Rest Day in Debrecen: Day 96

I spent my rest day looking around Debrecen and checking out cake shops.

Like Oradea, Debrecen had some fine buildings in its centre from the 19th and early 20th century, in the Art Nouveau and Classical styles. Trams run from the railway station up the main, wide roadway of Piac Utra. On one side is County Hall built in the Art Nouveau style. At the top is the Great Reformed Church. 

Great Reformed Church.

County Hall in Art Nouveau style from 1913

Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria, the countries I have walked through so far on the E3, are predominantly Orthodox Christian. People in Hungary who admit to a religion are mainly Roman Catholic or, especially in the east, belong to the Reformed Church, either Calvinist or Lutheran. It worries me that the beliefs people hold are determined not by truth, but by which country they live in and the faith of their parents. While individuals in each religion or denomination firmly believe that theirs is the true faith, ordained by God, Allah or other deities, they cannot all represent the one and only true religion. The reality is that your religious beliefs are mainly determined by where, and into which community, you were born. I do not feel I am incapable of religious belief. I do not for example believe that science means that there is no room for religion. I just cannot believe in something that is arbitrarily based on my birth place, but I have no other criteria for selecting a belief system, other than I believe in tolerance, respect, fair play and consideration for others. In reality the people of Hungary, like those in Britain, are increasingly non-religious.

I had arranged a guide to show me around. In addition to pointing out different buildings and talking about about life in Hungary, she took me a large wooded park, Nagyerdei Park, north of the centre with a lake, a water park, zoo and a place where concerts are held. An attraction of Hungary are its "cukrászdas" or cake shops. I managed to sample two more today while I wandered the streets and visited the many squares. Then I made plans for tomorrow, such as buying my bus ticket online to avoid irritating the bus driver and working out the best bus stop.

E3: Road 4814 to Haláp: Day 95

After a walk through forests to Haláp, I caught a bus into Debrecen for an unplanned rest day.

As forecast, rain had fallen overnight and light rain continued through the tall pines as I packed up. It had been a good camping spot once I had cleared the ground of pine cones and twigs, flat and even, and away from any habitation and the sound of barking dogs. Even the insects kept away now the air is cooler. The walk today was through forestry on sandy tracks similar to yesterday. Parts followed drainage ditches, void of water at this time of year. At one place fallen trees blocked my path, although I managed to work my way around them, otherwise the going was flat and easy. The leaves of some trees (Black Walnut trees according to my App) were turning yellow in preparation for autumn. I had admired a lake on my previous trip, however, it was now either invisible behind vegetation or completely covered by reeds. The picnic tables beside the lost lake, looked old, damp and rotten. Later lakes marked on the map had similarly disappeared, one now an expanse of rough grass. The ground must however be damp as it supported huge willows, whose grey green upper reaches billowed out into the sky.

Large willows beside lost lakes.

Diverting a kilometre off the track to the village of Bánk, I stopped at a shop open for snacks. I had a decision to make. I could wild camp again tonight (in which case I would buy water from the shop lacking other opportunities) or catch a bus into Debrecen and spend the night there. The last few days had been long, a bit of a slog. I was getting tired and it was spoiling my enjoyment, draining me of both physical and mental energy. So, on impulse, I decided to spend a rest day in Debrecen, celebrating my decision with a can of Hell, with a flavour I did not translate, maybe blackberry from the taste. From the road near Haláp I caught a bus to Debrecen, irritating the driver as I fumbled for the change for my ticket. Once in town and checked into my hotel I made my way to a Cukrászda where they sell creamy cakes to eat with your coffee. Mine was a cream ball with a berry compote in the centre, breadcrumbs on the sides and chantilly cream whirl on top.

E3: Letavertes to Road 4814: Day 94

A walk through grassland and woodland which seemed rather longer than it had been on a previous trip.

