geocache, which was about a good half an hour from the village by car. I had other reasons too. There is a game on the website to see whether you have cached on every day of the year, since the year you started caching. I have two months now on 100%, in other words I have cached in one year at least on every single day of that month. Last I looked there were only two days missing in June, the 16th and the 27th. Yesterday, being the 16th, I was very keen to get going. a couple of other reasons included the fact that my total finds of geocaches stood on 3499 yesterday, so I was keen to get to my next round number. Finally, I also had an ulterior motive to go, as the cache was near a river and I was hoping to pick up some riverside birds on my Merlin app.

A lookout tower to peruse the meadows from

Well, I am happy to report that all of my targets have been achieved. I found the cache, had a gorgeous mile and half walk on large riverside meadows surrounded by the river on one side and mountains on the other three, I caught a Western Yellow Wagtail on my Merlin app and definitely made it to 3500 finds in my geocaching total. Roy was offered a meal out, but chose to come home and eat what we planned. He had some German BBQ sausages, which he declared very nice as they almost tasted the same as English sausages and I had the leftover marrow from Monday, which tasted even better than the day before. Roy seemed very happy all day, had a nice little nap while I walked to the cache and back and generally looked really refreshed.

An ancient tree in the middle of the meadow

Today we are planning to make another load of jam from the cherries we picked the other day. We didn't want to do them straight away, as it keeps in the fridge for a few days, and this way we could graze on them to our heart's content. Talking of which, I am off to pinch a few from the fridge now and post this straight after that. Next post next Wednesday, if all goes well.

 

 

Opera tickets, geocaching trip into the SW, Lili's girls from her herbs course and the first proper Germersdorfer cherry crop

Apologies for a 3-day delay, but hectic does not even start to describe my last week or so. The visit to my rheumatologist last Wednesday was reassuring, as he told me that I haven't got Bechterew disease and we stayed with the original advice of registering at SmileyMed and have some physical therapy. I haven't had the time to even consider a date for this, but promise that I will have a go as soon as things settle down. 

Nagykanizsa TV tower

Last Thursday and Friday was spent preparing for our caching holiday starting on Saturday, so we went out shopping on Friday, which was including some other matters too. I had to go to the pharmacy to get my next three months' meds and that worked well. The only ones they did not have in stock was Rithmonorm, again, but we went early enough to be included in that day's special delivery, so before the holiday I had all my meds that I need for the next few months. 

The steps down into the ravine

I also visited the Opera House to enquire about subscription tickets. Unfortunately, only ones still available were for the Premieres and only in the extremely expensive seats. So I decided to forego the 30% or so discount that you get with subscription tickets and just buy half a dozen ordinary tickets for 6 performances in the coming season for Bozsa and myself. They ended up in the 160,000 forint bracket each set, which is appr. £850 for both of us. I am making some secret plan to get the tickets to Bozsa and refuse reimbursement. It'll be very hard, as she will insist on paying for them, but honestly, I don't know how many years now she didn't let me pay for my ordinary, cheaper subscription tickets to both the Music Academy and the Palace of the Arts with her, so returning the favour is now well overdue. I haven't had any contact with Bozsa lately, so I am hoping that she would forget. 

In front of the antler sculpture

Finally, we came home, packed and were ready to leave early in the morning. I am happy to report that we did leave early in the morning and were on our way happily by 8 am, which, being Saturday, produced fairly empty roads at first, but the traffic increased as we were bombing it down the M7.  Of the 5 days we were away, we were just the two of us on the 1st and 5th days, the other three were spent in the company of Heni and Szabolcs, my new geocaching friends. The travel down to Zalaegerszeg, where we were staying the first night and meeting up with them, was quite uneventful. We found 9 caches and with the exception of one, they were no hassle. They included places like a small but very exciting ravine in a forest, an enormous big television tower, a weird piece of sculpture made of deer antlers, old castles, churches, a 2000 year old embankment that was a form of defence against invaders, chapels in the depth of the forest and a few others I can't now remember. All were enjoyed and even Roy didn't grumble much.

Prep. for the wedding in the castle

The finding of the hotel in Zalaegerszeg was a bit of hassle, as it was positioned on the top floor of a complex that looked like a multi storey car park. The guy in reception was not there and we had to ring him to turn up. He was not particularly helpful on the phone, so I thought that it was going to be a disaster. As it happens, we made our peace with him later and had a quite good night there for a reasonable sum. In the evening we met up with Heni and Szabolcs and had a really good meal in a pizza place, sitting outside on the terrace and having a good chinwag.  

