Another trip to Monoszló, two new telephones, a hike and more geocaching

The concert a week ago was pretty good and we did finally see the famous Bogányi piano. It has streamlined lines and looks/sounds good. Shame that he will never be able to live down the fact that being a faithful follower of the current government he had his piano built by a subsidy of millions  from the public purse, when there are children starving, hospitals closing and schools falling apart.

Gergely Bogányi

On Tuesday we went down to the village and found the gate off its hinges.  I was so cross with whoever did that. It must have been Pali when he took the cefre barrels, but I still don't understand how he could leave it like that, when he is quite good at fixing stuff like that.  In fact, when he came home for lunch we grabbed him and he put it right in no time at all.

Roman ruins by one of the caches

The bad news about the cefre was that the still underestimated the business around the time he told Pali to bring over ours and it wasn't done.  We are not impatient for it, but I always worry when it is not done straight away, that it will be mixed with somebody else's. Let us hope when we arrive home next week, that it is done and Roy can bottle it.

A Golgotha, behind which there was another cache

On that same Tuesday my good friend, Gyuri had his throat operation and it seems his voice is much improved.  He is at home now and is recovering well. If we are talking about hospitals I must mention an accident that happened last Saturday and which put my good friend Mariann into hospital.  She slipped on a patch of oil with her car and had a nasty bump. She broke an arm and is hurting all over at the moment. She sounded very shaky on the phone and I worry about her.

Remnants of an ancient "paint" quarry

On Wednesday I went to see the nurse at the surgery in the village and got my prescriptions for two months. I gave her a box of chocolates for Christmas, as hopefully I will not see her until well after Christmas now.

As we were invited to our friend Pityu by the Balaton for the weekend, I was making truffles as presents while Roy went to the mechanic in the village to have our winter tyres put on the car. Then we left for Monoszló on Friday morning. We went straight from Bér geocaching all the way. In fact, as we still had time on our monthly motorway pass, we went down fast on the motorway and did our caching in the area between Veszprém and the lake. We saw some interesting places, although one or two was not too enjoyable in the dark, cold, overcast weather that suddenly arrived, putting an end to the unseasonably warm weather we have been enjoying all autumn.

A lovely old choo choo train in Csopak

As it got dark very early, we arrived at Pityu's quite early and had him to ourselves for a couple of hours, which was nice. The company this time consisted of Pityu, Roy, Hulk, Haggis, Jutka and me. They played bridge till the early hours, as usual, I logged my caches and went to bed early.

A neighbour, Jutka and Hulk

Pityu in his kitchen

Saturday dawned wet and cold, so there was mutiy in the air. Some would have preferred to stay and play bridge, but finally I could get them move and leave for our hike, albeit an hour late. This caused me some concern, as in the overcast weather it was likely to be pitch dark by 4pm and the real danger of getting benighted loomed over us.  Especially, that Pityu could not walk very fast and Jutka, who is usually a law onto herself, was wondering here, there and everywhere, irrespective of the danger of ending up on a steep and rocky mountain in the dark.

Pityu, me and Hulk on the hike

As it happens, half way through the hike it dawned on all of them how dangerous that would be and picked up the pace. Even with this extra effort we were within minutes of being benighted on the steep descent at the end.  Still, during the hike we saw some amazing sights. The geyser field was full of amazing rock formations, the views from up high over the Balaton breath taking, even though you could not see too far, due to the fog and haze.

The Inner Lake on the Tihany penninsula in the haze

The caches were coming thick and fast and we did all, but one of them that were left from the organised hike back in May when I had to stop due to the heat and the high humidity. That missed  one fell foul of the late start and the pootling, but that is one that can be done from the car another day, as it is quite close to a road you can drive on.

One of the many weird looking geyser cones

In the evening after the hike there was another feast, followed by bridge half the night, so we all slept in a bit on the Sunday morning. After breakfast all but me went to see a house Hulk is thinking of buying, but it turned out to be a dud and he discarded the idea fast. We also played robber rummy, which I haven't played in decades.  That was fun!

I also managed to buy two new telephones as Christmas presents for Alex and Meaghan. As it happens it was the cock-up that the Google webshop's website did that resulted in a double purchase with a total impossibility of deleting the second order, which then ended up as Meaghan's  phone for Christmas.  Also, this way Callum will have a telephone as well, as Meaghan's phone has not yet died, (unlike Alex's), so he can have that one.

