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).
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.
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 recently they had been dug out and repainted. 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" 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 in a "v" formation heading south for warmer climes.
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