Heni with her and my giant pizza

The following morning we met them at their accommodation, had breakfast with them and got going far too late, which annoyed us both a bit. Still, I have seen this in the past when Szabolcs was cooking breakfast, he seems to take at least 5 times longer  than the same would take either Roy or myself. A total lack of urgency seems to be Szabolcs's speciality and, as we found out later, he has very little, if any, perception of the affect he has on the other members of his group. He is a lovely, friendly and sweet guy, with this one fault, which I suppose one can get used to. I am glad to report that even Roy seemed fond of him sufficiently not to grumble too much.

Roy waiting for us to return

The first day's caching together produced 7 finds for us and were pretty tiring after the long drive the day before, but we managed to leave out only two caches, as Roy was getting tetchy about being hungry and tired. We put the other two on a train back to Zalaegerszeg and went to check in at our B&B in Nemesnép, a tiny, but very historical little village. And that is when the hassle started, which eventually could only be laughed at, otherwise we would have both gone mad. First of all, we had to get the keys out of a key press on the wall with a code, which arrived by e-mail that day. This is a dreadful habit, adopted by many hotels and B&B's from AirB&B. We got in, found our room, which was in fact a small apartment with two bedrooms. We started settling in when we realised that the air conditioning wasn't working, rang the telephone number on the booking and found that the owner was not available, so we spoke to the manager. He suggested we moved, first to no. 5, but we couldn't open its key press, so we ended up in the smallest, furthest room, no. 7. There the AC worked, but was making funny noises all night. We refused to move all our food out of the fridge, partly because it would have been too much hassle, but mostly because our new room had no fridge. Eventually, we could keep both keys, but running between our room, the old room and the dining area downstairs was not very convenient. 

Our B&B in Nemesnép

Talking about the dining area: it had no access to water, as the old kitchen was locked up. This place used to be a lively, lovely little hotel, including a restaurant in the past, but was going downhill fast since the restaurant moved 5 kilometres away and the management was on the phone and not in person. We had not very good luck with accommodation on this trip, said Heni the following morning and I designated that sentence as the understatement of the year. We couldn't find anywhere to eat by the time we dealt with all this hassle, as most restaurants closed by 8 pm, so had to eat our leftover the sandwiches and a bit of salad. Considering how exhausted we both were, that was no problem.

Wooden church I have seen in the past

 

The following morning we went to fetch our friends from a railway station in a town about half an hour away and started caching together again. We were in the business to find all points of 5 cycling multi-caches, which was fun, but occasionally got Roy riled up about the terrain. This part of Hungary has lot of history behind it while it is not very developed in the transport department. We struggled with a few dirt lanes and swamps, but survived at the end. The area is famous for its bell towers and I must admit, I have never seen this many of those structures anywhere else. They were usually built of wood, some had the bells outside, some inside, the shape was universal, which is why they call them bell towers with skirts on. At the end of the day we put Heni and Szabolcs on the train in another town, after another exhausting but fun day.

One of those famous bell towers

Our caches were multiplying, we had collected a good few new ones in the Ancient Trees collection, and even popped over the border into Slovenia for one. One evening, after we finished with them, we then gathered three more on our own, as Heni and Szabolcs have already found those in the past. All those three were very close to our accommodation, including one in our own village. The best of those three was in a village just 10 minutes away by car, and it was a church with a painted ceiling all in blue. Even Roy fell in love with it so much that he wrote in their visitors' book.

The "Linden Tree" inn we had dinner one evening

The problem of no restaurants or even pubs in the vicinity of our accommodation resulted in one evening eating where we put the two of them on the train and the following night in the village where the restaurant of our own B&B moved to. Both were excellent, although the second one was a lot more expensive than the first one. In the second one we met with a bunch of people at a neighbouring table, who spoke English and we had a lovely chat with them. I realised that one of the down sides of this trip was being in a large B&B entirely on our own and Roy not having a chance to chat, like he likes to do. At least he had 10 minutes of it in that restaurant.

The castle at Lendava in Slovenia

Once we had said good bye to our companions we arrived at the last day of our holiday, where we were just the two of us again. We started with popping over to Slovenia again, this time for two caches in Lendava, which was only about 15 minutes from the border. The town had a lovey old castle and a little chapel on a spur which gave you fantastic views of the environment all the way round. Both were great. Then we started heading back to Hungary and towards the M7 motorway. We found a few caches en route and then drove an hour or so towards another set of caches North of the Balaton.  All went well with all of them and we were at home in Budapest by 6 pm, exhausted but happy.

