E3: Slovenské Nové Mesto to Aqua Maria Resort: Day 105

A painful start to a varied day which included catching the train from Košice to Slovenské Nové Mesto and then walking to the Aqua Maria Resort. 

My back ache seemed worse this morning and my exercises failed to free it up. The walk to the railway station was a little painful. At the station, by the time I had worked out which train to catch, buy a ticket and identify platform it ran from, the train had left. Not that I was too upset as it gave me time before the next train to visit a cukráreň for a latte and an excellent cake (a roulade filled with cream and berry compote). I was also able to visit the Catholic Cathedral. Sitting in a pew I prayed that things would go well at home and that my back would fix itself. Then I felt guilty for asking God for things for myself, is that sinful? The thought was prompted by the line of people queuing by the confession box. Tourists wandered around taking photos of the gilded altars while local people bowed and muttered prays.

The train was a local one stopping at every station. Passing Slanec I glimpsed the castle ruins I would walk by in a few days time. Stepping down from the train onto the low, apology for a platform at Nové Mesto was especially difficult as my back problems restricted my leg movements. An elderly lady descending from the carraige in front of mine was having a similar issue.

Nové Mesto is just over the border from the larger Hungarian town of Sátoraljaújhely. In 1918 the old Austro-Hungarian Empire was divided up and the boundary of the new country, Czechoslovakia, cut the railway station off from the town it served.

Limping out of Nové Mesto I followed quiet, single lane roads around fields of yellow rape and wheat. The roads were remarkably straight before making right angles turns. As my route gained a little height I passed lines of vines stretching up the hillside, part of the Slovak Tokaj wine region. I lunched beside the vines on a burek bought in Košice, a spiral of greasy pastry stuffed with, in my case, cheese. Nightingales sang loudly from roadside trees.

Two villages followed, Malá Tŕňa and Vel'ká Tŕňa (little and big Tŕňa) with detached, largely single storey houses, many with barking dogs. At the first village there were tree branches decorated with streamers attached to gate posts. Apparently they are the local version of the maypole, called máj in Slovakia. They celebrate the arrival of spring, youth and love.

I overtook an elderly man who said something I could not understand but may have been advising that I could catch a bus. I mimed walking movements with my hands. After the second village I left the road and followed a track over wooded hills. Many birds serenaded me, too many different types for my App to identify.

After rising up and down the track deposited me by the Aqua Maria Resort and my bed for the night. Dinner was stewed beef wrapped in a pancake with which I ordered a side order of grilled vegetables to get my five a day.

E3: Luton Airport to Košice: Day 104

A day of travelling, returning to the Slovak city of Košice.

As I woke up in a budget hotels at Luton Airport my body raised objections to crossing the room, much less my planned weeks of walking. Persistent pain in my lower right back had been hovering around for the last two weeks; my arthritic left knee was no better than usual, and I was a few kilograms above my normal weight and feeling fat. I had not spoken of my ailments with my wife or anyone else for fear they might try and persuade me to delay my long planned trip. Instead I convinced myself that it would all sort itself out after a few weeks of hiking, certainly, sitting on trains and buses yesterday did not help. If I sucked my tummy in I still looked OK in the bedroom mirror with a slight sign of muscles below my ribs, although maybe a four pack instead of a full six pack.

My mood was further dulled as my expectations of this trip were lower than on previous treks. Based on various blogs and vlogs I expected much walking through woodland, rain trickling down my neck, and poor visibility obscuring any distant vistas. However, as I walked unevenly down to breakfast with my stiff and painful back, I mused that things often turn out differently to what you expect. As it was part of the E3, and my trek from the Black Sea to the Atlantic I was committed to walking it.

Luton Airport was much the same except for visibly armed police wandering around, stubby, semi automatic rifles at the ready, maybe because of the recently increased level of terrorist threat. A police dog handler led a small spaniel around who vigorously wagged its tail as it sniffed people's bags.

Once in departures I chose a latte from at a self service screen at a café, an extensive range of strange and unusual drinks were listed such as blueberry matcha and turmeric chai latte. Mine just had coffee and (cows') milk.

A few hours later, after flying over miles of brilliant white cloud, I descended towards Košice airport. Once below the clouds I looked down on ridges and valleys of intelocking spurs clothed with trees. I had read that forests cover 44% of Slovakia and suspected I would pass quite a few trees on my route. Košice came in sight, seemly a mass of apartment blocks, stood up like cream dominos across the city. However I knew from my previous visit that it had an attractive old centre.