Today's walk was over a landscape dictated by the sandy soils. Not entirely flat, the low hills might have been ancient sand dunes. Areas of rough, uneven grassland and extensive woodland contrasted with the flat farmland of my previous days walking. Among the trees there were large fields of what might have been tobacco or sugar beet, some of it being irrigated. Although late in the season for flowers there were a few among the grass such as yarrow and two I had to check with my App; the white petals of catchfly (or maybe it was white campion) and yellow spikes of mullein. Trees included Black Locust, Black Poplar, White Poplar, Red Oak and a few pines, all in various stages of growth. Two deer ran off at my approach, their white bottoms bobbing up and down as they ran. A few people rode by on bicycles, out for a Sunday jaunt. One lady was distinctly uncomfortable with cycling and I had to jump off the trail so she did not hit me, I forgave her as she did say thank you.

Sandy trail across rough geassland.

Trail through trees.

The skies were dull and grey which matched my mood. Since my last walk on the Alfoldi Kektura the route appeared to have been changed. Previously the trail had formed a "Z" shape south of Debrecen, it had not been direct but had included attractive areas. The "Z" had now appeared to have been extended, bulging out in the middle, adding an extra day's walking without the benefit of anything different to see. It was a change which I thought added nothing and demotivated me as it was in effect a day's walk in the wrong direction. It was fortunate that I had bought a large bottle of extra water (unfortunately sparkling) at Letavertes yesterday as there were no sources of water on the trail today, and no villages and few buildings to ask at. Several signs said I was at the boundary of a "Landscape Protection Area", maybe this was why the path had been moved? On reaching 5 pm, and having achieved my planned mileage, I settled down to camp among some of the more mature trees, where there is less undergrowth and a wider spacing between tree trunks for my tent.

Update: I have now checked the route I walked in 2017 and was upset to find there had been no change between then and now! The only change was in me. I was now older and slower, covering the ground more slowly with more effort. Not a good discovery.

E3: Nagykereki to Letavertes: Day 93

A long day crossing the Great Plain visiting a number of villages. 

It was an early morning start to catch the train back to Nagykereki, or rather the bus which was replacing the train. Logistically challenging as there was a ticket to buy, the bus stop to find, and breakfast to buy in the limited time available. However, all was achieved in the grey dawn. The bus began with plenty of people aboard, but as people got off at each stop the numbers dwindled until I was the only one left to alight at the station of Nagykereki, the final stop. Not far beyond is the border of Romania. 

Eight years ago I walked the E4 through Hungary, which for part of its length, shared the same route as the E3. Both the E3 and E4 follow the Alfoldi Kektura, the Great Plains Blue Route, so called because of the blue and white waymarks painted on trees, lampposts, rocks and any other stationary items. You can get a certificate for completing the Alfoldi Kektura by stamping a "passport" with stamps available at specific locations. Last time, when walking south towards Nagykereki on the Alfoldi Kektura  I was grabbed by a man in civilian clothing. He and his colleague possibly suspected me of being a people smuggler. Illegal migrants, crossing the border from countries to the south was a great issue at the time. I convinced them and subsequently the Border Police that I was not, just an individual walking the Afoldi Kektura, the Blue route. I decided to walk the same path again, this time heading north, but hoped that now that refugees were taking different routes, and with Romania now being, like Hungary, in the Schengen zone, I would not again be assaulted.

My wish was granted, no one impeded my progress. Indeed no one was around, apart from two tractors that went by. Perhaps they were at a funeral. As I approached Kismarja there was a succession of people on bikes, and a few in cars, cycling or driving towards the cemetery where a crowd was gathering.

I was delighted to find a shop open in Kismarja, indeed there was more than one. I purchased a chocolate bar, yoghurt drink and a can of Hell. I am working my way through the several flavours of Hell, which is a canned soft drink found in this part of the world. Today it was watermelon flavour, nice but I prefered yesterday's black cherry, although all the flavours are rather sweet, but they do contain lots of "B" vitamins according to the can. The Great Plain was as impressive as ever. Huge fields of ploughed earth, or grass with scattered cattle. Maize stood ready to harvest, its dry brown leaves rustling in the breeze. Grey sunflowers hung their heads as they waited for collection. I also saw sorghum growing, a crop I do not remember seeing before.