A giant ancient oak in Szalafő

The following day we left town early, as we had to go and shop for a week's food in Lidl Aszód en route back to Bér and be around by midday, as Lili was coming to clean the Bunkhouse for 10 ladies, who were coming the following day to stay for the weekend of her herbs, teas and wild  flowers course in her house. She hasn't got enough space yet to accommodate them and uses us in the meantime. We found the house and garden OK, the storm we had down South had not come this far, although the roses have lost many petals while we were away.

The first pickings of cherries this year

We both started discovering the joys of the back garden, as our Germersdorfer cherry tree had actually produced quite a crop for the first time in its life. It has a small bowlful about 4 years ago, but nothing since. This year, I think due to the rain in early May, it actually looked quite happy and the results are visible on its branches. We are also going to have a reasonable plum, pear and apple season, assuming no nasty disease attacks any of the in the meantime. The walnut trees look lovely at the moment, but the burrowing fly, which had killed them for the last 7 years might still strike between now and when they usually drop.

A bunch of Germersdorfer cherries in the garden

Yesterday, I climbed a big ladder and picked about 3 kg of Germersdorfer cherries, and we have been eating them like there was no tomorrow ever since. Obviously, we can't eat 3 kg in a few days, so I am thinking of preserving them in bottles today or tomorrow. Alternatively, we might make jam as well, we'll see. Currently, I am catching up on paperwork, which will probably take me at least a week, if not more. The items having already been done are: 1. finishing the logs and adding photos to all geocaching finds online; 2. entering the new passwords in my database and those caches that are on .com as well, on there. Items still awaiting completion: 1. this blog; 2. dealing with my thousands of e-mails; 3. putting a new album up on FB about the caching trip. 

My Boskobak pears in the garden

I have already mentioned the cherry picking that has been done, but it is very likely that we will have to pick them continuously this week and next, otherwise the birds will have them all. I have already made three little jars of cherry jam from those cherries that I could pick from neighbouring trees, as we have agreements with neighbours that whatever is hanging over into our gardens we can pick. Another job that has been done yesterday was the washing from the trip, and that is getting happily dry in the sun outside. 

And then Roy's sister Pamela was 91 years old yesterday. In recent months she was getting the hang of how to use Messenger, so we were hoping that she would ring us. We tried to ring her, but there was no response. We hope she is OK, but if we can't get her on the end of a Messenger chat line soon, we'll have to ring Sheila, who is usually more up to date with Pam's comings and goings than we are. The photo on the left is Pam about 70 or so years ago. Amazing how fast time flies, but I am always pleased when Roy shows me old family photos. She was delightful and very pretty, which is still obvious when you see her nowadays. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAMELA!!

En route home I took this photo by the Balaton

 

And then on Thursday and Friday the girls from the herbal course arrived and they seem a lovely bunch. One of them is from a village only about 20-25 minutes away by car, so she isn't staying overnight, but going home at the end of each day. Another one is staying up at Virágos, as she doesn't like to share. So, altogether there are 12 attending the course, but only 10 staying in the Bunkhouse across the yard. They will leave tomorrow, but we hope to see them before that.

I have to go now as Roy fixed breakfast and he doesn't like to wait for me. I hate having breakfast on my own. The first meal of the day should always be in company, if possible. The weather does not seem as sunny as it was yesterday, let us hope it doesn't rain. Next post back on schedule on Wednesday, I hope. 

 

 

Sorting the cache at the Mill, negative smear result, the caching hike with Csilla and Heni in the Mátra and planning the next caching trip in Zala next week

We are now back in BP, but let's start with what happened in the last 8 days. In the village the weather was very nice, so Roy did another cut of the grass, this time down to 2 cm length. It looked like it was a golf course or a premier class football pitch. Unfortunately, the weather forecast  was rain for the weekend, but we kept our fingers crossed that it was wrong. One good news was that finally my smear results have arrived and seemed to show nothing too drastic. I had to chase after it, as it was very late and when I called the hospital they told me all sorts of nonsense, but all is well, or so it seems, so I am down to one more appointment, which is a follow up with the rheumatologist.  

