Crossing the road by my camping spot a notice indicated I had nine hours of walking today, some 36 kilometres, a long day. After some woods, it was a straight trail across open land before more trees. I had been passing six foot high, wire fences around fields of tree saplings. This morning a high electrified fence protected a field of maize. I assumed these were to keep deer out. There were many around, they ran off on seeing me, giving periodic jumps as they bounded away. Trails of their hoof prints crossed the woodlands. A stag with a good set of antlers walked across the track, saw me and promptly disappeared into the undergrowth. I assumed it was the rutting season, there was plenty of barking by deer last night.
Nyírlugos, my next village, was announced by a silver "lollipop" style water tower. Or at least I thought it was a water tower, it had an array of cell phone transmiiters on top. I wondered how they serviced them. Maybe there was now no water in the edifice and you could climb up to the top from inside? I made a few purchases in a shop, but only when a long conversation between the shop keeper and three residents came to an end, then sat on a bench beside the church to enjoy a can of Hell with my bar of chocolate. Today it was "strong apple" flavour which had a chemical taste. Passing a "pékség" (bakery) I bought a slice of cheese and onion pizza (very tasty). Leaving the village, an image of St Peter(?), was welcoming people into the cemetery.
For the remainder of the day it was a long walk mainly through trees with the village of Istvántanya in the middle. The village lacked any shops. While walking through I contemplated the differences between Romanian and Hungarian villages. In Hungary the houses were detached bungalows, rather than being built attached to each other in a terrace as in Romania. The Hungarian houses were not obviously related to farming, although I suppose many of those who lived in them had agriculture related jobs. Most were well cared for but a few showed signs of decay. In such houses I could sometimes see mud and straw type bricks where the render had fallen off.
As I neared my destination the trail turned and headed in the opposite direction. The route of the Alfoldi Kektura can be circuitous, going in the wrong direction for a kilometre or more in order to avoid walking on roads and to connect with forest tracks. On occasions a diversion may be made to see a point of interest, but not today! The waymarking was good and evidently being renewed. On one stretch drafting tape was stuck on trees so that the white paint subsequently applied would form a nice square. Those responsible now have to return and apply new drafting tape to create the horizontal blue line in the centre of the white square. A lot of care is being taken to create waymarks of a high standard. I eventually saw two signs with the E3 and E4 symbols on for the first time this trip.
With an aching left knee and tired body I was relieved to arrive in Nyírbátor where I am staying in appartment style accommodation for the night. A pleasant town with a plenty of shops. I enjoyed a snack in the main square but found the cake shop a little too late for an afternoon coffee (but I did manage a cheesecake for dessert for dinner later).
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