Concerts, geocaching, orienteering and a lot of guests

Originally we were planning to stay in town between the two trips, but we had to go down to the village for the two day orienteering event held in nearby forests, because the majority of my clubmates, who were working at the event stayed with us overnight. But that still had given us a full week in town during which we could recuperate, get a few things done and prepare for the next trip.

David Fray

On Friday the 14th I had a concert at the Music  Academy where David Fray (who turned out to be French, not English) was the pianist. I saw Bozsa after a hiatus of several months and the concert itself was first class.

Roadside cross in Alsónémedi

On Saturday I decided to get up in the early hours (after practically no sleep due to jetlag) and catch a bus to a small town just outside BP to fetch two moving caches.  I was lucky, they were both still there and I logged that they will have to stay with me for a week, as I wanted to put them out in our county in the country.

On Saturday evening I went to see Billy Elliot the musical on my own, as this was one of the performances I missed on my subscription ticket earlier due to a clash with something else. I enjoyed it a great deal and thought the staging, direction, orchestra, singers and dancers were all excellent.

Monday I saw Zsófi, my homeopath who prescribed some new teas and vitamins, as my absorption rate is not good. In the late afternoon we had to take the laptop to be looked at, as it was playing silly buggers. Szabolcs suggested that we should have it cleared and started from scratch, which we will do later on in the year once we are home again.

Statue up on Gellert Hill between cache 1&2

Tuesday we spent a very pleasant hour and half with Abe Feinsod and his mother in a cafe. Abe is one of Roy's family history researching friends from the internet whom he had never before met. He was an absolute sweetie straight away, his mother was a bit more reserved, but thawed out once we started reminiscing about the old days when she and I were children. We had an invite to Mexico to go and see them, which we are not very likely to take them up on, but nice all the same.

And then on Wednesday I got fed up with being indoors too much and went geocaching on my own in town, picking up 6 caches plus 1 part of each of two multis. The most interesting and pleasant one was in the recently renovated Youth Park underneath the Royal Castle by the river.  That was very photogenic and I took some lovely photos.  Mind you, the camera is really dying, so it is a total lottery now when it is prepared to work and when it isn't. It's about time I picked up my new camera from Stephen's when we get there tomorrow.

Nikolai Lugansky

Thursday evening was another concert, this time Nikolai Lugansky, who was pretty good again. We have heard him before and he didn't disappoint this time either. He has such a soft, romantic way of playing even Bach, that I was amazed.

Where I placed the Crux Viator cache

And then came Friday, a day which turned out a complete washout in the weather sense, but pretty successful in others.  First of all we were supposed to take the 7am train to the village, but got to the station more than half an hour early, so we took the earlier train. Although I have never had serious problems with this particular line, this time there was delay upon delay, so we were seriously worried that even with the earlier train we would miss the connection with our bus.  As it happened, the driver waited for us, which was fortunate, because if he didn't we would have only missed it by about a couple of minutes, which is seriously aggravating.

Where I placed the GCTO cache

As we got home I got ready for a drive of nearly 100 miles to pick up another two moving caches, which also turned out very successful. On my way home I put out one of the ones from the previous week and one of the ones from that very morning.

In the afternoon two friends from Transylvania arrived for the orienteering, followed by several others from the organising team who have been working all day setting up.  They brought bad news of chaos in the assembly field due to the torrential rain all day and the need to retreat to the tarmac area several kilometres away for parking and assembly.  This, of course, made the walks to both starts and the finish very long indeed.

GCFA was placed at the foot of this beauty

In the evening we went to have dinner at Mill Court, which was delicious, as always, and Anna, the proprietor, had gained a few more admirers. We booked a long table for Saturday night, assuming that nobody would feel like cooking after a gruelling long day at the event.

So on Saturday we got going reasonably early, in order to put the remaining two moving caches out and then get to the Start where were detailed to work. Thankfully, we didn't have to walk all the way, as one of our friends gave us a lift.  The event had glorious sunshine and no rain at all and we all had a good time there. Roy managed to spend all his time there sitting, so that was a blessing. He was in charge of watching the starters dibbing in the start box, as if they forgot, they didn't get a time and would have been disqualified. Just the job for him and he looked very happy.