Walking across the Great Plain.

The wind met little resistance as it raced across the plain, cold with an intimation of winter, easily piercing my clothing. A weak sunlight was obscured by diffuse cloud and when the wind ceased, I soon overheated in my warm clothes. I remembered places from my previous trip, such as the tall, concrete tower of unknown purpose. Maybe a place from which the border guards once surveyed the nearby border with Romania. Other sights were new to me, a hillock with a modern wooden arch at the edge of Kismarja was once a castle if I understood the sign correctly. Part of the route was on the embankments of small rivers and streams which drained the land. Work dating from.the 19th and early 20th century. The embankments are designed to contain the water when the height of the rivers rise, preventing widespread flooding. I liked walking on these embankments as they had numbered concrete posts every hundred metres, so you could count down the kilometres. 

For the last seven kilometres before Letavertes the Kektura ran beside a road. Although there were few cars, as the road was very straight the cars achieved considerable speeds. Fortunately there was a grass verge to walk on and the poplars lining the road were attractive. Temptation gained the better of me in Letavertes. There was a pizzeria and a pizza appealed to me more than the can of tinned tuna in my rucksack. Eating the pizza delayed me so that I had limited options of where to pitch my tent before darkness fell. I was planning on camping soon after the village however an area of little houses with attached small holdings and vineyards spread along the trail for some kilometres. People on horseback and bikes passed me as I searched for a secluded spot to camp out of sight. Under an impressive sunset I finally pitched in a plantation of trees. I am hoping no one disturbs me.

Small houses and vineyards after the village of Letavertes.

E3: Comments on the E3 in Romania

Romania has great potential for visitors who enjoy the outdoors, there are marked trails for walking, as well as opportunities for trail running, mountain biking, via ferrata, quad and scrambler bikes, and that is just in the summer! The area of western Romania which the E3 crosses is sparsely populated and largely consists of wooded mountains and hills with patches of grassland. In areas the bedrock is limestone which is why there are many caves on the route. Due to the tree covering, features such as limestone pavements are not developed but there are sinkholes, gorges and rivers which appear out of blue pools.

The villages the E3 passes through are of interest for their single storied, red roofed houses, joined one to another. Some were originally founded by Czech and Saxon settlers. Those houses which are well maintained or have been renovated are attractive with patterns cast into their rendering brought out by the paintwork, and in some cases decorated with coloured tiles. Large gates leading to a yard behind the house are embellished with intricate ironwork. Timișoara is not on the E3 but is a regional transport hub with an International Airport from where you can access the E3 by train, taxi and/or bus. The city is well worth spending a day visiting as is Oradea at the end of the E3 in Romania with its Art Noveau architecture. Before visiting Romania I had the impression that Cauceseau had demolished all the old buildings to make way for monstrous concrete blocks. In this I was wrong, in Timișoara and Oradea (and the villages I have walked through) the traditional buildings are still there, many having been repaired, restored and repainted in recent years bringing out their beauty. 

Practicalities

English is spoken in Romania, especially by the younger generation, but it is by no means universal, so Google Translate is a very useful tool for essential communications. Note that it does rain in Romania, you should be prepared and not allow it to dampen you mood too much. Focusing on walking  and specifically the E3 (the Via Transilvanica is a better known long distance trail in Romania), much of it is easy walking on roads, forest and farm tracks and paths. However there are also difficult, overgrown sections with fallen trees, brambles and paths which dissappear. Read the blog to see where they are. For this reason it is important to be flexible, both with timing (difficult "paths" take more time and energy) and a willingness to take alternative routes which should be preplanned before you begin. 

