Friday 26th of August Keszthely to Tapolca

Got a phone call from a charming Hungarian woman this morning with words of encouragement and advice. Lovely surprise and she also spoke excellent English (better than me although as others have pointed out I've lacked practice recently). Amongst other things she told me that the weather at the moment is exceptional and breaking records.

Hang on! So I spend two months walking through the Alps enduring one of the wettest summers anyone can remember and now I'm in Hungary enduring one of the hottest summers anyone can remember. What I'd like to remember please is some average, some normal!

Anyway today's walk definitely had three parts to it (all hot). A short but roadside escape from Keszthely; a long middle section mainly through forest but some open countryside at its end; then a really long roadside walk into Tapolca.

I suspect that the amount of roadside walking you do tends to be a product of how densely populated the countryside is and this, to an extent, is a product of how high you are. I remember when I was walking through Andalucia complaining about the road side walking (one infamous day involved 36 kilometres) and being warned that this common "in Europe" and to expect lots. As it turned out I hardly got any as most the E4 is through mountains. I'm getting a bit more now because it's lower and I think this is a busy part of Hungary. It's more of a pain than it would normally be because of the heat but the bus service looks excellent so I could always chop bits off if I was suffering.

The first 3 kilometres involved a walk out to the out to town shops - huge Tesco. Got my lunch there - slice of pizza and fruit, no chocolate, too hot - and bought a map, as advised by a Hungarian commentator, at the petrol station. Felt odd going into a petrol station as a walker. Then had to walk down a few hundred metres of seriously busy road where the gust of a lorry whipped my hat off - managed to retrieve it but not very dignified.

Busy road on the way out of Keszthely

At least I had nearly escaped Keszthely and after a walk through a suburb I was in forest. Final non forest bit actually was a trip alongside a rifle range where live firing was taking place. The side of the route was marked with red flags and if I had had a white flag I would have been waving it.

This stretch of walk is through what is described on the map as the Keszthelyi Mountains and which are about 300 metres high, just high enough to create a welcome breeze at the top. No real long views at this stage - all forest, initially oak, some old pine and then beech.

Huge pine trees

Breaking out from the trees was confronted with an enormous field of sunflowers all with heads bowed in the sun.

Sun flowers bowing their heads in the sun

The first village was Vallus. There seems to be pump near every village church, not sure if you can drink the water but it's a great way to cool off. In Vallus I was tempted to take my shoes of and soak my feet but in the middle of a village I thought it might be seen as a bit rude. Was disappointed in the dogs who were very half hearted in their barking, wanted to add to my "barking dogs of Europe" series of pictures, but as soon as I lifted my camera they turned shy.

Just past Vallus I got my first view of yesterday's Buddist Pagoda at Zalaszanto, must have walked 25 kilometres since then but such is the meandering nature of the route that it was now only about six kilometres to the north-west. The village of Rezi, past yesterday afternoon was probably 3 kilometres to the west. Got three kilometres closer to Budapest in 24 hours!

The route did start to head east after that and above Varvolgy I was able to get some of the longest views I've had so far in Hungary. In particular I saw Lake Balaton for the first time to the south and little mountains to the east which I think are ancient extinct volcanoes (the castle at Sumeg, yesterday's start point sits on one of these). With all the humidity in the air however the views were very misty.

Lake Balaton hazy in the distance

After ice-cream and cold drink at Lesenceistvand the final test was a walk along a hot and fairly busy road to Topolca. Not pleasant, the only good thing about it was that the ground was covered quickly.

Trusty Friend

Staying at a central hotel, the Hotel Gabriella, which has air conditioning. Brilliant. Got there at about 4.

It is great to be getting interest from readers in Hungary. The hits on the site have not been as high since I first started. Can I thank everyone who responded to my plea for advice on accommodation. Incredibly comprehensive. Have also had some direct help on arranging bookings. The most important thing is that I now know where I need to worry and where I don't.