Roy at the orienteering Start

Once all the people have started we helped dismantle the start and scarpered to get home first. I logged all my cache placings and found that the ones from the day before have already been found and moved on.  In the evening we went to Mill Court again, this time it was 15 of us, and had a really, really good time.  There was even some dancing and we took with us Roy's birthday cake which was sitting in the freezer all the time we were in Toronto and which gave me some worries whether it survived without losing its taste.  Well, I can report that it was as good as on day 1 and everybody had a lovely nosh at the end. Plenty of beer, wine and palinka had gone down people's throats too, so even Roy said that while he is not normally very fond of birthday parties, this was really good.

Dinner at Mill Court

On Sunday we had a rest, then tidied up and cleaned up a bit, packed up and departed for town on the 6.15pm bus, after wrapping up the car in blankets and tarpaulins in the garage. We didn't watch the Austin GP, but apparently Lewis won it and reduced his deficit to Rosberg to 26 points, which means that he has to win the remaining 3 races and hope for some disaster to hit Rosberg at least once, if he wants to retain his title.

Finally, today we did some last minute shopping and started packing, which we will finish tomorrow morning before going to the airport. Wish us luck and I'll be back sometime next week or so with the next post.

Canada - the rest of the fortnight

The ornamental gate of Toronto's Chinatown

On Tuesday, the 4th October Roy and I walked into the centre of Toronto, mostly on Gerrard Street, which we haven't done before. Initially, we walked along Broadview Avenue to the Libary, then turned right by the gate to Chinatown and walked all the way to about level with the Central Business District on Gerrard, turned left and finally found St. Lawrence Market.

St. Lawrence Market

That place is still gorgeous, if not exactly cheap. Trouble with all these lovely old specialist markets, that the prices are aimed at the tourists, not locals.  Or only well off locals, who don't care.  We had lunch there, mine was a tub full (about $10 worth) of pickled things, like artichoke hearts, peppers stuffed with Feta, olives, gherkins, herrings etc., which were delicious, accomanied by freshly baked bread; while Roy had a bag of chips, which, by his own admission, were the best he's ever had.  I suppose, when you pay through the nose, at least you get high quality, but I am not sure if that pricniple always works in Hungary.  We returned home on streetcar no. 504, which took us almost all the way home, giving us a chance to pick up a cup of coffee en route.

My lunch came from here

In the evening we attended Callum's football practice, which turned out a fantastic occasion with Callum scoring the winning goal. He is a thoroughly Canadian little chap, but, thankfully, soccer (as they call it in the US), is still popular in Canada.

Callum in action on the footie pitch

On Wednesday Alex had some time off work and took us in the morning to The Beeches part of Toronto, close to the lake. We walked along its main street, looked in the shops and generally took in its atmosphere.  It is Toronto's Chelsea, with million dollar + houses and swish shops.  But it wouldn't be Canada, if it wasn't mixed with very ordinary things too. I loved it.

Lunch was taken there in a nice little restaurant, where on our table seafood dominated. Prawns for me and muscles for Roy and Alex.  We also had some interesting beers and ciders, mine was called Lost Craft, which was definitely the tastiest lager I have ever had.  Roy liked his cider from the Brickworks too. Before going home I managed to buy some winter leggings, which should come in handy once the weather turns cold. They have fluffy insides, so I can even wear my thin trousers in the winter, provided I wear one of these underneath. Handy!!

Another dish of prawns, this time for me

En route home we popped into Mark's and bought me a lovely light and totally water and windproof jacket, which turned out to be exactly like the one Alex has. I love clothes shopping in Canada, it is quick, cheap and good quality.

Toronto's Chelsea has hip grans too

Our bus was scheduled to leave just before 6pm for St. Catharines, so we went quite early to get a good seat and Meaghan popped over after work to say good bye.  The trip was really easy.  The hardest part was to get out of Toronto in the rush hour (that took nearly an hour!), but afterwards it went swiftly.  We arrived about 8.20pm and Lyle was there to take us home. Callum slept through most of it, which was also handy.

In the jam en route to St. Catharines

The first day in St. Catharines was spent doing very little.  Roy and Lyle managed to erect Heather's teepee and even went to some DIY store, which should have made Roy very happy. Callum and myself just loafed around, playing on the iPad (that's him) and doing stuff on the tablet (that's me). Heather cooked and we had a restful day of acclimatisation.