Mill Court in Bér

On Thursday, the main event was visiting the new owner of Mill Court to discuss the fate of my geocache on the estate. She was a bit rude and uncooperative on the phone, but I am happy to state that during my visit she was fine. I showed her where the box was, she offered me a cup of coffee, which I have accepted and we agreed on the conditions that will have to go out on the cache page to make sure that cachers do not disturb her while they are looking for the box. This was also an occasion for me to try out my e-bike, so I cycled there and back, which was fun. Unfortunately, I do not seem  to discard my old habit of getting off the bike like it was a men's bike and during getting off it I bumped into the battery in the back. It didn't hurt, but later on the week the bruise got into a very funny shape, as it ended up under my knee brace during Saturday's hike. 

Csilla and Heni having a rest on a bench

In the evening we had a new discussion group, which have stopped in March, just before we went away for the cruises. This time we discussed "Morality and the Class Struggle", which was not my idea, but I read it dutifully, found that it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. The actual discussion was quite flat, I suppose that the article was quite simple, didn't raise any questions or disagreements, and once that is how you feel, the chat is difficult to maintain. I had an additional objection to the material, namely that its author had once done something that I cannot forgive for ever, but I managed to disregard it. The actual discussion with the boys, however, was very pleasant and I was glad to chat to them. 

Heni with the borrowed umbrella

And then Saturday came and I went to fetch the girls, after making my sandwiches and packed spare clothing, my hiking poles and all the geocaching gear one needs to find those pesky little boxes in the great outdoors.  This was a  long awaited geocaching hike, I have planned planned it for a long time, and it nearly got cancelled on account of the weather. The forecast was pretty bad, but we carried on regardless. My little outing with Csilla, became a threesome, as I invited Heni too. Thankfully, Csilla and Heni got on like a house on fire, so we managed to forget about the weather. It did rain a bit, but not too bad, which was quite lucky for both of them, as neither brought rain gear. The big red brolly, that lives in the car, was lent to Heni by me, although she found it a bit of a pain to carry it. By late afternoon the sun came out and it was a beautiful day after that.  

The beautiful spring Mátra

We started the day with a complicated set of travelling arrangements. Csilla came out first and went to get a two-parter multi in the abandoned quarry in Jobbágyi. Needless to say that she didn’t look at the cache page (yet again), so got completely lost. Thankfully, both Heni and I had the password, so she could log it. The next to arrive was my good self, I left Bér at 8 am and was waiting for her to come off the mountain by 8:45. She barely made it, without having found the cache, but we made it to the bus stop, where Heni got off at 9:07 am. 

A pretty view from the ridge

We now, all together, travelled by car to the village where we could leave the car and catch two short rides on two different buses, to get to the start of our hike. The first one was 8 minutes late, but we managed to catch the next one, only just. The hike started about 10 to 11 am, which is a late start, but this was the earliest we could do it with all those buses to catch. The good result of all these shenanigans was, that the car was exactly where we eventually finished the hike, so I could collapse into it. More about this later. 

Wild pansies on the forest floor

The girls went to their first cache, which I have already had, so left out this time. Also, I planned it, so that at any time where I could save climbing I would. This hike didn’t have a hell of a lot of climb, and it was not too long either. The weather held, so we pootled along quite happily. After that first cache, which was by a lookout tower, we met up where their path and mine converged. The next one was several kilometres away and it included bypassing a hikers’ hostel, which has been privatised and they made it private, where you cannot go. I am always totally pissed off at this sort of stuff. Not only because it made the route longer and we had to climb up, only to come down later, but by philosophically speaking too. The forest and the meadows are everybody’s. How dare they privatise my forest, I fumed. 

Another gorgeous view from the ridge

That cache was my first. I have been here 8 years ago with Roy, but I think the cache was out of play then for some reason, I do not recall what. The password was carved into a large pebble and was very cleverly hidden at the bottom of a big, hollow tree. The next cache was going to be visited by Csilla and Heni only, as I have already had it, plus it was so steep up to it, that I wouldn’t have attempted it, even if I haven’t already found it 8 years ago. As it happens, the girls decided to give it a miss too, as they were not in the mood to do that climb. And, even more, definitely didn’t want to do the steep descent back to the normal path at the bottom afterwards. 

Csilla on the ridge path

So, we all three then went to get the next one, which was near a really weird phenomenon in the forest. Exactly like a set of footsteps in the ground. Nobody knows for sure who did it, or perhaps it is natural, but I don’t think. The cache was in a very clever hide, but Heni found it in no time. The next cache was, again, quite a long way away. It was supposed to be a spring, with nice stone housing, inside the remains of a bronze age fort. We found, that after a while the path leading to the fort and the spring became overgrown, neglected, in places it sort of disappeared as well. 