The sun setting over the Balaton

We drove home on Sunday afternoon in the pouring rain and ended up sitting in a gridlock traffic jam for over an hour due to 4 cop cars blocking just one lane of a crucial section which is usually a bottleneck on a Sunday afternoon, even on a November Sunday in the rain.  What they were doing was a mystery, it looked to me like a mass document check for no bloody reason, when we finally passed them. However, we had the most amazingly fast trip after that, due to the fact that all the cars that usually queue on the bridge and in the downtown area were still stuck behind the cop cars. We actually got home in 10 minutes from there.

An enormous ancient oak tree

Today I had a busy day too: first I went to the Telenor shop to cancel the insurance I got conned to take out on my new phone.  Thankfully you can cancel in the first month and having realised that that was a con and an expensive one at that, I cancelled it. The Telenor shop was amazingly empty, so I finished in about 10 minutes which was a novelty, as I have never before got out of there under half an hour.

Hulk using the facilities, or is he?

After that I went to a gallery with my friend Vera, where I saw some lovely paintings and handicrafts, which combined methods of paint, photo and weaving, silver smithing etc. in producing very interesting images and designs. She is a clothes designer basically, although now retired and sometimes takes me to places like that. Afterwards we walked along some antique and craft shops and managed to resist buying anything.

A detour to the pharmacist relieved me of about £120 for two months' worth of my medicines and then met Roy at one of our favourite restaurants for lunch. The afternoon was spent mostly on the computer or in front of the TV, but Roy had a trip out into the lousy weather, as he had to take the hulk of his dead computer to Dylan, not for repair, just for rescuing the data from it for the next computer, he is going to build for him. That should cost somewhere between £400-£500, so I think we will refrain from Christmas presents to each other, having had to spend a fair amount recently. Oh, and I managed to book and pay for the airport transfer in Mexico next spring, so that is sorted now, thank goodness.

Tomorrow we are off the Hajduszoboszló for 4 days' geocaching and perhaps one or two dips into the medicinal waters that the place is famous for.  Next post after we got back.

New phone, doctors, dentist and more geocaching

The new phone (she says in a whisper holding something wooden) is great. Whether it will develop annoying habits, like the previous one, is still to be determined, but currently I am finding it user friendly, fast and efficient.

The Börzsöny panorama

The beginning of the week was mostly spent indoors, doing computer stuff and on the phone. This was a shame, because the week turned out to be amazingly warm and sunny and I should have been out in it. The main ambition I had was to hike to a moving cache which hasn't been in my hands yet and which was placed by a meadow that I actually know. What stopped me going for it was the following:
1. I was feeling not too good and thought if I get out and catch some more stuff, I will endanger the rest of the month, which is full of good stuff I don't want to miss.
2. The fear that somebody takes it just before I got there, although that would not have happened, because the bloody thing is still there.
3. Unfortunately it is in an area where I have already got all other caches and it is a waste of effort to go for a cache where that is the only one you can get.

The trek, starting in the town and finishing on the road to it

So, I was writing up cache lists on the computer for upcoming trips and visits, ringing people up with varying success and just generally vegging out. I tried to ring the dermatologist somebody recommended but could not get through to her. I think I will go in person one of these days, but not yet. I rang Pali, telling him that we are staying in town, so he needs to deal with the cefre on his own.  He agreed. I realised that one of the hotel bookings I made recently for next year clashed with something, but changing it by a week was OK. And I watched a lot of American television, so I am up-to-date at present.

The marking we were following

Thursday was busy, in that I had a homeopath's appointment followed by a visit to the dentist. Zsófi came up with some strange ideas about what I am lacking, so now I am not calcium and a few other potions, while awaiting their effect. The dentist was yet another epic visit, both in terms of agony and cost. She was preparing my bottom left molars for the impression to be taken, from which they will make the crowns in America. I was in the chair for nearly 2 hours, which was agony indeed, not only in my mouth, but in my back too. Those dentist's chairs are not exactly padded or comfortable, so my joints and my lower back were really hurting once I got up. I had to pay half the cost of the crowns, which was £400, but I still love Vivien, she is nice.

Gyöngyi and Lajos on the trail

Finally Saturday came and I went on a geocaching hike to the Börzsöny with two new friends: Lajos and Gyöngyi. Well, that was an interesting experience. Lajos is quite fit, but Gyöngyi isn't, so it was me who had to hang about waiting for someone, rather than the rest of them waiting for me, which is more typical of my hikes nowadays. Lajos was and still is, a typical Hungarian male, full of very strong opinions which he is not shy to voice. As the hike progressed I suddenly realised that they were not at all used to much climb and steep rocky terrain. God knows why they agreed to do it then, as I sent them all the details well beforehand.