Heather and Callum in Value Village

Friday was slightly more active, with Heather, Roy, Callum and me visiting Value Village (an enormous second hand store) together, mostly to try and find a Halloween costume for Callum, but eventually Roy found himself a jacket as well. Callum ended up having a werewolf costume and I also bought him a dagger, which cheered him up no end.

My miniature werewolf

In the afternoon Heather, Callum and I went to the swimming pool to have an hour of fun in the kids' pool. The water was nice and warm, which was handy as I still had the cold, and Callum had a marvellous time, playing around and swimming a bit too.  He is an excellent swimmer, which is great. The only trauma we had was one of the fierce jets, that was coming out of the side of the pool, taking my wedding ring.  Fortunately, while I was trying to discuss the matter with one of the lifeguards a young girl appeared with it, having picked it up from the bottom of the pool. I thanked her profusely and left happily thereafter.

The Mad Hatter's teaparty in the Shaw Festival Theatre

Saturday, 8th had the star attraction of the week with a visit to the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara on the Lake, for a performance of the musical Alice in Wonderland.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures of it.  Heather and Lyle have treated Callum, Roy and me to the theatre visit and for the first time in 4 visits (3 for Roy) we also had a time to walk about in Niagara on the Lake. It is a beautifully preserved 18th/19th century town, although most of it is 19th century, on account of the yanks burning down the earlier part in the war. The play was pretty good, the staging, the costumes and the adaptation were first class. We were not that sure about the casting of the actress playing Alice, but the quality of our seats have made up for any shortcomings.

Callum on the climbing frame

After the performance we had a meal locally and it looked as if everybody was enjoying their plateful.  I had pasta with pesto and prawns, which was interesting and while a fraction too heavy on the pesto, delicious all the same. Niagara being a wine region, all the wines, both the reds and the whites were superb.

Hanging about in the park

On Sunday I should have been watching the Japanese Grand Prix, but didn't have the chance to do so. Just as well, because it seems that while Mercedes had secured its third constructors' championship at this race, Lewis Hamilton managed to secure Nico Rosberg's overall individual win for 2016 as well. Whatever happened in Lewis's head since the summer break, has most unfortunately managed to affect him sufficiently to hand the championship on a platter to Rosberg.  I don't like Rosberg, but have to admit, that his driving had been much superior to Lewis's since early September and he deserves to win.

A glorious old tree trunk in the park

I went to the park with Callum on Sunday to get some fresh air and generally supervise him on the climbing frame and other equipment.  I realised that actually he is quite a little loner. He can occupy himself on his own for quite a long time, and while I enjoyed watching him, I also got rather cold in the strong wind. Sniffles were back again, but on the whole I was slowly recovering from my cold.

Thanksgiving dinner 2016

On Sunday evening we had our Thanksgiving dinner of pumpkin soup, turkey with all the trimmings and lovely cake.  I had haddock instead of the turkey and all was great. I also managed to discover, while chewing a rather fiercely al dente sprout, that sprouts must be related to horseradish.  It honestly tasted rather magnificently of horseradish at the back of my mouth.

Pokemon Go instead of a woozle. Fair swap methinks!

We left for Toronto on Monday, via a Mandarin All you can eat Chinese lunch. But first we went on yet another woozle hunt along the river. Callum and Meaghan have even managed to play Pokemon Go at one point, which made Callum very happy.  No woozles were caught yet again, but the sun shone gloriously and we had a good time.

All You Can Eat Chinese!!

I don't think this particular Mandarin had the choice of the one we visited 2 years ago in Toronto, but it was altogether delicious all the same. Roy is soon going to look like a prawn, he put away quite a few of them in a variety of styles, while my absolute favourite this time round was prawns in breadcrumbs. Yum, yum!  I forgot to take pictures of ourselves eating, so the photos are just of the food showing some of the choice.

Rob and Alex in Russ's pub

On Monday evening Alex and I went to Russ's pub to celebrate Russ's birthday and I had a lovely and long chat with Rob Lyon, whom I haven't seen since Bardonecchia last year. We stayed until midnight, which is very rare for me, but I was having such a good time that I completely forgot the time.