Multitrunked tree

Once there, I found the cache, another stone with the password carved into it, but this time it was in the space between two tree trunks where the two of them met, at about 1 m high. Unfortunately, the spring housing was pretty elusive. A big storm in the past must have done all the damage that was around the spring housing. I had to wade through mud, swamp, enormous fallen trees and lots of rocks, before I found it. It was invisible behind the roots of an upturned tree right in front of it. After this adventure, we only had the descent into the valley to get back to the car. 

Old tree with big hole

It was pretty hairy, due to the steepness and the slippery nature of the dry hard forest floor. We got down eventually around 5 pm, but the girls wanted to go to another two caches up on the other side of the valley. I declined the offer and spent nearly an hour waiting for them to return. In the meantime, I put everything away and tidied the car, so once they were back we could get going straight away. I drove them to the bus stop on the A21, just outside Jobbágyi, and drove on to get home in Bér. Got home bang on 7 pm, while the girls waited for the bus for about half an hour, followed by an hour long bus trip back to Budapest. Heni was home about 9 pm and Csilla also around that time, or earlier, although because of the Champions League final footie match, she got held up too. All in all a lovely day, a new friendship was made and if all goes well, we will go in our happy threesome all over the hills and forests again.

With Csilla on the hike

The Sunday after the hike was mostly spent resting and awaiting the easing of my poor bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles. We walked approximately 10 km for me and about 14 km for the two of them. We had a marvellous time and it was my idea that we should do this again when our menfolk abandon us, which as far as hiking's concerned is no trouble for me or Csilla. Heni, on the other hand has a good boyfriend who is hiking and cycling with her, but he was visiting his mother this weekend, so she could come. I am very pleased that I invited he, so our little triumvirate could form.

In the meantime, my lovely roses started producing so many gorgeous blooms, that I had to take many photographs and post them on FB. Unfortunately, we no longer can do all the weeding and pruning and any other gardening care actions, so when one of them dies we do not replace it. We still have a good few of them in spite of this, and now it is the dark red ones that dominate. The other colours are white, yellow and pink. The lovely apricot coloured one hasn't flowered yet, but I hope it will. The climbers are great this year, the one in the front has produced dozens of blooms and even the one in the back is having a very good summer.

Heni and I started discussing the cache lists for our common little holiday to the South in county Zala, starting this Saturday. I think I made a boo-boo by only booking one night in the town they are staying, but I thought the rest of the caching will be a lot further South, near the Slovenian border. Unfortunately, by the time she raised this, we were past the last date it could be cancelled and rebooked somewhere  else. The next time, we'll have to have a finished cache list before I book accommodation, or at least by the time of the last day when I can make changes without extra cost.

Some of the caches we hope to find

The list is now almost done. We are going separately on Saturday, as they are going by train and taking their bikes. We are driving in the Duster. That day we'll be just the two of us, eventually arriving in Zalaegerszeg, where we booked one night. Days 2, 3 and 4 will be spent caching together with them in the car and I have just got Day 4 to write up. Day 5 Roy and I will return to BP, so we'll be caching together again on our own. Heni and Szabolcs are returning by train on next Thursday by train. For our Day 5 I dug out a cache list, which contains some boxes that we didn't do last October, when we were really beaten by the weather. It was the first time we absolutely abandoned a caching trip, it poured so hard and so without a break, that it was the only right decision to take. Let' s hope the same does not happen again!

Lángos

And after all that, yesterday we came into BP via the A3, not the motorway. The reason behind this change was trying to catch a nice big lángos at a place we know and love on the A3. It was delicious, although I must remember to tell her not to put salt on it next time. I have a very low on salt diet, so even a small sprinkling on it feels like too salty to me. Roy had the full toppings of sour cream and cheese, but he couldn't finish it, so brought a third back to the flat. He told me this morning that he had it for tea in the evening, long after I was in the land of nod.

The best rheumatologist I have ever had

Today I am due at the rheumatologist at 2 pm, so I'd better get on with it.  Next Wednesday my post might not happen, as that is the day we arrive back home from the South. It'll possibly be done on Thursday, but it might just go out on Wednesday if I need a lot of rest in bed. My lovely laptop fits on my lap, with a big pillow behind me for sitting up comfortably.