This last week was dominated by a big geocaching hike, which made us very busy preparing for it, putting the heating on in both buildings, doing some cleaning and tidying and then being hit by other activities that also had to be organised. Therefore, the week ended up one of the busiest manic weeks we have had in a long while.
Pálinka being transferred to big barrels for transport
It was back in August that I published an invitation to all geocachers to come and walk round the Medves Plateau to finish off my GCWALK planning career. Slowly and surely the list of participants got longer and longer and finally 30+ people turned up for my last GCWALK hike. Before I write about that, I would like to let you into one of the busiest and manic weekends of my life. Sod’s law would make sure that once you have a busy time, half a dozen other stuff turns up as well, so it does become almost unmanageable and totally manic.
On top of the hike we also had a few guests to stay overnight before the hike, plus the distiller of Roy’s hooch had chosen that particular weekend to be available, so we had to organise transport for the pálinka mash as well.
So, on Saturday I was minding my own business when the phone went. A friend let me know that they placed the moving cache that goes from medieval churches and ruins to other medieval churches and runs all round the country. 
Early gothic church is Egyházasdengeleg
Egyházasdengeleg, a nearby little village, is famous for its cute little, nearly thousand years old church, so he could not have found a better place. I dropped everything I was doing and rushed off to pick it up, so that I can put it out in Bér and enable our guests to find it. Once that was done, I tried to grab a bite for lunch and then the mash transport turned up. Roy and the guy managed to manhandle large barrels, and fairly soon all of our mash was in his barrels on the back of his truck and departed in the direction of the still.
Ber church where I placed the cache
Unlike last year, this year I opted out from following the truck all the way to the still, citing extreme pressure from a million things to do. The distiller guy is not a chatty one, so we still don’t know whether the mash got there, but live in hope that it did. Then around 4 pm the guests started arriving. Tibor, a nice geocacher turned up first and told us that the car lights are still on. We rushed down, and while the lights were still visible, no longer was there enough juice in the battery to get the engine started. Thankfully, we have a jump lead, so Roy got the car started off Tibor’s battery and then went off for a trip round the village to charge it up a bit. Grateful thanks are due to Tibor, as without him we would have never known about the flat battery until Sunday morning and unable to go to the hike in time.
On Saturday evening there was a sort of party in the Bunkhouse across the yard, where most of the guests were staying. There was some eating and considerably more drinking. Roy had difficulty climbing the stairs at the end, so I had to hang about his rear end to catch him, should he go to sleep en route. He had a fantastic and deep sleep for about 7 hours under the influence of alcohol, while I, possibly due to the excitement as well as some anxiety, hardly slept. I planned this hike as a really long and hard one to say goodbye with, and while the plan worked out very well, I must have had some worry about how it was going to turn out. 
Geocachers having a party on Saturday night
The traditional group photo at the start of the hike
Well, I need not have worried. It was a superb, enjoyable, perfect event, probably the best I ever planned. Firstly, there were 30+ participants, which for a really freezing cold November Sunday wasn’t bad. Secondly, the usual appearance of moving caches had outdone itself, with 9 turning up at or in the vicinity of the hike. En route to it we actually managed to either place or pick up 3 of them, the rest were found during the hike. One slight hiccup affected poor Tibor, when in the morning he found that the car somehow locked itself, and while his phone and car keys were inside a locked car, he could not move or do anything else. Finally, he managed to ring his brother on somebody else’s phone, who then jumped into his own car and brought him a spare key.
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| Roadside cross where one of the moving caches were placed |
As it happens, he then started caching within Nógrád County and eventually caught up with us on the plateau. The Gods have favoured us too, as the weather was fantastic. Bright sunshine, no wind and definitely no rain. Obviously, my constant prayers during the week before for no rain worked. The hike itself was very enjoyable, once we were out on the actual plateau the sunshine warmed us up, lots of chatting and catching up was happening, as geocaching is a lonely hobby, where you only get the chance to catch up with others at events. As the day went on, we broke into several smaller groups. Some people did extra distances, some stuck to the plan and others have shortened the distance. I belonged to the latter group and I was very lucky to have Anikó with me, so I didn’t have to do it on my own.
Anita, my good friend in the lead
Once I got back to the car park I could have gone home, but I didn’t for two main reasons: 1. I wanted to stay and say good-bye to as many people as possible; 2. Pisti, whom I gave a lift to, was in one of the groups that went round the long way, so I had to wait for him. While I hung around, I had a good chinwag with Anikó, and some time later I also had a job of picking up some friends from a point on the hike where they decided that they had enough, but there was no other way of getting back to their car, except by somebody fetching them from there. It added 30 km to my day, but I was happy to help.
Jankó, one of my best friends on the plateau
Pisti turned up around 4 pm and we were home by half past 5. Roy made us a small fried tea of egg, bacon, tomato and fried bread, which we put away quickly. I fell into bed around 7-7:30 pm, while Pisti did the same, so that he can get up at 4 am the following morning to drive home, which he did. Needless to say, that I also slept like a felled log and am now trying to recover. Amazingly, I do not have too many pains and having slept about 6 hours I feel very well. Thankfully, never again will I be responsible for a big hike like this one was, but I am tremendously looking forward to attending hikes planned and organised by others in future.
The magnificent Medves plateau 
Salgó Castle from the Witches' Rock
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