Superb graffitti mural en route home

Tuesday the 11th was our last full day in Toronto. Alex took us round a part of the city we have been in before, but this time we could have a better look on foot. Leslieville is South and  East of Riverdale, has an up and coming atmosphere, lots of shops and some interesting places. We saw the old Town Hall, lots of lovey murals, a cemetery behind locked gates and many other places.  Unfortunately I was a bit tired after having got to bed at 1am, but with the occasional rest I managed it.

The Stout on the outside

In the evening we went to an Irish pub, the Stout for a quiz.  This place and its regular quizzes are a weekly haunt of Meaghan and her girlfriends. They tend to do quite well (almost always in the top three), so we had her reputation to maintain, which put us all under some pressure. The questions were quite hard, especially the music ones, where I was totally at sea, having no memory for music, not even classical, which is my favourite, never mind pop music. Meaghan, on the other hand, was brilliant and answered most of them correctly.  I helped with a few, so did Callum, which was lovely. Once we finished and totalled up our neighbours' score we handed them in and would you believe it WE WON! Only by one point, but that's immaterial.

Callum with his banana split in the Stout

And then Wednesday, the day of our departure, arrived. We did some last minute packing and then went with Alex for a nice little walk across the park and to a pub/cafe we have never been in before, called The One Cafe on the Danforth. Apparently, this was Camillo's favourite place and we liked it a lot too. One half is the cafe, the other is the pub and upstairs there is a hostel. The decor is grungy, the beers are many, the pictures on the walls interesting and the service friendly. We had coffees and teas, followed by a short walk back to the All you can eat Sushi place we have been to the previous week for lunch.

The One Cafe with the hostel upstairs

The sushi this time round was just as gorgeous as before.  The only difference was that I stuffed myself even more than before and could hardly move afterwards. Midweek menu doesn't have sashimi on it, so it had to be just sushi, plus my usual miso soup and a few cooked things too, as long as they had seafood not meat in it.  Roy, on the other hand had lots of beef and pork and, of course, a lot more prawns again, so I think he doesn't mind going to a Japanese restaurant any more, as long as it is in Canada. $13 for us oldies and $15 for Alex for all you can eat is excellent value.

Part of my last lunch in Toronto. Yum, yum!!

Alex had taken us to the airport quite early, which was good for Roy's nerves and even good for Alex, as he didn't have to struggle home in the rush hour afterwards. The time hanging around in the airport was partly spent on buying a litre bottle of Caol Ila, so now I have both the lovely malt whiskies that I fell in love with in Scotland back in 2011 while attending the Scottish Six Day of Orienteering event.

A superb, peaty and smoky malt

The flight itself was much more comfortable than the trip over, as the plane was only about one third full, so anybody who wanted to sleep could do so by lying down on three seats at once. Unfortunately, I had a really nasty headache which stopped me sleeping, while Roy never tried it, but it still seemed shorter, quicker and easier than the first leg. I watched a two parter program about Walt Disney's life, which was refreshingly honest, not a complete sychophantic homage, like I was expecting it to be. As these two films were almost 4 hours long, that really helped to pass the time too.

We landed about 25 minutes early, got through the airport reasonably quickly and were indoors by about midday local time.  This was probably the best Canadian visit we have ever done.  And that in spite of my cold, which made me rather tired and have disturbed sleep.  I think the main reason was the delightful little person called Callum.  He is growing up into such a lovely young man, now that he is much more communicative and easy going. He has a tremendous sense of humour, clever, sometimes a bit crotchety and self opinionated, but he wouldn't be a Grant if he wasn't, would he? His latest habit of climbing into bed with us in the morning was fantastic to get to know him and I grew so fond of him over these two weeks that it was hard to say good bye.  Still, hopefully he will come and visit us next summer and we are already planning all sorts of fun things to do with him then.

Canada - the first few days

The flight was uneventful and LONG. All in all about 9 and a half hours, which was too long for me in one go. The cold was bearable, but still with me. We arrived 40 minutes early, an advantage, which was duly cancelled by taking an hour and a half queueing first in immigration and then in the luggage hall. Latter was fortunate, as Alex got held up in traffic and just arrived minutes before we got out of the airport.