Navigation 

A GPS is essential. I used a Garnin with the track loaded from the Romanian section of the European Ramblers Association website, however the E3 also appears on various hiking Apps (Mapy.com, OutdoorActive, OsmAnd etc.). However if using an App on a smartphone, make sure your phone is waterproof and that you have downloaded the maps so an internet signal is not required. Remember that neither is the GPS location precise nor is the downloaded track absolutely accurate, the actual path maybe 10 metres or more from where the GPS indicates it is. Tracks also move as vehicles try and avoid deeply rutted sections, people avoid fallen trees etc.. Waymarks are not present throughout the E3, but where they do exist they are very helpful in keeping you on the right path. The relevant section of the ERA website tells you which waymarks you should be following. As the E3 joins together existing trails the type of waymark frequently changes from red stripes to blue crosses or some other combination of colour and shape.

Food and Water

Water is unavailable for long sections especially late in the year when springs and streams may be dry. Make sure you carry plenty. Small shops ("magazin mixt") can be found in many villages with a limited variety of goods and a bench and table outside with men drinking beer, however it is best to carry some food supplies as they may be closed. Larger towns have fast food outlets, cafés and restaurants. Pizza seems universal but for something more local try the papanași for dessert. 

Accommodation 

I used booking.com and Airbnb to find accommodation but coverage is not good. There are many places where you can stay that are not bookable online, most are shown on GoogleMaps. My only attempt to ring a place up was a failure due to my lack of Romanian. While you can just turn up on the doorstep, you are quite likely to find no-one there, just a telephone number stuck on the door. On the plus side, places are inexpensive compared with Western Europe, as are the food options. In general the places where I stayed were called a "Pensiunea" and provided a room with ensuite facilities. Some offered a large breakfast and maybe also diner. I wild camped for several nights, which is likely to be necessary due to the lack of lodging. No one protested at my doing so but I tried to hide from view. Note that it is not allowed in National Parks where basic camping areas with few facilities are provided.

Risks

Although bears and vipers have greater celebrity status, dogs and ticks are the main concern. Dogs will run at you barking, however none of them bit me (unlike the ticks) but I was worried on occasions. Rabies is still present in the country. Unlike dogs, I never felt threatened or at risk from people, however I am cautious about accepting invitations from strangers. It is worth reading other people's blogs of their experiences on the E3 through Romania such as this blogger or Christine Thurmer's blog.

General

The people I met were friendly or at least polite, we exchanged "Buna's" as we passed. Unfortunately further conversation was limited as I do not speak Romanian. Appart from the Vartop - Padiș area I met few other hikers. Was it because I was walking in the shoulder months, May and September? In July and August I suspect I would have found it too hot. I met no British people, perhaps as guidebooks and other media direct visitors towards Bucharest and the Transylvania of the dreaded Count Dracula.

The start of my blog in Romania is here.

The start of my walk on the E3 is here.

E3: Oradea to Nagykereki: Day 92

The arrival of October was marked by low temperatures and my entry into Hungary.

Leaving my hotel early I braced myself for the forecast temperature of 4 degrees C. People on their way to work were well wrapped up in padded coats. My breath misted as I breathed out. Flocks of pigeons wheeled overhead. For my breakfast I bought a plăcintă with a cheese and potato filling from an old lady sitting behind a window in a tiny kitchen. I ate it walking across a bridge into an area of apartment blocks. It was the morning rush hour, with more cars than the roads were designed to handle. Oradea has been building extra roads, too new to be on Google Maps, but not enough to prevent the traffic from moving about as fast as I was walking. Drivers are very polite, people just walk out onto zebra crossings, of which there are many, expecting cars to stop, and they do!

Leaving residential areas behind, I had a long walk beside a busy, dual carriageway with industrial units on each side. Thankfully there was a cycle path that took me all the way to the border and beyond. Romania and Hungary are both in the Schengen zone so they took no notice of me as I left Romania and just waved me through as I entered Hungary, lorries gained more attention. Once in Hungary I turned off onto the quieter roads of a village. Hungarian villages struck me as rather more tidy than those in Romania that I had walked through. There were no chickens wandering around, nor any loose dogs although plenty of canines enclosed in their yards announced my passing. At a shop, hidden behind barred windows I bought an energy drink and a snack, later I acquired a coffee.