On landing I was introduced to the EES, the system that will record when I enter and leave the Schengen area. This involved being photographed and having the finger prints of my right hand taken.

With the help of Google Translate I managed to acquire a bus ticket from the machine in front of the airport, before boarding the number 23 bus which conveniently arrived a few minutes later. I copied the other passengers validating their tickets at the device by the bus's door, then we were off into town.

My hotel looked dusty on the outside but was clean on the inside with a friendly, English speaking receptionist. After settling in I visited a supermarket in the Avpark mall to get supplies and then went to a restaurant recommended by the receptionist. Portions could have been bigger, I should have ordered the soup as well as the main course of pig's cheeks and mashed potatoes but it did leave room for dessert (crêpe with strawberries,  mascapone, almonds and cream). 

The central, old part of Košice is lovely. I would have looked inside the cathedral  but a couple of men hanging around outside made me suspicious so I merely enjoyed the intricate masonary and coloured roof tiles on the outside. The fountains I had seen last time were dancing to a popular song. For a while I sat and watched the pulsating drops of water, coloured red and orange by the lighting before heading back to my bed.

E3 in Hungary: Some Comments.

The E3 European Long Distance Path follows the Alfoldi Kektura in Hungary (as does the E4). This National Trail, also known as the Great Plains Blue Route, is well waymarked with blue and white stripes, and frequent finger posts. The farm and forest tracks it follows are generally good but can be overgrown and muddy. At the edge of the Hungary's Great Plain it consists of flat arable farmland, plus a large amount of woodland. The woodland, predominantly of black poplar, white poplar and locust trees, is on sandy soils where the ground rises and falls over what may once have been low sand dunes. Appart from the circuitous route south of Debrecen the Kektura visits a couple of villages each day, where there are usually small shops. Although there are few natural sources of water, villages have blue painted "taps" where you can obtain drinking water. However, many of these have now been disabled, maybe so the local municipalities can avoid paying water companies for the water. Kisvarda,  Nyírbátor and a few other villages have accommodation. I wild camped a number of nights however this could be avoided using buses and trains to commute each day to some larger centre, in particular Debrecen. Hungary's public transport systems is extensive and reliable. Bus and train times and options can be found on Google maps, Rome to Rio and similar platforms. Debrecen's city centre in particular is worth a visit. 

My blog of my walk on the E3 from the Black sea starts here.

My blog of this trip starts here.

My blog of this trip through Hungary starts here.

One of the very few signs on the Kektura referencing the E3 and E4 paths.

E3: Cigand to Sátoraljaújhely and on to Košice: Day 102 and 103

An early start in order to reach Sátoraljaújhely and catch a train to Košice.

Although I was originally planning to return to London via Budapest Airport, I discovered that it would be quicker and less complex to fly from Košice, a city I had not previously heard of in the Republic of Slovakia. No wanting to arrive at this unknown city in the dark, I woke early and was on my way at 6 am. This had the added advantage of seeing dawn as a red streak beneath grey clouds across the plain to the east of me. 

Dawn

The route today broadly follows the road to Sátoraljaújhely but avoids the tarmac by taking long deviations from it. The first took me north of the road through a park in the village of Pácin which contained Mágoscy Castle. A stately home surrounded by walls with squat towers. From there it was through the well kept cemetery and out to the border with Slovakia, which was marked by a drainage ditch. To return to the road I had to battle with an overgrown track, trying to avoid being tripped by branches and stung by nettles. I was not however the only one to come this way, in places I spotted fresh footprints. That deviation returned me to the road at the village of Karcsa, where I spotted a shop open and so indulged in a second breakfast.

Not sure if this display was for a harvest festival or Halloween.

My next excursion from the road took me to the south of it. Seeing me turn onto it a man, having established I was walking the Kektura, tried to tell me something in Hungarian pointing to my feet. Maybe it was that the track I was about to walk upon was muddy, and in parts overgrown, as both were true. The mud stuck to my boots giving me "platform" shoes. The mud and undergrowth was slowing me down, and were generally unrewarding so after the village of Karos I ignored the next two deviations and stuck to the road, I had followed a similar route on my previous walk along the E4, which follows the same trails as the E3 in this area. Being Sunday it was fairly quiet with no big lorries, there was also a verge big enough for me to hop onto in the face of oncoming traffic. The only downside was that it was a bit tedious. Having worked out that the white plastic posts at the side of the road were 50 metres appart I started counting them. I reckoned there were about 220 of them before I reached Sátoraljaújhely. I gave up after counting to 40 when I reached a green 9 kilometre marker.