Roy and Alex in Woodbine Park

It took about an hour to get home and meet Callum and Meaghan. The rest of the day was uneventful and we fell into bed quite early. On Friday Callum was having a cross country running race in a park down by the lake, so we all went to cheer him on. Unfortunately, there was a brisk wind blowing, so my cold got considerably worse. Callum enjoyed the race and we left him to have a Japanese "All you can eat" lunch.

Callum with his mates after the run

Sushi is always a must on every trip to Canada, so we started as we meant to go on. Even Roy enjoyed his beef and prawns, although he insisted that his greatest enjoyment was watching me loving it.

Roy and Alex round the table laden with sushi etc.

Jetlag has combined with my cold to make adjustment to Canadian time very hard this time. Several nights I had very little and mostly disturbed sleep, which then made me very tired and like a zombie at times. Still, the new custom of Callum climbing into bed with us in the early hours cheered me up and kept me going. He is growing up so fast and is great fun to be with.

My delicious brunch

On Saturday we all went to a lovely pub called House on Parliament to have brunch. Mine had two poached eggs, smoked salmon on a bagel with a lovely salad. We toasted Roy on his 75th birthday (again) with Bucks Fizz, which was delicious.

Gran in the tunnel, surrounded by sealife

Sunday's program started with Callum taking Roy and me to the Aquarium. Amazing place and the third one I visited after Brighton and Barcelona. It is by far the best one of the three. I loved the glass tunnel with all the marine life all around you and the educational hands-on exhibits for Callum. We spent a couple of hours there and then took Callum to a games shop for some Pokemon stuff.

Proud owner of 60 new Pokemon cards

In the afternoon and early evening Alex and I attended a Marxist discussion group on The Communist Manifesto, followed by an IMT branch meeting at Fightback's Toronto Centre. It was nice to see a few of the yougsters from last year's World School in Bardonecchia as well as some new ones.

On Monday I finally managed to post Joseph Zsombor's forgotten T-shirts to him in Quebec, do a bit of food shopping and then go home to veg out. In the afternoon we cooked a chicken paprikash with dumplings and cucumber salad for tea which went down quite well. Straight after tea we went to Callum's Beaver meeting where he was inaugurated into his lodge. He enjoyed running around with his mates and proudly wore his white tail on his Beaver hat.

The anxious Beaver candidate with Mummy

Tonight it is soccer practice, so we'll probably have another outing to that, but before that Roy and I plan to have a slow pootle through the centre of Toronto, retrace our steps from years ago when we were taken to the Distillery District and St. Lawrence Market.

The season's first bad lurgy and Roy's 75th birthday

I was thinking back on this year and I must admit, it has been amazingly free of colds and flu. I did have two bad accidents, one in Slovenia in early spring and the other in the SW in August (both orienteering related), but no lurgies.  Well, this one I have now is definitely trying to make up for it. Digestion troubles, tummy ache, sore throat, headaches, sneezes and bad, bad coughing, which aggravates the already seriously painful throat. Plus it makes me feel I am choking. Obviously, as it starts loosening up, the pain will subside, but I am prone to post viral fatique, so I will not be out of these woods for ages yet.  The really bad luck, of course, is that we are off to Toronto on Thursday, so whatever happens, I will not quite be up to most of the fun and games being planned. Drat!!

Callum the 7year old big boy

Way back last Thursday, when I went to the doctors for my regular prescriptions, I already had a sore throat, but it was not particularly bad and as she is not exactly nice to be with, I just got my repeat prescriptions and quickly scarpered. By the time we got into town on Friday I was feeling dreadful. This, unfortunately, put paid to practically everything we were planning to do over the weekend and beyond.

First of these would have been putting out Sunday's Hash route and then attend the Hash on Sunday. I had to call it off, while I wheezed away in bed feeling wretched. There were other surreptitious plans afoot, like having a surprise birthday dinner for Roy on Monday evening at the Zila, including fancy birthday cake, but that had to be cancelled as well. At least both my not haring on Sunday and not having the dinner party in the Zila enabled Ian to attend some fancy Sunday brunch in the Corinthia Hotel which we fortunately weren't invited to, or I would have had to cry off that too. Also, as soon as it became clear that Monday evening was off and with Ros having arrived on Sunday evening, Ian quickly got a couple of tickets for the BFO concert which, they told us later, was very good indeed.