Thursday 25th August Sumeg to Keszthely

Getting so close to the end of the walk is making things harder. When it was months or weeks away it didn't seem worth thinking about the end but now it's so close it's all I can think about. Everyday feels like an obstacle to be overcome and set backs are like slipping back down a mountain.

Given my navigational track record loosing the trail just south of Sumeg this morning should have been a minor issue but I got pretty close to chucking my rucksack on the floor and just giving up. Had left Sumeg really early (plenty of food but no coffee), and followed the signs out of town. After about 2 kilometres the track left the road and went into some scrubby countryside. The trail on my GPS split from the markings on the ground and then the markings on the ground disappeared. Followed various trails, but no signs, just heaps of dumped televisions and other rubbish, and yes a fox. Stared at each other for a few seconds but he wasn't going to tell me the way.

Went back to the main road and its thundering lorries and followed the road hoping that I would come across the trail later. The gap between the route on my GPS and my current position just got wider and after a couple of kilometres I gave up on the road and went cross country through the forest. It wasn't too bad, the huge beech trees have such a dense canopy that there is nothing growing underneath and it's easy to cut a straight line. Pine forests are impenetrable by comparison.



After about a kilometre, and right in the forest, I had to cross a railway line. If it hadn't been so sunny it would have been the perfect location for Strelnikov's train from Dr Zhivago.

After another kilometre I was back on the trail but still resentful that I had got up so early and then lost time. I was in trees, in the shade, but it still felt very hot. For company little flies were buzzing around my head and if you ignored them they attempted to find a spot for themselves in your eye.

Very similar trail to the last few days but instead of level it was now undulating, even hilly.



Got directed to a Buddist's temple, an option I declined, and eventually left the trees and came out of the forest at about 12 at the village of Zalaszanto. It was stunningly hot and I worked out that I had been walking for nearly six hours and was still barely half way.

Went to the village shop and bought two magnums (they are smaller here than in the UK - mini magnums!) and a bottle of Sprite. Sat in the shade near a bus stop and fought with the "why don't you get on the bus" devil and won (only just) and was rewarded by a three kilometre walk along the side of the road with more thundering lorries.

After that it actually got easier and by 3.45 I was going through the resort town of Neviz and only 4 kilometres from Keszthely. Had done a lot of walking on roads already and although the final run into Keszthely was on a cycle track, it was a hard surface and by the time I finished at about 4.45 my feet felt like they had melted.



Tomorrow at least is shorter again, 27 kilometres rather than today's 43. It is however the start of some really serious meanders as I head inland away from Lake Balaton (haven't seen it yet) before coming back to the Lake the next day. I may go nuts before I get to Budapest.

Wednesday August 24th Hosszuperreszteg to Sumeg

Another absolutely scorching day. I think it's hot even by Hungarian standards, there is some talk that it might get cooler but not until next week! It's right up there in the high 90s - never walked such long days in such heat.

Despite the sun today's walk went OK. The hotel I was staying in was about 2 kilometres of the trail so I think the whole walk was about 37 kilometres. Started walking about 7.45 and finished at about 4.30 which seems about right for the distance and better than yesterday. Heat rash has gone so nothing trip threatening at the moment.

Getting some great comments from Hungarian readers of the blog. One of them had worked out where I was last night and was able to tell me follow the blue box signs back to the trail. Hadn't noticed these before but they worked a treat. Also pointed me to the Hungarian Tourist Website where, if I had known, I could have downloaded a map base with the route for free. Trouble was, when I was doing my research last year, I got such excellent information on the route, compared to what you get in other countries, that didn't think to look a bit harder. You Hungarians don't know how lucky you are getting access to such maps - in the UK the equivalent costs a small fortune.

Once I was back on the trail the first milestone were the Lake of Szejk, 5 kilometres from Hosszuperreszteg. Not sure how the lakes have come about but there a long narrow feature right in the middle of the forest. There a big campsite at one end with a Gasthof so I guess I could have stayed there.