The hills behind Sátoraljaújhely were ever so slowly getting bigger, although there was a hill to my right in Slovakia which caused me a little confusion. After a final section on the Kektura on an embankment beside a drainage channel I diverted to the Slovak border.

Sátoraljaújhely in sight.

The border consisted of a plethora of blue signs, the railway line was immediately after. I walked up to the station. There was a waiting room but no staff. I was just in time to catch the 13:45 train but was unsure on which of the five lines the train would arrive on. Walking over the tracks and examining them carefully, I found two sets of rails were shinier than the others, so I positioned myself so I could catch the train whichever of the two lines it arrived on. However, I was relieved when a few minutes before the train was due a few others arrived, so I stood beside them. The train was on time but I now faced another problem. After a few stops a lady issuing tickets reached my carraige. I proffered some money but she kept asking me something in Slovak. As a result of her showing me the screen of her ticket issuing device it transpired that she wanted to know which station I had boarded at. Ticket bought I looked at the scenery of hills as we stopped at several stations. These looked run down and even lacked platforms. However Košice was clearly a more important station with a modern layout with an underpass complete with shops to avoid having to walk over the rails.

Leaving the station I crossed over a park and walked towards the centre of the city. Seeing a place advertising coffee and cake I immediately went in to check the local produce. Afterwards I realised there were several such establishments, a reason to return one day! In the centre there were many attractive buildings. In the main cathedral a service was in progress. Outside there was a giant, inflatable cat's face. An array of fountains performed to music. Windows within a paved area gave a view of presumably ancient ruined walls beneath. One such view showed an ancient corridor drapped with ties (ie the type of tie men wear with a shirt) for reasons I could not fathom. 

Košice

Košice with inflatable cat's head

To reach my hotel, which I picked as it was close to the airport, I had to catch a tram. My Internet research indicated I could pay by card on the tram, however I could find no card reading device or alternate way to pay. Consequently I travelled to my destination illegally without paying for a ticket. While I feel guilty I also feel it is made very difficult for visitors to understand how to pay on different transport systems. For diner at the hotel I had potato dumplings filled with pulled pork. Was not sure if it was a Slovak dish or inspired by chinese bao buns.

Next day I flew to London Luton and there followed a tedious train ride home. Fortunately all went well on my flight from this small, but international airport, this was not the case for a fellow passenger. She had been bumped off yesterday's flight due to overbooking and had been left stranded, alone in an unknown city. After much complaining and waiting the airline did eventually provide her with a good hotel and transport. 

E3: Kisvárda to woods after Cigand: Day 101

A walk by drainage channels and the River Tisza.

I now had two long days left to walk before this trip was over. In my hurry to get started I accidentally missed Kisvarda Castle, a brick edifice now in ruins which I passed by last time. Rain also encouraged a direct route from my hotel to where the Alfoldi Kektura left town, by a Tesco supermarket. From Kisvárda the Kektura followed a drainage channel, which, in series of straight lines took me to the edge of the village of Rétközberencs. From there an equally straight road took me over the plain, passed a chicken raising operation, onto tracks over fields and through woods of young trees. I noticed that the flat plains had a dark rich earth and was mainly farmed with maize and sunflowers being the main crops. Sandy areas had small hillocks, rarely more than a few metres high, and were generally given over to trees, some planted in regimented lines, others a tangle of unordered growth. Reaching Tiszakanyár, I spotted a man leaning against a shed, talking to a lady inside a hatch. Either a tiny shop or a bar I thought. After asking in vain for a coffee I bought a can of Hell for my elevenses (original flavour). 

The Kektura follows a drainage channel.

Another long straight road.

A sturdy metal girder bridge took me over the wide River Tisza, which is a major tributary of the Danube. A mixture of logs, branches and plastic bottles had accumulated on the upstream side of one of its piers. From the far side of the bridge I could see for the first time the hills of Northern Hungary and Southern Slovakia. Foothills of the Carpathian Mountains which I shall be climbing next year.