Las Sunday's hash circle

My medicines had to be got and, of course, the cake had to be fetched.  The former was done by the ever attentive Roy, while Ian volunteered to go out and fetch the cake and deliver it on Tuesday. They appeared today, brought a card and a couple of books as a present, while the cake was unveiled much to Roy's surprise. We decided that with only a couple of days before we leave and due to my delicate condition I couldn't  eat much of it, that we should freeze the cake and have it at a party to be arranged for sometime in November when Ros and Ian are back.

The Birthday Cake

I presented Ros and Ian with a jar of jam, the making of which they have assisted us in in the summer and a box of truffels and petit fours that I have made last week. I also managed to get them a couple of tickets to the Opera, which were spare anyway (us being away in Canada and Bozsa having the same program twice on two different subscription tickets). I hope they enjoy it.

Ian, Roy and Ros with the cake

I am now back in bed, trying to nurse this bloody cold to make it disappear.  It is not getting better at all, wich was to be expected. I wonder if I'll manage to catch a secondary infection on the aeroplane, which is quite common due to recyled air? I hope not. I am really looking forward to seeing Alex, Meaghan and Callum, as well as Heather and Lyle. I don't see them too often, once a year max, so it is really miserable to get ill for the rare occasion a Canadian visit comes round.

Little trains, hikes, caches and the Hash

It is less than a week since I last posted, but a lot happened, so before we depart from the village I thought I would report back on the happenings of the last short week.

Our first little locomotive with one carriage

On Saturday we opened our eyes and it was raining. I don't frighten too easy, especially not by rain, so we got up, had breakfast and were almost ready to go when Zsuzsi phoned that the forecast is so dire for the very hills where we were going that they are not coming.  To be honest I wasn't surprised.  She was always a fair weather outdoor enthusiast, so that left Ian, Roy and me.

Roy looking happy

We got our backpacks, raincoats, brollies and left to pick up Ian on time.  He was waiting for us at the agreed corner, so we were off up the M2 to the Börzsöny. It was quite heavily raining en route, so I said to the boys that I am still keen to do the train trip, but will decide on the basis of the actual weather at the top, if I want to go for the moving cache about 5km from the station and then meet them at the bottom on the other side of the hills, where the last leg of the train journey would take them without getting wet and muddy.

Ian looking deadly serious

We arrived at Szob quite early, so it looked as if the trains were not running.  No sign of any little train and or passengers waiting. I did ring the phone number on the information board just to make sure they are running and a friendly male voice at the other end assured me that they would be with us in a few minutes.  That was about 20 minutes, but by then there were others waiting too and in due time a cute little engine arrived quietly puffing. It is no longer a steam engine, but a Diesel one, but it was cute all the same.

The modern new wagon/engine

The carriage had windows and a woodburning stove inside, so I knew we would not be cold, even though a fire wasn't lit in it. We were only going 7km up as far as Márianosztra, which has a perfectly good tarmac road to it, so later Roy and I agreed that perhaps next time we'll start from there. Márianosztra is famous for its old gaol and a few other places, moreover it has a few geocaches in and around it, so I am sure I will visit it in the future.

The second leg of the journey was the one that enabled you to travel right across the hills from its SW edge by the river to its very middle at the top of a valley a lot further North. EU money and a lot of enthusiasm enabled the engineering work to lay the track, build the station at the top and provide a very clever Diesel  driven carriage with inbuilt engine to take you quite high up.

The start of the hike on the cycle lane

You have to pay three times and change twice on this trip, but nobody minded, it was such fun. When we got to Nagyirtás, the end of the second leg, I happily noted that the rain had stopped and it didn't look too gloomy to risk my hike. However, by this time not only Roy, but Ian also chickened out, so I had to do my perambulations on my own. What is more, looking at the state of the hiking path my eyes were drawn to the tarmac forestry road, which has now been marked up for use by cyclists and I decided to pretend to be a cyclist on foot. This decision was to save me from getting muddy to my nose, sliding about and perhaps having another accident, but it also added a minimum of 4 or 5km to the distance.

The hills are steaming

Never mind, I thought, now that I am on my own and not having to fit in with anybody else, I can dictate myself a pretty fast speed and hopefully get  to meet up with the boys with enough time to have lunch somewhere (although I did have some sandwiches just in case) and catch the train back.