Arboreal tunnel with the mountain we were to climb at the background

Waymarking posts

The hike itself was a great success. We only did 3, but they were hard and difficult, both in terms of technical as well as physical challenges. The first, which was a 2-parter was OK, not much climb and/or distance. The second one, however, had most of the climb on the trip and the end of it was near vertical on rock. Still, the views were magnificent and we did find (I actually) the cache under a rock.

Lajos at the top

Muggins on the top of the peak

The third one was a short by very steep climb up to the remains of an old earth fort with many embankments and with lovely views down. Gyöngyi was lagging behind so much that after the first cache she didn't actually come up to the top of the other two. With the second one she nearly came all the way, but at the third one, she stayed at the bottom and we returned to her there to finish the hike. We put ourselves into top gear to get to the bus stop in time and that was great, as we were all getting rather tired by then.  The bus took us back to the car and I was at home just after 6pm, which was good going.

Another panoramic from the top

The total length of the hike was 10.3km with 350m of climb and 530m of descent. This now almost cleared all the caches in that corner the the Börzsöny Mountains for me, I think only 2 are left. As the little narrow gauge railways stop for the winter, I will only return to do the central very high section for caches once the trains are running again. Lajos and Gyöngyi are showing some interest in that, but we'll see!

On the descent

Sunset from the bus stop

Autumn colours

Today I am having an inactive day, as all my joints are still complaining after yesterday. I think the main problem was the rock. I can climb and the distance was reasonable too, but so much of it was on stony and even rocky ground that my poor knees, hips, lower back etc. are complaining.

The plans for the next week are also very busy. I have a concert tomorrow evening, so we are not going home until Tuesday morning. Then hopefully Pali would have returned with the pálinka, so Roy has some bottling to do. At the weekend we are in Monoszló, followed by a return to town for a day, before departing Eastwards for a 4-day trip to Hajdúszoboszló. No peace for the wicked, as you can see.

Makó, geocaching, hiking and a new phone

Our three days in Makó were delightful, albeit a bit crap vis-a-vis geocaching. On the first day, when I planned a good few caches to be found en route South, we made the mistake of taking a detour to Gyöngyös to do some food shopping at Tesco. This had taken about an hour and a half out of the day, which, of course, caused us later to be benighted too soon for finishing all the caches on the list.

Gyöngyöspata church

That was a shame, but those that we could find were very interesting and enjoyable. They included: a lovely tall-spired church that we have passed in the car a thousand times before, but never stopped to look at, an old ruinous country estate with an enormous poplar tree, a centre for the preservation of the Eastern Imperial Eagle, another big white church in another village, an interesting detached little village on the puszta and the ruin of a medieval church in yet another village. The rest on the list was left to another trip, which we will no doubt make some time in the future.

Makó Town Hall

The B&B was lovely, friendly staff, spotlessly clean and furnished with nice old furniture. The beds were very comfortable too and we had a tiny kitchenette where we could cook. Breakfast and all other meals were extra, but we prefer to bring our own anyway, so that didn't bother us. Unfortunately, the recommended Italian restaurant, Rocco's, was full to the brim, so we made a booking for the following evening and went to eat elsewhere.  That restaurant was fine, too, albeit a tiny bit empty.

Our bedroom in the B&B

The following morning we went out very early, even before breakfast, to walk around Makó and get its geocache. It is not a very large town, but has some lovely old buildings and lots of places associated with the one thing that makes Makó famous: onions. Don't laugh, Makó onions are definitely the best on the planet.  Large, hard, flavourful and last right through the winter provided they are stored properly. Even the thermal baths are called after onions, which I thought was sweet.

Downtown Makó

The rest of the day was spent travelling around the area, picking up caches as we went. I knew that being in the Great Plain, it will be flat, but was never prepared for the endless views that you get in the plains where there is nothing in your way to see all the way to the horizon. The caches visited included: a brand new arboreal walkway, which really took you up into the treetops and where the views of the forest and the river were really pretty. We saw an interesting old church, which had a bit at the back with was circular, dereliction was also on the menu, as there is one cache owner in the South, who loves showing you decaying buildings. This time he took us to a cemetery where the former landowner's family was buried and his crypt still stood.  Only just, I must admit, but it was interesting.