Bridge over the River Tisza

Fishing boat.

After the bridge the E3 followed the northern embankment of the River Tisza. Between the two embankments there were strips of protected wetlands each side of the river. They consisted of many large trees of numerous types but including some big willows. The hundred metre marker stones had become buried in soil, and had recently been dug out and repainted in a brilliant white. To amuse myself I counted my steps between each marker. Counting each time my right foot hit the ground I made it between 61 and 69 steps for each one hundred metres. Was the variation because my step length was inconsistent or were the markers not exactly placed in the correct spots?

Turning off the embankment I wandered through Cigand and was pleased to find a bar open where I acquired a coffee. A little beyond was a shop where I bought a small pizza for my lunch and a couple of bananas. Sadly the two "cukrászdas" (ie cake shops) I spotted today were closed, and did not look as if they would ever open again, so no cakes for me today. Cigand also had a memorial to the 1956 uprising which the Soviets brutally suppressed. Continuing across the fertile plain, beside a drainage ditch, I noticed that deer had been eating the grain off the cobs of corn. Fortunately for the farmer it only affected the rows beside the track. After several more kilometres I identified the stand of trees where I intended to camp for the night. However, I first had to pass a farm where a bridge crossed a drainage channel. I had hoped to pass quietly as it was obvious I would be wild camping nearby, there being no other options. Unfortunately three dogs raised the alarm, barking long and loud. Two shot out to greet me, they were not vicious, they just wanted to find out who this rucksack laden person was. Although there were a few cars around, no one appeared to see what the dogs were barking about and I did not stop, I just kept walking. Perhaps a kilometre and half later I turned into the woods and soon stopped at a reasonably flat area, just about large enough for my tent, and not easily seen. Just as the sun was turning the sky on the horizon pink and red, I again heard the sound of cranes overhead, high in the sky, little more than dots, they were flying in a "v" formation heading south for warmer climes.

The end of my journey is in sight, marked by the hills on the horizon

E3: Rohod to Kisvárda: Day 100

Another day among trees.

On settling down to sleep I usually lie quietly listening for a while, checking there are no threatening sounds. Last night, from far away, in addition to the inevitable sound of a barking dog, I could hear a harvesting machine working late into the night, despite the darkness. A little later I heard sounds similar to those made by geese. Curious as to what was making the noise I switched my phone back on and opened the BirdNet App. This identified the bird responsible as the Common Crane. These large birds migrate over Hungary at this time of year. I thought they were flying over me but as their calling went on for several minutes, maybe they were roosting nearby.

I waited until I had reached Nyírkarász for breakfast. Sitting on the war memorial with a drinking yoghurt and pastries I watched the agricultural traffic going by. Big, mean, harvesting machines which looked like they had giant teeth, tractors with trailers, lorries of logs, others carrying chickens, trailers of tabacco leaves from fields I had walked by. At the next village of Gyulaháza there was a Russian jet, a MiG 21, stuck in a rose garden. As one might expect of such an unusual sight I remembered it from the last time I visited. On this trip Autumn was creeping closer, more trees were turning yellow, milkweed was releasing its cotton like seeds.

MiG jet, an unusual memorial to the first Hungarian astronaut in space, who was from the village.

Yellowing trees beside the track.

Well kept shrines like this one were common.

These blue hydrants provide drinking water to the passing hikers, but many have been disabled.

As it was a relatively short day of walking, I soon reached my destination of Kisvárda. Leaving the trees and fields behind I passed what looked like a data centre, an aerospace plant and other light industries, but as I approached the centre I was looking for a coffee and cake. A recommended place was marked on Google Maps but on arriving at the location I was puzzled. There was no evidence of a coffee shop or any signage other than a reference to some appartments. However, beyond the wall there was an area with tables, so I went through the gate. Peering through a door in the adjacent building, I could see what looked like a shop inside so I went in. It was indeed a place serving coffee and very nice cake, and it also sold a mix of other items, however the advertising outside could have been better. Of course, local people know where these places are, it is us visitors, unfamiliar with place or language who struggle.

Dinner was in a posh restaurant and being a Friday night it was busy. Full of large men with round faces and thick necks. There were a few women, all with long hair. They all seemed to know each other, shaking hands and drinking shots of a clear spirit. The tables I could see were eating pizza, I was trying something more adventurous including the Hungarian catfish soup.