Forest flora

The cycle track sign said 11km to Nagybörzsöny, but I also had to backtrack with my moving cache (assuming I was going to find it) so it was going to be somewhere between 12 and 13km long. I was motoring at such an amazing pace that I had to take both my fleece and raincoat off, I was getting so hot.  The forest was magical.  Total silence, not even bird song disturbed my hike.  I didn't meet a single soul, bar a small deer by the side of the road, but by the time I got the camera out she was gone. It was really fantastic to have the entire forest to myself, I was really enjoying it.

Pretty balcony in Nagybörzsöny

Soon I found the cache, which has been there for about a month, so it was rather muddy and dirty, rubbing it off on me as I was desperately trying to keep it away from me.  I walked back about 750m until I found a suitable hiding place for it. I bagged yet another moving cache and with that one I now have found at least once about half of them out there. About a km after I got back from my detour of placing the cache the tarmac ran out and the road started climbing.  Until then there was very little climb, it was mostly level or downhill.

Ian with next door's pussycat

This new bit was muddier than the tarmac, but it was metalled, so I could concentrate on walking on the stones and was still reasonably clean when I arrived in Nagybörzsöny. Sweet little mountain village with lots of pretty houses, but some dereliction too. I asked someone where the restaurant I agreed to meet the boys was and they sent me directly for it.  As I turned the corner Roy and Ian were obviously waiting for me by sitting outside on the terrace and waved as soon as they spotted me.

The intrepid lads getting ready for their return journey

They have apparently just ordered themselves some food, so I quickly decided what I wanted and ordered too. Ian had hunter's stew, while Roy and I had sztrapacska, a Slovak speciality of small dumplings with sheep's curds, sour cream and crackling. I shouldn't eat most of its ingredients, but I love it and decided that I have deserved a treat after doing 12.5km in 3 hours.

The third leg's engine with the open carriage behind it

After our repast we paid the bill and slowly walked off to the train station, which we didn't have to look for as the boys have come from there in the first place. This was the third leg that I have not yet been on and it had the special treat of the switchback which facilitated its climb out of the valley up the hill to the top. The only downside of this trip was the open carriage with no windows, which made it necessary to put on all our clothes we carried. The weather changed from 36+ Celsius to barely 10 Celsius in just over a week.

A railway sign on the way down

I took lots of photos right along, both on the morning train trip and on the hike, but when we got to the switchback on this leg I changed to the video camera. The best bit was when the engine was pushing, not pulling, the carriage and I could video the climb without anything in my way, except for a few seconds when the railwayman jumped across in readiness to change the points before the next switch.

Márianosztra church

At the end of this leg we got out again where I left the boys all those hours ago in the morning, caught the modern one again and then at Márianosztra waited about 20 minutes for the next and last train. The weather was not particularly nice, but I hardly got wet all day and at the very end even the sun had come out for a short while. My hike was in the dry, except for the last couple of kilometres when there was some thunder and a bit of rain.  But I got to the restaurant before it started raining in earnest and it stopped again for our walk to the station. It was well worth going and I am now in love with the Börzsöny. I'll be back for sure, as those mountains are full of geocaches as well glorious woods, hills and valleys.

Some of the crowd at Batthány Square

I was sore in some places, but slept very well and was ready for the next adventure, the hash. I had to go, as I was delivering Bankrupt's T-shirt which he ordered months ago.  Unfortunately, in spite of promising to be there he wasn't. His accident the previous Sunday had laid him low and he chickened out. Fortunately Baldrick took the shirt from me and even paid me for it with view to getting it back from Bankrupt when he hands the T-shirt over.

Others at the square

As we were waiting for the latecomers I saw a map in Baldrick's hand and some excited conferences took place with Rabies and Tititata. Oh God, I thought, what have I let myself in for? Baldrick is known for his death marches and I'm afraid this Sunday's hash run proved to be yet another one of those.  First we got on the Metro to get to the Southern Railway Station for a 25 minute train journey to Biatorbágy. Then we waited about 15 minutes for the hares (Baldrick and Tititata) to get ahead and then followed.  I foolishly thought that this place had no mountains round it, well I was wrong.  Or perhaps they were only hills, but after Saturday's exertions they felt like mountains.