The tower on the aerial walkway

We also saw the memorial to the heroic defenders of the town, who in 1970 saved it from inundation by the river, then went to see remains of an old railway bridge, which was demolished after the Trianon Peace Treaty as it led into a foreign country, followed by an interesting 17th century old carved stone cross in the middle of nowhere. The next one was a cache looked after by my good friend Gyuri, and I loved it. A really sweet old chapel, unfortunately right next to a modern dual carriageway's roundabout, so the serene environment that the chapel must have existed in the middle of the puszta for hundreds of years was no longer there.  Still, its proportions were so charming that we managed to forget about the roundabout.

Little chapel in the middle of the puszta

The next cache took us to the middle of the puszta where for centuries people lived and worked in isolated small hamlets, eking out a living from the poor land and perhaps animals if they could. Most of these hamlets are now abandoned, although some of them are still lived in, but there are no longer enough people to warrant the schools, churches and other amenities to survive. One place, where we had to look for the cache had a church and a school, but the latter was totally derelict.

The near derelict crypt in the cemetery

The last two caches of the day were an old bridge and yet another old church. The day ended happily at the Italian restaurant, with Roy having calamari with his pasta and me just having garlic, olive oil and chilies on mine

The river Maros

Our third and final day started with two multis: one having 3 the other having 7 parts. Both showed us the town of Hódmezővásárhely. The three-parter took us to several brick buildings, as brick is the usual building material in the puszta due to the total lack of stone in the area. The 7-parter included lots of places in the town, including a museum dedicated to communism. Strange, I admit, but it was great.

After an enjoyable beginning, the rest of the caching was less successful. Two of them we couldn't even find the road to, the first one because they built a fast dual carriageway and blocked off the road to it, the other one because there were extensive building works in the area and all roads closed because of it. We, sort of, gave up after this, as Roy didn't want to have to drive in the pitch dark, as he had to on Day 1.

The ancient carved stone cross

Beforehand, however, we still managed a few, including another no longer existing railway bridge and a 3-parter multi that seemed to have escaped us last time we were in that town, and which didn't give itself up easily this time either. Part one was a small tablet stuck to the back of a road sign, containing the coordinates of the next part. Roy and I looked for it for ages before he spotted it up side down really hidden by other parts of the structure. After that one we took to the motorway and managed to get home just before it got dark. The total caches were 24, quite low for a  three-day trip, but we still enjoyed it and will have one more of these in a couple of weeks, that time going East again.

Lenin hanging around outside the Museum

The day after we got back I had a concert with Bozsa again and it was superb, as usual. Boris Berezovsky played Russian composers exclusively and brilliantly. Balakirev, Stravinsky, and a few others were played with such virtuosity and vehemence only a large Russian bear of a pianist, like Berezovsky, can. I was very tired, but managed to stay awake amidst all that noise.

Boris Berezovsky

Saturday brought my long planned trip up the steep and rocky mountain Naszály, with Mariann and Gabi. The weather, which was warm, sunny and brilliant over the previous weeks, suddenly turned cold and misty. The former is fine, but mist is the enemy of photographers, and unfortunately, the photos from Saturday proved that.  Still the hike itself was a great success, although not without its cock-ups. Most of which were Mariann's, but I am to blame too, as I left all the navigation to her and didn't even turn my GPS on.  That was a grave mistake, but finally everything turned out OK, so I am not complaining. However, this was a salutary lesson that when you have two GPS's on a trip they should both be on and the participants should check each other's directions frequently.

Gabi and Mariann, my companions on the hike

There were only 4 caches on the list on Saturday, and the distance of the hike was a measly 5 miles. Still, it was an exhausting trip due to the prevalence of rock and the steepness of the terrain. We climbed 500 metres in the course of those 5 miles, which add up to more that 6% climb, which is gruelling, especially for 3 old girls of our vintage. Having said that, we all trudged on, albeit slowly, and finished it all rather triumphantly.

Miner'á memorial

The first cache was at a memorial to miners who died in a mining disaster 48 years ago. This cache was close to our starting point, but the next one was a different kettle of fish. It had 4 parts, showing us 4 different lookout points on the mountain, but only the first point's coordinates were given.  At the first three points we had to look for old plastic bottles hidden with the coordinates of the next point in them. I usually hate these type of caches, because inevitably, not all little bottles are in place and once you can't find one, you are stuck.