Hungarian village of Ártánd.

I needed to join up with the Hungarian E3 at Nagykereki, and chose to reach this village by following a road across the wide fields of the Great Hungarian Plain, a quiet road with long straight sections. Most of the crops of maize and sunflowers had been harvested. Many fields had been ploughed. A couple of huge tractors passed me, four large wheels in a line at the rear, two at the front, so wide that they had to pull onto the verge to allow the passage of cars coming in the opposite direction on the two lane road. I kept well clear of the shiny, sharp plough blades behind them. The hills and mountains I had recently climbed were now faint blue blur, barely visible on the horizon. A cold wind blew intermittently over the plain. Trees were either grouped in plantations (which were of poplar trees), or scattered along the roadside or field boundaries. 

My selected route followed a long straight road, often tree lined.

Beside the road were large, ploughed, flat fields.

I was making good time on the flat tarmac although my left knee was complaining, and my right ankle was giving me pain. My objective for today's hike was Nagykereki, however there was nowhere to stay in the village and I did not wish to wild camp as I had a spot of bother when I last came this way. Consequently I planned to catch the train from Nagykereki to the city of Debrecen, where there was plenty of accommodation. As I entered the village a police car stopped and asked my nationality and what I was doing. I said I was intending to catch the train and they did not bother asking for my passport. Partly owing to the one hour time difference between Romania and Hungary I was able to catch an earlier train than I had anticipated. Or rather I caught a bus replacing the train for a few miles, and was then transferred to a real, if aged train. The train proceeded slowly, the carraige experienced a double bump every couple of seconds as it rumbled over the old track.

Debrecen has a beautiful town centre. I walked by where I enjoyed a gin & tonic at a pavement bar on a previous visit, although today it was too cold to sit out. This evening I finished the day with a typical Hungarian dish of catfish paprikash.

Rest day in Oradea: Day 91

My rest day was not as restful as I had planned with an excellent guided tour and various chores to complete.

Street Art.

For my "rest" day I went on a walking tour of Oradea, which included a visit to a Greek Catholic Church, an Orthodox Church and a Synagogue. The Greek Catholics are a strange mix, the pope is the head of their Church but they follow Orthodox (or rather Byzantine) religious practices. I later visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral as well. During the 40 years of communism only the Romanian Orthodox denomination was allowed. Despite this the other churches reappeared after the fall of Cauceseau. The Jewish population was massively reduced by the Holocaust in the Second World War, and their numbers are now small although they were once an important part of the city's population. The town has a large Hungarian population and was until 1918 part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Hungarian name was Nagyvarad, which appears on manhole covers with the German name as well.

View looking up at ceiling of Synagogue 

Much of the city's centre was built at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, in a number of different architectural styles; Secession, Art Nouveau,  Eclectic, Neo-classical and Baroque. I particularly admired the Art Nouveau with its curves, colour and use of flower and other motifs from nature. So it was great to visit the Darvas-La Roche House with Alex my guide. Built in the Art Nouveau-Secession style and restored to its original glory the house included beautiful stained glass and furniture related to the period. It was also an opportunity to have a coffee, a shot of pălincă and taste placinta, a Romanian fried flatbread filled with various things. The samples offered by my guide were filled with cabbage, cheese and potatoes.

Stained glass screen in Darvas-La Roche House

After my tour I had to buy supplies for the next few days of walking, charge all my electrical items, wash clothes and other chores. In the evening I visited a "ruined" bar pointed out by guide. It had a huge and confusing selection of beers, I chose a very pleasant pilsner brewed in Oradea. I drank it in the courtyard which has a run down appearance with somewhat contrived tumbledown walls, trees and lightning that adds to the ambience. 

Oradea at night.