Lake at Szajk

There was a sign at the campsite, near the footpath, which said Sumeg 30 kilometres, and from that point I was in the forest for about 4 and a half hours. I have already mentioned how weird it is just following a trail, no map, like being in a maze with signs but with no real idea when the maze is going to end. For all those hours the only non forest features was an occasional bit of road walking and the crossing, via a road bridge, of a railway line. Given the sun, walking in the shade was actually good news and at least the trees are oak, ash and beech rather than endless pine or "German trees" as the French call them.



One tree had on it a stamping point for those walkers wanting to authenticate their Blue Walk trip.

Blue Route Stamping Point

At about 2.30 the forest spat me out onto a road and in the distance I got my first encouraging sight of the castle which sits above Sumeg. I was now in the sun and within minutes was missing the trees. The route seemed to meander its way towards Sumeg but on the final approach it went with the road straight into town. Hungarian drivers don't take prisoners, they drive fast, and that bit of walk was not pleasant.

Approaching Sumeg

The only accommodation I had been able to find on the Internet was a big and fairly expensive spa hotel. Decided to take pot luck and see what else I could find and this time it worked. A nice family hotel right in the middle of town. They speak English and have agreed to make me a packed breakfast - going to make a six o'clock start in the morning to try and beat as much of the heat as possible.

The only downside of the hotel is that it doesn't seem to have wifi so I can't publish my blog. One the Hungarian commentators suggested that I list the places I intend to stay at and tap into some local knowledge. Starting on Friday my schedule is as follows:

Friday 26th. Tapolca
Saturday 27th. Szentbakkalla
Sunday 28th Nagvvazsony
Monday 29th Bakonbel
Tuesday 30th Zirc
Wednesday 31st Fehervarcsurgo
Thursday 1st Kohanyaspuzta
Friday 2nd. Koldusszalles
Saturday 3rd Mogyorosbanya
Sunday 4th Piliscev
Monday 5th. Budapest
Tuesday 6th. London

Would be really grateful for help on all of the above, although you don't need to worry about Budapest and London!

I particularly struggled with Koldusszalles and expect to have to stay in Tatabanya, and Mogyorosbanya. Must admit not knowing Hungary I was a bit surprised that accommodation seemed to get harder as you get nearer Budapest.

Would be incredibly grateful for any help. If you have a suggestion, than please either leave a comment or send me an email - the email address is amithefirst@gmail.com. For comments I'm dependent on wifi access, which I suspect will get more difficult next week, so email might be better. Alternatively you can send me a text on 0771 757 2645, that's a UK number.

Tuesday 23rd August Sarvar to Hosszupereszteg

Have now sampled all six of the western E4 countries footpath marking systems and can now declare the preliminary results. These might change if I get lost between here and Budapest but the positions, after today's town centre test, are now well defined.

Hungary is running a strong second.

Austria is third - let down by poor marking in the less popular eastern part of the country.

France is running fourth - the world famous white and red signs on the ground change too much to beat the Hungarian white and blue markings although the judges recommend that the Hungarians consider the same cross symbol to indicate a "don't go that way" instruction.

Spain is running fifth with some excellent practice let down by regional variation.

Germany is the surprise back marker with Maxmillianweg marking described as "at best poor and at worse misleading" .

The benchmark for waymarking has been set by the Swiss who have implemented an awesome system which combines the on the ground marking of the Hungarian system with information on timing and destination. It tells you where you are going and how long it might take.

Only the Swiss and the Hungarian systems past the ultimate test of taking you from a town centre, where there are lots of choices, out into the country where there are less.

Applied the test on the journey out of Sarvar today. The signs took me round the castle, through some back streets and across a park full of lovely lakes. Almost got thrown where the route had been changed for a watersports park but soon found the signs again and then it out of town, past Tescos, across a bridge over the River Rada, and onto a patch of sustained road marking. Entirely led by the signs, no maps no GPS.

Lakes in Sarvar

Another amazingly hot day and too be honest the 35 kilometres seemed to go on forever. Today fortunately was less open with more of the trail again in the trees. Definitely struggling a bit in the sun - getting some quite unpleasant heat rashes in some very delicate places.