All paths were thickly covered by fallen leaves

To prevent us running into such problems, Mariann got a caching friend give her all the coordinates in advance, in exchange for a promise of looking up all the bottles to confirm they are still in place. As it happens, her cock-up was of major proportions, because at one point when she should have looked at the coordinates and carried on in a Northerly direction, she assumed that the last two parts are on our return trip South and failed to correct the direction. She didn't realise this until we were more than a kilometre in the wrong direction, but more about this later.

Gabi and Mariann on the top

After part 1 of the multi, we carried on to the top of the mountain, where another cache awaited us. That climb was pretty gruelling, but the top looked quite fascinating.  An old concrete tower was there, probably as a lookout point, but it wasn't open. It could have also been a geodesic point for mapping, but these are no longer in use due to satellite mapping having taken over. It was after this one that we turned the wrong way, looking for not only the next points on the multi, but the second point of another multi, our 4th cache.

The Danube in the distance

Once it was clear what we had done, Mariann rang the guy who gave her the coordinates, pleaded senile decay for the mistake and the nice man at the other end of the phone gave her the password. Phew, we all went, as Gabi and I insisted that we refuse to climb back up and I am sure we would have been adamant, even if our helpful friend refused to hand over the password. The last two places we went to were a couple of abandoned quarries, which were lovely. Nature had taken over since quarrying stopped, but the stone was still visible to photograph.

Moss and dead leaves

After this we descended on steep and rocky paths, which was painful on the knees and in a small sylvan detour, we also ended up pretending to be on a roller coaster as the path crossed several deep gullies. Once back at the car I managed to get Mariann and Gabi to their train and got home in time for a lovely jacket potato dinner.

One of the many disused quarries on the mountain

Sunday contained further drama. We got up at 5am, so that we could leave at 6.30am to visit our friends by the Balaton nice and early, when the phone rang and he told us that he fell down the stairs in the night and they are packing up and coming back to town to take him to Accident and Emergency pronto. I feel terribly for him as it sounded as if he did some serious damage to one of his shoulders, but on the other hand, neither Roy nor I were too upset at having a rest at home instead of driving hundreds of kilometres in one day. Obviously, this place, where we would have gone, is cursed.  This is the second time we are missing it, the first one having been in January when we couldn't go due to my going down with the dreaded Aussie flu. Third time lucky, says a Hungarian proverb, I hope it is right!

High temperatures in November confused nature all round

Today I have several chores in town, most of which are seriously overdue.  The first and most important is to get a new telephone. I found a very good deal advertised on the net, but there appear no dual SIM phones included in the offer, so I might have to keep going until I find one. I will also have to buy my 2019 diary, as there are already several things I should have put into one in the last month or so. This should be followed by a visit to my organic health food shop, where I usually get my vitamins, as I have been out of B Max for nearly a week. No peace for the wicked, as you can see, but I'll post again, hopefully, in about a week or so.

Picturesque large tree by the path

PS: I have got a new phone for nothing. Let me tell you how I came by this good fortune! I looked up the current packages that were available on the three major networks: Telenor, T-com and Vodafone. They were much of a muchness both in terms of conditions, facilities and price.  Except for one thing: T-com had dual SIM phones, but Telenor didn't. I didn't want to believe that, as nowadays very few manufacturers, if any, make anything but dual phones as far as I knew.  So I went into the Telenor shop and enquired. Apparently they did have dual SIM phones, but the guy behind the counter assured me that it would be no use to me as both SIM slots only worked with Telenor SIM cards. That sounded stupid, but I sort of accepted it and resigned to carrying two phones again, as all my old phones still worked, so one could be for the other SIM card. Then he looked at my contract and suggested that if I was prepared to go one up to the next level of contract (£6 a month extra) I could have 4 times the data and he would give me a free phone. It's no wonder that I went for that immediately. Even if the other SIM card didn't work in the second slot, it was still a very good deal. However, as I was finally leaving, the guy ran after us and whispered: Do try the other SIM card in the second slot, as it MIGHT work with the other SIM card!

My lovely new Samsung Galaxy J6

After coming home to lunch and hanging up the washing, I then went to that lovely chap who has so far been so fantastic and helpful to me all through my telephone troubles and who, unfortunately, only repairs and sells second hand phones, so I couldn't put my business with him. This time I asked him to put in the two SIM cards and activate the phone for me, just in case I do something stupid in the process. He was great, very helpful, as usual and I nearly gave him a kiss, I was so happy. I controlled myself and just blew him a kiss and he smiled sweetly. All things come to a happy end if you persevere and have a positive attitude!!! :)