The first pretty view as we climbed higher

Needless to say I got pretty much left behind by the rest of them, although two of the girls stayed with me, I don't know whether they did that out of solidarity or because they couldn't have gone any faster either.  Probably a bit of both. Initially it was quite boring, running across fields and thick forest, but after a short but cruel climb we found ourselves at the top edge of some cliffs with beautiful views. It was positively lethal to get too close to the edge, but I really enjoyed that bit.

Heading for the rocks

After coming off of there we had still some more distance to cover until we arrived at the restaurant where we held the circle and partook of some beer and food. The final distance was 16.7km, for which we nearly lynched Baldrick, but then we relented, mostly under the influence of a beer called Oktoberfest. It was probably the tastiest lager I have ever had, it was gorgeous and as I forgot to bring any water with me I fell upon the first pint with great enthusiasm.  The circle was really funny, I enjoyed it so much that foolishly I offered to be the hare this coming Sunday, which I have now decided to do in the 14th district of town with a few parks thrown in.  The restaurant I have in mind is our favourite the Regős, which reminds me to give them a ring to book a table.

The rocks

By the time I got home I was as stiff as a board.  Or the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz after being left out in the rain. I think the weekend's combined distance of nearly 30km was pushing it a bit. I hope to take it easy in the next few weeks, although I am sure Callum will have other ideas.

At the restaurant for dinner

Oktoberfest beer! Yum, yum!!

The other event of Sunday was the Singapore Grand Prix, which was won by Rosberg again, with Lewis being third. It is now beginning to look as if Rosberg is heading for his first title, because there is something wrong in Lewis's head.  He lost his va va voom. Currently Rosberg is flying and Lewis is definitely lacklustre.  Unless he snaps out of it soon, he won't catch him. Let us hope I am wrong, but it looks like I am not.

Rosberg happy, Lewis looks just about how I feel about this race

On Monday we came down to the village and after a short shopping trip we both arrived looking a bit done in.  I then proceeded to sleep 4 hours in the afternoon, which showed the extent to which these two hikes took it out of me, but it also buggered up my sleeping pattern, which is only slowly returning as I write this.  As we are going to town tomorrow, I hope I will be on the straight by then.

Interestingly shaped rose

On Tuesday I did some gardening, as the roses needed pruning and tidying and the potted strawberry plants and the cacti needed indoor space somewhere with light, but not much heat. The roses are still blooming beautifully and were tidied quickly, while Roy did some mowing, harvested and stored away the last of the apples and put the swing away for the winter.

Lovely apples from one of the trees

Yesterday then I spent the afternoon making petit fours and truffels not yet for Christmas, just because we had all the ingredients and I felt like it. In total I made 52 petit fours, all with molten chocolate on the top with either walnuts or cherries.  As there was some chocolate and cream left I also made 20 truffels and then put all of them into little boxes which I have been collecting for this very purpose. It is very relaxing to make sweets and they make marvellous presents as well as being delicious to eat yourself.  Not that I am allowed to eat any, you understand, but perhaps I can be naughty a bit this week! :-)

Petit fours with cherries and/or walnuts

And finally, this morning we had a lovely surprise.  Joop, our very good Dutch friend and neighbour, who has a holiday cottage just up the road, turned up. We told him of our strange experience with Noud and Mieke earlier in the summer, when they swore that they rang the bell and we didn't let them in, while we were here and neither of us heard a thing.  Never mind, Joop would never do that, he would come right in and knock on the door.  Which is what he did, much to our delight. We told him that tonight is about the only chance we have to spend some time with them, as we are leaving tomorrow, so he invited us for dinner.  And this is where the petit fours and truffels come in. I have already decided to make up a large(ish) box of the sweets for Ros and Ian for next week, but now I can make up another box for Margreet and Joop to accompany the bottle of red that we are also taking tonight. I am really looking forward to it, as they are such lovely people and such good company.

PS.: We have just got back from Joop and Margreet's where an absolutely delightful meal and good company was had. We had lentils with salad, toast and garlic sour cream, followed by stewed apples with cream. It was delicious and we had a good chinwag all evening. I am now going to bed and finish packing tomorrow morning.