Welcome shelter from the heat

Some more unusual road filling systems in the forest. After yesterday's dodgy building refuse, today there was a lorry load of barley spread neatly along the trail and, of course sprouting. Not sure what was going on here, but if it was an experiment in alternative uses for barley it failed.

Sprouting barley on the footpath

Actually the most exposed part of the day came shortly after the barley incident and just after Sitke on the way to Gerce. Here the path was so overgrown that it was impassable, instead you had to walk across a ploughed field and through a field of maize. All I needed was a crop duster and it would have been "North by Northwest".

Overgrown path

Meet a couple of Hungarian walkers just after Gerce and looked enviously at there guide for the Blue Route, contained wonderful large scale maps.

And then a long walk through trees all the way to Kald, including a very walk through trees. Got to Kald about 3.30 and later discovered from a comment on the blog that I could have met up with someone in a bar there. Very sensible Hungarian who was in the shade and out of the sun.

Pressed on to Hosszupereszteg. Really nice walk through arable land with huge fields and crops higher than maize but not maize - beyond me and I was bought up on a farm.

Unknown crop

The gasthof I was looking for in Hosszupereszteg didn't exist. After being told that there was somewhere to stay near the church, a Hungarian woman seemed to suggest that the nearest place was five kilometres further along the road. Given my heat rash I didn't fancy another five kilometres.

Found a bus stop which seemed to suggest a bus at 6.18, but had no real idea where it was going and whether it would result in a hotel. Managed to attract the attention of the man who lived near the bus stop.

Now I have to say that non-verbal communications are a bit different here. Hungarians famously don't look you in the eye and don't smile - sounds very English but the English are extroverts compared to Hungarians. I'm starting to get used to this and as long as you don't take the initial "get lost" signals personally things start to happen.

Anyway after the initial "get lost" signal the man became very helpful, which was fortunate because the bus was turning up. Using hand signals I explained I want a bed in a hotel. He has a long conversation with the bus driver and I think persuaded the bus driver to take me to next village, which was off the bus route, and drop me of not far from a hotel. Really helpful. Shook the man's hand, got on the bus with no idea where I was going. Obviously I'm now in a hotel which is actually at the other side of Hosszupereszteg safe and sound. The bus driver refused to take a fare (no one else on the bus) so this goes on my growing list of "international rescues".

A Good Day!

Monday 22nd Szeleste to Sarvar

Still walking across a feature called the little Hungarian Plain, so continues to be very flat. Not so many trees today, bit more open, and incredibly hot. Shorter walk, just 22 kilometres, got away from the "castle" hotel in Szelestei by 8, so was in Sarvar in time for a late lunch and an afternoon in the shade.

Castle Hotel

I'm following the blue and white markers, which are brilliant, but also have a GPS trail on my IPhone which I downloaded from from of the Hungarian web sites that specialise on the walk. I don't have any maps and because the route meanders you get a slightly weird feeling just following the signs because it's a very meandering route. You often seem to be going backwards and your sense of direction, which gets mislead especially when your in trees, is constantly telling you something must be wrong. Slight panic just out of Szelestei when the GPS trail conflicted with the signs but of course, in the end, the signs where right.

Massive fields

Ploughed footpath

More examples of the huge scale of agriculture here with the fields which seemed to go on to the horizon. The same "farmer" also helpfully ploughed up the footpath (if my farmer brother reads this I know that technically it's "dragged" not ploughed). This sort of landscape definitely has it's attractions and on a cold day in the winter is probably amazing.

Slightly more unnerving is the tendency to use white asbestos debris to line the forest trail. Conscious that I have a number of Hungarian readers at the moment and don't want to cause offence but most English walkers would be seriously put off by even the mention of asbestos.

White Abestos

Saw three Trabant's parked in a line as I walked through the streets of Sarvar: a standard saloon, an estate car and a coupe. The coupe looked the best.

Trabant

Sarvar itself is a spa town, an important tourist destination and has lots of hotels. Like Kozeg it has multi-coloured stucco buildings which are being carefully restored. The central feature however is a castle and my gasthof is right next to it.