E3: Nyírbátor to Rohod: Day 99

Having a shorter distance to walk today I idled through a few villages enjoying snacks.

Breakfast was a croissant, coffee and a few small cheesy bread things that are sold by weight. As I sipped my small expresso type coffee I watched lorries of timber pass by the window of the cafe that was also a bakery, cake shop and restaurant. Earlier a school bus had disgorged its students for another day at school. The Kektura began by taking me on a winding route through the centre of Nyírbátor to show me a couple of handsome churches, and a paved path with a pond on which a statue of St George (presumably) was killing a dragon, which was rising out of the water. The second of the churches had a separate wooden bell tower. Being open I went in. It was a Reformed Church consequently the decoration was restrained. On the walls, columns stretched to the ceiling high above which had a pleasing lattice pattern, otherwise all was a plain white. It was very different from the Orthodox Churches of Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria whose every inch of wall and ceiling was covered with saints and scenes from the Bible.

Reformed Church in Nyírbátor

I left Nyírbátor through a modern industrial area. One factory proudly announced it was a "no smoking" company, which meant there were a group of workers having a smoke on the pavement. Beyond the town the track ran through trees. I walked through stripes of sunlight and shade as the morning sun pierced the trunks and branches. Younger trees formed a green tunnel enclosing me. Slightly older trees formed an arched roof above as in the nave of a church. Yesterday, mature trees, rising as columns each side of the track, side lit by sunlight, reminded me of a cathedral. Did similar trees inspire the builders of those holy buildings as they tried to inspire worshippers with the splendour of the heavens above? The track rose and fell slightly, two parallel lines, gently curving, cut into the grass by tractors, trucks and slow moving cars. As the trees moved back a little from the trail, it reminded me of a "ride" in the English countryside where ladies exercised themselves and their horses. Indeed, in places there were the marks of horses' hoofs in the sand of the track, mingling with the patterned, slightly wavy lines left by bicycle wheels.

At my first village of Nyírderzs I bought a coffee and a pizza slice, eating it on a chair outside the shop. I agreed to my coffee having squirty cream on top, a new trend since my last visit to Hungary. After the village there were a few kilometres of road walking. Where the road crossed open ground I bemoaned leaving my sun hat in a café two days ago. Its wide brim helped protect my face, eyes and neck from the sun. At Kantorjanosi I bought a Twix and can of Hell, lemon and pink grapefruit flavour today, quite refreshing. Beyond the Kantorjanosi a little more road walking. In a field to one side a large machine was working its way through a field of sunflowers harvesting the seeds. Waiting at the side of the field was a tractor with a high sided trailer, ready to take the harvest away for processing. I had seen several of these tractors trundling back and fore during the day. The road brought me to a line of small houses, beyond which there should have been a lake. I climbed a kilato, a wooden tower I did not recall from when I last came this way eight years ago. From the top I could see no lake, instead an area covered by reeds and rushes, another change from my last visit. A final difference was that a simple bar or bufé I had patronised before was now a wedding venue. An elongated, white limousine stood in the driveway. There are in general fewer small bars than I remembered, maybe the changing times.

I followed a young couple for a while, school children or students, as we both walked along the same tree lined track at a similar pace. Periodically they would hold hands. I felt a bit awkward observing them and was pleased when they turned off onto another, more overgrown track. As I walked into Rohod, another couple were walking towards me. Their large rucksacks showed these were backpackers, planing to camp in the woods tonight like myself. I gained the impression they were new to the activity. One was carrying a plastic bag of shopping, the other had a sleeping bag dangling from her backpack. Rohod was a strung out village where a few people and a couple of children unsuccessfully tried to engage me in conversation. Apart from not speaking Hungarian I was now focused on reaching a spot in the forest beyond to quietly camp. Once I was a mile outside the village I thought I was alone, away from people. Then a horse and cart with a couple on came riding by, they were smiling and said something unintelligible as they passed. I smiled back.

Rohod

Finally I turned off the Kektura onto an abandoned track, which was flat and so an attractive place to camp. Just as the sun was sending its last rays through the trees I pitched my tent between two fallen trees, which made me confident that no one would drive over me. 

Selecting my camping spot.