Nádasdy Castle

PS. Really Great to hear from you again Nancy and thanks so much for your kind sponsorship. Can't promise to be enjoying every minute but definitely most of them!

Sunday 21st August Koszeg to Szeleste

First full day on the Blue Trail and I've enjoyed it. Only complaint is that the kilometres seem longer here and despite a good and flat trail, it took me 9 hours of fast walking to do what my schedule says is 35 kilometres. I was starting to think I had somehow overshot Szeleste and was going to have to walk to Sarvar.

Left Koszeg via Jurisics Square at about 9.15 and found my first blue and white sign (the Square may not be at its best at the moment as it's being completely repaved). It's blue and white signs only, nothing to tell you where your going and how long it might take, but the blue and white signs are excellent and generally come up about every fifty metres.

St Imre Church

I'm not expecting any of the track to Budapest to be exactly mountainous but today's stretch is described as a plain so it's particularly flat. Most of it was through trees and along forest roads or trails but it was not as bad as it sounds. Although there a lot of conifers there are also plantations of oak and ash and to be honest, given the sun, it was perhaps better to be walking through trees than out in the open. Some of the trails were exceptionally long and straight, a whole walk stretching out in front of you.

Should be careful not to draw any conclusions after just a day but the countryside does seem completely different to anything I have walked through before. Everything I saw today, from the plantations to the fields, was on a massive scale. The wheat has all been harvested and the only thing left are huge fields of maze. At Szelestei there were five huge combine harvesters all lined up, machines which can eat up thousands of acres without so much as a blink. Farming over the border in Austria was on a cottage garden scale in comparison.

Huge fields of corn

Maybe this is a legacy of collectivisation and then privatisation or maybe it's just a feature of this part of Hungary. Only went through one village other than Szeleste (which may qualify as a small town) and again there is little of the rural gentrification you get in other parts of Europe, or indeed the sense of prosperity you get from family farms. If this is right than some of facilities you take for granted in other countries, the bars, the Auberges and farm providing accommodation may turn out to be short supply here.

Anyway have found somewhere nice to stay tonight. It's a hotel converted from what claims to be a castle although it has very few castle features and seems more like Victorian gothic to me.

Based on just two meals the food has perhaps improved since Austria. Maybe it's just coming down from the mountains but there seems to be a bigger choice and it's definitely better value.
PS

Many thanks for the two recent sponsors - Steve (Dale) that was very generous, will buy you a beer when I get back, particularly looking forward to some decent beer.

Saturday 20th August Markt St Martin to Koszeg

Markt St Martin turned out to be a very small place and definitely no where to buy local maps. Decided to press onto Koszeg which meant walking for about 30 kilometres alongside the road or on cycle tracks that often ran parallel to the road. The walking was not memorable and it's a shame that I didn't get on the trail from Landsee the border (I assume this exists) and to the point at which the E4 hits the Blue Trail, somewhere to the west of Koszeg, and which I now hope to follow all the way to Budapest. The Blue Trail goes across the country from border to border and is claimed as the oldest long distance walk in the world.

You can't help thinking about the Iron Curtain when the you cross the border, particularly as you traverse that space between the two border posts. The old border buildings on the eastern side look particularly soviet and have been left to rot. Not sure if this is deliberate. There is a really interesting project to create a cycle trail that runs along the route of iron curtain - a brilliant idea, would be a real journey through the modern history of Europe.

Crossing the Austrian Hungarian Border

Redundant Border Post

Koszeg is a very pretty place once to get into it's centre and I'm staying in a hotel in one of the central squares. A lot of new pedestrianisation going on and the lovely, variously coloured stucco buildings surrounding the squares make it a great place to sit out and consume the amazing ice-cream you get here.

So although I've arrived at Koszeg I intend to regard tomorrow rather than today as the start of the last chapter of my walk. By road it's only 250 kilometres to Budapest, but along the Blue Trail, which meanders along through western Hungary is over twice as far. Intend to cover the distance in sixteen days so all being well will be getting ready to come home two weeks on Monday.